Healthcare reform: What would Jesus do?
By Paul Moomjean 09/03/2009
Recently on cable news a slew of liberal Christian men, including the Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, the Rev. Jim Wallis and even President Barack Obama, have been talking about the morality of universal health care. These men believe that government should provide a health care system, not only because of humanistic standards, but also because the God of the universe and His Son Jesus Christ would want it as well. Being a devout Christian myself, I began looking throughout the four gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ life to better understand what would be Jesus’ perspective on universal health care. Interestingly enough, I found a lot of verses supporting “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31), but support to confirm Jesus’ desire for government-run health care is not as evident as the above men of God would have you believe.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He never once asked Caesar to take care of the poor and sick, but instead asked Christians to deny themselves and be a blessing despite their current situation. The only real political question thrown at him concerned paying taxes unto Caesar, and Jesus simply looked at a coin with the graven image of the world leader and stated, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22: 21). Jesus appears to have no interest in making government a force for anything but a force for government, asking His followers to instead make it a personal responsibility to do God’s will by feeding and taking care of people. When a rich ruler asked
Jesus how to obtain eternal life, Jesus told him to “sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:16-21). Maybe the real trick to ending the 30-plus million Americans’ need for health care is in a personal conviction to stop thinking about ourselves and make a personal sacrifice to help those who are “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40). Notice that Jesus never forced anyone to make a sacrifice, or went complaining to the government about humanity’s selfishness, but instead allowed people to continue living as they preferred, asking His followers to be different. People cannot be forced to do good because it is our preference, but people must allow others to realize their own convictions.
That lesson is taught in the Good Samaritan parable. In Luke 10:30-37, Jesus spoke about how a priest and temple worker both passed by a Jewish man left for dead on the road to Jericho, but how a traveling Samaritan “felt compassion” for the man. The Samaritan would go on to heal the wounds with oils and later pay the health care costs to the innkeeper taking care of the man. After Jesus asked the crowd who of the three travelers demonstrated neighborly love, the crowd replied, the “one who showed mercy,” prompting Jesus to say, “go and do the same.” The Good Samaritan was a person, not an institution. The call for compassion is within everyday interaction and not just through institutions.
Campolo, Wallis and Obama also seem to be using Jesus to spring up their own personal political platform. We already know where Obama’s politics are grounded, but Campolo and Wallis are Christian Democrats the way media pundits the Rev. Pat Robertson and Dr. James Dobson are Christian Republicans. Campolo admitted in 2008 on The Colbert Report that he is a member of the donkey party, and Jim Wallis gave the DNC’s weekly radio address back in 2006. Both men have criticized the conservative right before, claiming they’re mangling the message of Jesus in the areas of social justice. But then to turn around and claim Jesus would support the Democratic Party’s idea seems hypocritical. I’m pretty sure Jesus was neither a Republican nor a Democrat. To box Jesus up in a political package misses the idea that he was sent for the whole world, according to John 3:16. If Jesus did have specific thoughts on healthcare, they would probably transcend the current conversation.
Maybe the cure for our health-care crisis is in the scriptures; maybe it isn’t. But to conservatives in the faith — if health care through taxation does come, then render unto Obama what is Obama’s, but don’t forget to give to God what is His
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