“The Great Health Care Debate”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood Presbyterian Church,
Homewood, AL
August 16, 2009
Texts: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58
As a nation we are engaged in a huge health care debate. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on how best to improve the health and well being of all Americans it has become a nasty political fight. The stakes are high. We spend enormous sums on health care, about 20% of our national income. That’s more than we spend even on national defense, and double what other industrialized democracies spend. Those who profit the most from our system as it has evolved--insurance companies, hospital corporations, drug companies, and the like--are fighting to maintain their grasp on this “cash cow.” The issues are complex and the general public is easily frightened. Even those of us who concede that our health system is terribly flawed fear any major changes that might limit our own options or reduce the resources available to those whom we love.
Since this is a highly charged political issue, many would say that the Church should stay out of it. Religion is a private matter, they would say, and the church should not enter the fray. However, this is a difficult position to defend, especially from the perspective of our scripture lessons today. Our Gospel lesson comes from John, which begins, “the Word became flesh.” In today’s excerpt, Jesus reminds us that he is “flesh and blood.” Week by week, Sunday by Sunday, as we share the Lord’s Supper--“as we eat this bread and drink this cup”-- Jesus says we “abide in him, and he in us.” “Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood.” Participating in this sacrament draws us into the very life of the Risen Christ.
Just last summer the Presbyterian General Assembly reminded the Church:
Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God, healed all kinds of sickness as a sign of God’s rule. As followers of our Great Physician Jesus, we have a moral imperative to work to assure that everyone has full access to health care.1
Today’s passage from Ephesians reminds us that we have personal responsibility to live a healthy lifestyle. “Be careful how you live,” our text begins. The example given is drink in moderation. Gotta be sober, gotta be fit, gotta be healthy to “sing and make melody to the Lord”(v.19).
As most of us have been taught, the Bible has a lot to say about personal responsibility. What we may not have known is that the Bible has even more to say about God’s demand for justice, fairness, and compassion on the part of government. Case in point--the reign of Solomon in ancient Israel. Theologian Dan Clendenin writes:
A simple reading of the story of Solomon in particular, and of the larger context of the six books of 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, and 1-2 Chronicles, reveals an obvious point — that lots of the Bible is purely and profoundly political. This week's text describes the transition of power from David to Solomon. Further on (these books of Hebrew scripture) tell about Israel's role in the geo-politics of Assyria, Edom, Egypt, Moab and Tyre. (The biblical narrative includes) wars, alliances . . ., famines, conspiracies, assassinations, economic trade agreements, and foreign policy negotiations.2
Solomon begins today with what appears to be heart-felt sincerity. “O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in”(v.7).
Later we will read about Solomon's wisdom, and his earnest prayer when he dedicates the temple. “But his story ends with personal corruption to pagan gods and goddesses whose practices included child sacrifice.” The ancient prophets took a dim view of Solomon’s use of slave labor, conscripted from immigrants, to build both Solomon’s royal palace and the Temple. Upon Solomon’s death national catastrophe strikes when his son provokes a civil war that rips the country apart.3
And it goes from bad to worse.
The political panorama of 1-2 Kings includes the reigns of forty kings and one queen in the 400 years from the death of David to Israel's exile to Babylon in 586 BC. Only two (of those 41 rulers), Hezekiah and Josiah, receive unqualified approval by the narrator. With monotonous regularity, over thirty times (the narrator) renders the ominous judgment that a king (that is, the government) "did evil in the eyes of the Lord."4
Reading the Bible faithfully . . . . Accepting its guidance for our life together, it is impossible for the church to sit on the sidelines when the health and well-being of the nation is being debated. In fact, since 1971, Presbyterian Church general assemblies have been calling for reform of our nation’s health care delivery systems to make them accessible to the entire population. To those who say the government can’t do anything right, the GA resolutions have reminded us that our Federal government already operates two health care delivery systems, Medicare and Medicaid, efficiently and with low overhead. By contrast, private insurance companies spend one-third of every premium dollar on marketing and other administrative costs, including multi-million dollar packages of executive compensation. Several such companies spent less than 60% of premium dollars on heath care services for their policy holders.
Back in 1998 the General Assembly made this observation:
(Our) concern for (God’s) justice, broadly shared, compels (the Presbyterian Church) to encourage new financing and delivery systems that better meet the needs of all people. Market strategies that serve only those able to pay are not acceptable. Health ultimately is the product of justice; and justice must be the objective of all attempts to reform the health care system in the United States. The current mal-distribution of health services must and can be rectified.5
In the decade since the General Assembly issued that call for change, the “mal distribution”--that is the unfair and inequitable access to health care--has only grown worse. No need to rehash the numbers here--they are everywhere in the media these days.
I concede that I find it hard to stay focused on this issue. You provide me and my family with good medical and dental insurance. I know that most of you are covered either by the Federal government or through your employer. So, some would say, ‘What’s your problem, Mr. Preacher?’
Jim Wallis, one of Christianity modern day prophets, responds:
Perfect health will never be achieved and physical death on this earth will never be overcome, but the scriptures paint a clear picture that this was God’s intent from the beginning and will be the goal once again in the end. This means that on a personal, national, and global level the physical well-being of all God’s children is close to God’s heart and should be close to ours as well.6
Finally, God’s word to Solomon applies to us all--to the church and to the nation: “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments . . . then I will lengthen your life.”
Now to the One who by the power at work within us is able to do
far more abundantly than all we ask or imagine, to God be the glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20, 21
1 218th General Assembly: http://pc-biz.org/Explorer.aspx?id=1833
2 Clendenin, Dan, “The ‘Anti-Politics’ of the Gospel: What We Learn
from King Solomon,” JOURNEY WITH JESUS, a weekly ‘webzine’ of the
global church, http://journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090810JJ.shtml
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Life Abundant: Values, Choices and Health Care—The Responsibility
and Role of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) A Policy Statement
Adopted by the 200th General Assembly (1988)
6 Wallis, Jim, “Three Moral Issues of Health Care,” GOD’S POLITICS,
a blog by Jim Wallis and friends, 07.02.09,
http://blog.sojo.net/2009/07/02/three-moral-issues-of-healthcare/