The gnawing persistence of the Holy Spirit compels me to address the issue of a national health care program. After researching for two weeks, after listening to both sides of the issue, after struggling with the implications of economics, government intrusion, mounting debt, individual rights and the entire gamut of pros and cons, it comes down to a simple conviction for me.
"... but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.' But she answered him, 'Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' Then he said to her, 'For saying that, you may go -- the demon has left your daughter.' So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
-- Mark 7:25-30
Awkward!
Here is loving, sweet, compassionate Jesus dismissing a woman in pain by comparing her desperation over the suffering of her daughter to wasting scraps on the dogs. Not exactly a good model for bedside manner and empathy.
She could have hung her head and walked away. She's a Gentile, a Syrophoenician, one who is accustomed to being dismissed. Her pain, her fear, her desperation will not settle for a dismissal, however. It's her baby we are talking about.
Scholars point to this story as Jesus breaking the prejudice that limited the love of God to people who were born Jewish. The watermark for the church as being open to all people regardless of origin was grounded in this and similar actions by Christ.
But why the awkwardness? Why the bit about the dogs? "What, me help a Gentile dog?" That's what I would have heard. This mom is desperate and feisty. Good for her.
Could it be, dare I suggest, that Jesus was evolving in his understanding of his role in the mission God had set before him as the Messiah? Wouldn't it have been much more pastoral for Jesus to respond immediately to the dilemma this family faced? In so many other instances his reactions are immediate, compassionate and gentle. That dog comment had to hurt.
But he did change his position. He did offer healing when she pointed out that the scraps falling to the floor were not wasted. Even unintended aid is aid. All us Gentiles can be thankful that the grace of God was offered to her, for that means it is now offered to us as well.
How reminiscent of the attitudes that seem too often to drive the debate on a health care plan. The one that enrages me most is the attitude that does not want to include non-Americans at the trough. It's OK for these people to work here, spend here, improve my quality of life here ... but heaven forbid my paying more to assure that their daughters may be healed and fed on top of the table, rather than sniffing along for the scraps of our waste.
The antediluvianview of governmental intrusion, of national management, is quaint. But it is not relevant when we are honest that we are big government and that the realm of our existence, as independent as we all claim to be, is absolutely dependent upon federal management of our lives. In a patriotic vein, we both need and depend upon the government's management of this community we call the United States, from military protection to monetary regulation and all points between.
But on the other hand, I embrace the role of being "my brother's keeper." Yep, the church should do more, though we already do a lot. Every day, someone shows up at our door needing medicine or food, rent, gas or money for a night's lodging. My denomination supports Methodist hospitals all over the nation through our weekly offerings, and many congregations in other denominations support hospitals as well. But the truth is, my church cannot afford at a given moment to pay for a heart-valve replacement or the therapy after a major accident. Like the citizenry, the church depends upon the relation with the government.
Maybe the cornerstone of my resistance to supporting a national health plan is my own fear. I'm fortunate. I have health insurance; it came with the work of earning my profession. "I earned it," I tell myself. And like any other, I wince over the thought of someone at the table who has not paid her way. But what I may really be reacting to is that she's not one of us. You know, she's a Gentile, from Syrophoenicia. She's not like me.
My hypocrisy shouts loudly at me. And that doesn't even scratch the surface of my sense of entitlement as a taxpaying citizen who has grown up believing it is my right to decide what medical procedures I will and will not pursue, regardless of my age or condition or the cost to others. Dare I suggest that an ethical conundrum exists within me, within all of us?
And therein the motivation and conviction for me ending my silence. For me, as a pastor of the gospel of grace, health care can not be all about money. It is not about my having to pay more taxes. It is not about my choices. It is not about the impact upon my quality of care. It is not about the inefficiency of the government. It is not about the free market and malpractice and case-by-case scenarios.
It is really very simple for me. It is about the worth of a human being in the eyes of God. The system we eventually create must include everyone. It is the right and moral thing to do by a just and moral society and a just and moral nation. All of us should have the right to eat from the top of the table.
* Matt Idom is senior pastor of First United Methodist Church of Bryan.
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