It’s not at all difficult to understand why coronavirus is the main topic of conversation between most humans on the planet. As I text with my family, we are often asking about restrictions and death rates and curves and governing decisions. When the lights go out, it is easy for our minds to head in that same direction and perhaps even apply the situation to our future job security, bank account or general feeling of safety. The dominating subject right now is understandable, but the way we deal with this subject can inadvertently allow self-interest to dominate our minds. Self-interest takes our hearts away from Jesus and elevates ourselves to the position of what we worship most.

When Jesus was ministering in Galilee, the Pharisees were too focused on their own purposes and plans to accept his greater and glorious purpose. Jesus had performed miracles and preached in a way that unquestionably identified him as the Messianic King anticipated in their own Scriptures. Their self-interest clouded the greater reality and they rejected him. Before you point your fingers too sternly at the Pharisees for missing the glory of Christ, bear in mind that they too were facing major hardship in their time. Rome had conquered and was in the process of conquering the world as the major power of the day. Under Roman rule there was peace only if you abided by all of Rome’s demands. For the Jewish people, the intrusion on their values and way of life was not a menial dilemma. As Jews defied their oppressors, they died. In fact, in 70 A.D. Roman armies demolished the temple and brought devastation to Jerusalem.

The Pharisees were looking for their own idea of a Messiah. Sure, they knew the Old Testament Scriptures, but in looking for the one who would protect their Jewish religion and life and keep their perceived identity as a people, Jesus was not serving their interest. They wanted a Savior to defeat the Romans, not one who would be hung on a Roman cross.

The sin of self-interest, even as a response to turmoil, blinds us to reality and when that reality is Jesus, the sin is exponentially greater. This is why Jesus responds to the Pharisees in telling them that their rejection of him places them under greater judgment. In one example Jesus uses, he talks about the Gentile Queen of Sheba. “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” (Matthew 12:42). In this statement Jesus is making two big points. 1. This Gentile queen marveled at the wisdom of Solomon and travelled from great distances to see him. Solomon was great, but he was no Jesus. 2. The Pharisees have the much greater Jesus right in front of them but have rejected him in compliance with their own self-interest. They are under greater judgment.

If we are to consider any of this in the light of our current crisis, we must consider that Jesus is always greater in importance than anything this crisis might mean for our temporal, current situation. Your health is important. Your family is important. Your job is important. Please don’t hear me trivializing the temporal importance of our lives. The priority, however, is always that Christ is greater. If we are centered on self in the temporal and forgetting Christ, we are ignoring the greater glory and in danger of placing ourselves in the same Christ-rejecting position as the Pharisees.

Jesus’ example of the Queen of Sheba is such a great example for us to meditate upon. If the Queen of Sheba thought Solomon’s kingdom was a kingdom of wisdom and glory, how much more would she have marveled at the wisdom and glory of the kingdom of Christ which is infinitely greater than Solomon. If this means greater judgment for the Pharisees, doesn’t it also mean that there is great responsibility upon us not to forsake the much greater Jesus for our own self-interest?