The Bible is a startling book. Its assertions about the human condition are revolutionary. In the Bible we read of men and women like you and me—mortal and sometimes good but often doubting, envious, argumentative, or otherwise fraught with human failings—who come to know God and rejoice in His mercy.
In 1848, my great great grandfather, George Jarvis, was the caretaker for the most famous ship in the history of the British Royal Navy, the HMS Victory, which had been Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the naval victory of Trafalgar. He and his wife Ann Prior Jarvis were living on the ship, which was then moored on the Thames River downstream from London, and raising their family on a pension from the Royal Navy, which George had earned through years of service to her majesty, Queen Victoria.
Nearly 400 years ago, a decade after the arrival of the Pilgrims in America, the bubonic or black plague reemerged in Italy and made its way across the Alps into Southern Germany. It is a fearsome disease that can devastate towns, killing a third to half of the population within a few weeks. According to legend, residents of the small village of Oberammergau noted that neighboring towns had already reported cases, so they prayed for protection, promising that they would always remember God’s blessing if their town were spared. The town was spared, and the following year, 1634, staged their first Passion Play depicting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In thankfulness to God, they staged the Passion Play annually for fifty years, likely the lifetime of the town’s residents who were alive when the plague threatened their village.
