Living in the Spirit
June 26, 2021
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:21-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. —Mark 5:21-24, 35-43
Trying to assure affordable, accessible health care for all is a significant part of my life and has been for years. Health care in rural Oklahoma is near crisis. I talked with a friend yesterday trying to help someone find a doctor for the woman’s mother moving to live with her daughter in Oklahoma City. She keeps finding notices that many doctors are not taking new patients. The problem with a profit-based health care system is we can profit ourselves right out of business for those who cannot afford the rising costs. COVID has proven that we all need to support affordable, accessible health care. For one thing, viruses do not differentiate by wealth the people they infect. If all the working-class and middle-class people are forced into poverty because of health care costs, there will be no customers left for the businesses.
The above story illustrates that Jesus reached out and cured people of all walks of life and did not conclude that we cannot save everyone. When I hear of the death of anyone who died from a lack of proper and timely health care because they could not afford it, I wonder if the person who died was one whose gifts would have positively changed the world, and we lost that person before they could reach their potential.
Prayer: Lord, help us to care for the sick following your example. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.