Service and Hospitality: Cyprian on Caring for the Sick During Plague

During the devastating Plague of Cyprian (c. 250-270), while pagan Romans fled from the sick and abandoned their own families, the Christians of Carthage, led by Bishop Cyprian, organized care for the sick -- both Christian and pagan. Cyprian preached: "There is nothing remarkable in cherishing merely our own people with the due attentions of love, but that one might become perfect who should do something more than heathen men or publicans."

Cyprian instructed the wealthy members of his congregation to fund the care and the poor to volunteer their labor. The Christians' self-sacrificing service during the plague became one of the most powerful testimonies to the gospel in the ancient world. Many pagans converted after witnessing Christians risking their lives to care for strangers.

Practical application: When crisis strikes your community -- a natural disaster, a pandemic, a tragedy -- be among the first to respond, not the last. Volunteer through your church to provide practical help. Cyprian teaches that the church's credibility is established not by its arguments but by its service, especially in times of suffering when the world watches most closely.