Jesus and Health Care
Sept. 19/20, 2009
Fr. George Smiga
Mark 9:30-37
The homily that you are about to hear is not a political homily. It does however; address a pressing social issue. It will not advocate any political party or any specific piece of legislation. But it will identify, within the gospel, a core teaching of Jesus and then apply that teaching to a debate that is raging in Washington and indeed throughout our country.
So let’s begin with the gospel. At the end of today’s gospel, Jesus performs a dramatic gesture. He takes a little child, places it in the midst of the disciples, embraces the child, and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child as this in my name, welcomes me.” Now what does this gesture of Jesus mean? Because we love our children and often place them on a pedestal, we might imagine that Jesus refers to the child as an example to imitate—an example of innocence or simplicity. But the society at the time of Jesus had no such romanticized notions of children. In the ancient world a child was a non-person. Without legal standing or personal power, the child was dependent on others. The child was one of the most vulnerable members of society. Outside the scope of the family, the child had no way to secure or protect his or her life. So when Jesus embraces the child, he is embracing the marginalized, the powerless, the most vulnerable in society. His action is similar to the famous last judgment scene in Matthew’s gospel, where he says, “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers or sisters, you do to me.”
Now this teaching on the part of Jesus was not unique to him. Jesus taught in this way because he was Jewish. He knew the Jewish tradition. Centuries before Jesus the great Jewish prophets insisted that every member of Israel must have access to the essentials of life. It was the responsibility of every Jew to see that the most vulnerable members of society were protected and cared for. This is why throughout the Hebrew Scriptures God is the guardian of the poor, of the widow, of the orphan, of the child. They were the members of society who were dependent on others. Every Jew understood that were they to ignore or dismiss the least among them, they would have to answer to the God of Israel. Jesus adopts this stance with his disciples. He embraces the child, the powerless member of society and says, “If you welcome or refuse to welcome one such person as this, you welcome or refuse to welcome me.”
So it’s very clear from today’s gospel (and from many other places in the New Testament), that as disciples of Jesus, we must have concern for the weakest members of our society. But the vulnerable members change in the course of history. In Jesus’ time, as in our own, people are vulnerable because they do not have adequate access to food or shelter, or because their lives are threatened by the violence of war or abortion. These marginalized members of our society should be our concern. But in our time a new category of the vulnerable has emerged. These are those who are uninsured, those who do not have adequate access to health care. In past centuries, when health care amounted to little more than chicken soup or leeches, most people in society had access to the limited health care which was available. But in the twentieth century, medical progress exploded. And today medicine is able to do what was once unthinkable: transplant vital organs, sustain life through new procedures and drugs. All of this progress is amazing and good. It is also expensive. And because of that expense, our country is becoming divided between those who have resources and can pay for health care and those who are without resources and are unable to protect their lives.
Now this division in our society is real. Today there are 46.6 million Americans who do not have adequate access to health care. The American Journal of Public Health has documented that 45,000 Americans die each year because they lack access to health care. This situation is not acceptable to followers of Jesus. We cannot accept a situation where vulnerable members of our society are not able to sustain their lives. This is why the present health-care debate in our country concerns us.
Now the gospel does not give us any mandate or direction of how we are to solve this problem. It does not tell us that we should be for or against a public option. It does not advocate any particular piece of legislation that is presently in congress. It does not adopt a specific stance toward any financing plan. These are means to an end. As followers of Jesus we can debate and disagree over the best way to address the problem. But what we cannot do is to conclude that those who are uninsured are of no concern to us. We cannot say, “I will support health care for others as long as it doesn’t cost me anything.” It might have to cost us something. Our concern for the marginal and the vulnerable in society is not an incidental aspect of our relationship with Christ. It is an essential part of our discipleship. We have a commitment to the poor, to the child, to the uninsured. Jesus has embraced them and said, “However you welcome one of these, you welcome me.”
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