Vaccine as Metaphor for Inbreaking Kingdom of God

Before we get too far away from Christmas, I want to record some thoughts on the inbreaking Kingdom of God.  The various Christmas stories in the Bible make sense to me without the struggle that I sometimes feel with the Easter stories.  I don't have to suspend my disbelief when it comes to angel visitations and new stars sending a message for those who have been watching and alert.  When it comes to resurrection--resurrections of all sorts--I have much more trouble believing that it can happen, especially on a literal level.

In the days leading up to Christmas, we heard lots of exciting, positive news about the vaccine for COVID-19.  In so many ways, it's a good way of helping people understand the idea that God is here with us, but the whole vision is not yet complete.  Theologians use language like "now and not yet," language which can be confusing for non-theologians.

Here's where the vaccine can help us understand.  We have it, it's been tested, and we know it's going to make our lives better--not perfect, and there might be glitches, but so much better than much of the past year.  The vaccine is here, in physical form, incarnate in the world.  And yet, there's still work to do.  We can't say, "Well, we have a vaccine, so happy endings all around."  

We won't be able to have the better life that the vaccine makes possible if we don't do the work:  we need to distribute the vaccine, we need to convince people to get the vaccine, we need to make sure everyone gets 2 doses, we need to figure out how to pay for it, we need to make sure that every country gets the vaccine.  The path to a better world is ahead, but there are challenges.

Similarly, God shows up throughout our holy texts, but it's almost never the end of the story--in fact, it's the act which often sets the story off on a new trajectory.  With the Christmas story, the inbreaking Kingdom of God is incarnate in Jesus--Jesus who shows up to show us what the full capacity for human life could look like.  It must be a compelling vision--the Roman ruler puts him to death with crucifixion, a form of capital punishment reserved for enemies of the state.

The vaccine metaphor probably won't work with the full Christian story, but it's a great way to understand the concept of now and not yet.  As I was thinking about Christmas and the most hopeful news of the last week, this haiku like creation came to me:

Now yet not complete
Inbreaking kingdom of God
First vaccines given