100,000!

May 30th, 2020| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

The US crossed the 100,000 mark—the number of COVID-19-related deaths.

A journalist reminded us of the magnitude of that number:

Imagine if, starting now, we held a moment of silence for every American who has died from COVID-19. We wouldn’t speak for the rest of the day. For the rest of the week. For the rest of the month. If each one of those deaths was honored with the full traditional 60 seconds of silence, this country would stand in hushed, somber, unrelenting remembrance for just short of 70 days.”

And …

It means that in four months, more Americans have died from the novel coronavirus than died during the two decades of the Vietnam War. In less than 110 days, almost two and a half times as many Americans will have died than perished in car accidents in the whole of 2019, and over six times as many as the worst recent flu season.”

That’s almost incomprehensible! One hundred thousand! The NY Times observed:

The immensity of such a sudden toll taxes our ability to comprehend, to understand that each number adding up to 100,000 represents someone among us just yesterday. Who was the 1,233rd person to die? The 27,587th? The 98,431st?”

Nameless mothers, grandfathers, uncles, siblings, children. One in eight Americans know someone who died. And we cannot even grieve together. No funerals. No wakes. No ritual. No commiseration. No hugs.

Death! 100,000 of them! Over 1,100 a day! In hospitals. In nursing homes. In apartments.

Last Sunday, May 24, 2020, the first page of the NY Times was a listing of the names of the dead. No images. No graphics. No photographs. For the first time in its history. Only names. And brief descriptions culled from obituaries. One. Hundred. Thousand.

But there is one death in the history of the universe that has the most significance: the death of Jesus Christ.

… one died for all, therefore all died.
2 Corinthians 5:14

The death of Jesus Christ for all—all!—to pay the price of our sins.

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust,
so that He might bring us to God.
1 Peter 3:18

As one biblical author puts it so well …

Jesus, because of the suffering of death
[is] crowned with glory and honor,
so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
Hebrews 2:9

Tasted death for all! For our sins.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5

So that all who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus for our sins, as our only God and Savior, are no longer separated from God, but have embarked on to eternal life.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16

A free gift for all who believe:

For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

What an incomprehensible death! A sacrifice for the sin of all humanity!

… with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 1:19

New life in Christ, through the One who died … for all!

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.
Romans 6:8

Incomprehensible death, indeed!

SOURCES:
The Week; The New York Times