Living in the Spirit
August 4, 2017
Scripture Reading: Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. –Mathew 14:13-14
I believe that affordable, accessible health care is a right, not a privilege and I think Jesus believed that too. He spread wholeness wherever he went both physical and mental to rich and poor and everyone in between. The provision of affordable, accessible health care in the USA is a major public policy debate today that began seriously with the Great Depression. What is government’s responsibility regarding the health and well-being of its people? Fifty-eight countries have some form of universal health care*; the USA does not.
The United States of America is a representative democracy that portends to be of the people, by the people, for the people according to Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. The phrase, initially coined by John Wycliffe, is in the prolog of his 1384 translation of the Bible where he stated, “The Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People”** I did not know that until recently. I knew Lincoln said it; I did not know its origin. I think what Wycliffe means is that the Bible’s support of the love of neighbor can best find expression in a government of the People, by the People, and for the People. Some of our founders might have also made that connection.
I like Martin Luther King Jr. do not believe we can legislate morality, and that is not the purpose of a government designed by its citizens. The purpose of such government is to provide for the Common Good of all. Such government protects rights not privileges and allows its citizenry the right to free expression of religion.
Prayer: Lord, show us the way we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves through the mutuality of a government of the People, by the People, and for the people.Amen.
*Data from 2009 see at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_universal_health_care
**https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/who-coined-government-of-the-people-by-the-people-for-the-people/2017/03/31/12fc465a-0fd5-11e7-aa57-2ca1b05c41b8_story.html?utm_term=.aa50cc91249f