I took some time out of my day today to attend a rally for Healthcare Reform in Nashville at the offices of Tennessee’s two U.S. senators. Among the many posters and hand bills there was one that had the now familiar letters WWJD, “What Would Jesus Do?” Well for those of us who claim to carry the name of Christ that is a pertinent question. If we are to truly follow in the footsteps of the master, it behooves us to know, “What Would Jesus Do”. For the answer, we can look to Jesus’ own words in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
No doubt you know the story, but let me summarize. A man is on a trip and gets robbed and injured in the robbery. A preacher and a deacon each pass him by without offering to help at all. A third person, totally unrelated to the injured man, comes by and immediately offers assistance, takes the man to get medical attention, and assumes financial responsibility for his care. When it comes to the battle over healthcare reform Christians can draw much from this parable.
First, we cannot ignore the issue. We can not simply go on with our everyday lives, seeing what is going on and doing nothing. The two in this parable do just that. They walked past the injured man. Jesus challenges all of us who say that we belong to him, that we follow him, not to turn a blind eye. We can not just go on with our daily routines as if there are not issues that need our attention. Few of us today hear this story without shaking our heads at this preacher and asking, “How could he just walk right past the man and not do anything?” Yet how many of us are just too busy, have something else to do, or are just really not all that concerned about 46 million people who can’t go see a doctor for regular checkups, have no primary care physician, and are at the bottom of the healthcare service ladder. How easy is it for us to go to church on Sunday for a few hours and then spend the rest of our week focused solely on our own little world? Do we allow ourselves to get so caught up in praise, that we forget to serve?
Second, we cannot avoid the issue. If we shake our head at the preacher who walks by the man, we are down right indignant at the deacon who sees the man and crosses to the other side of the road, attempting to create some space between himself and the man’s need. Do we do that? Do we create space between ourselves and the needs of our fellow human beings by attempting to separate the spiritual and the secular? When we suggest that “as Christians” we should not be involved in “secular” matters we say to our fellow humans, “Our God cares about your soul, but your body belongs to the government, or your boss, or the insurance companies, or whoever.” We cannot separate ourselves from the great issues of justice, equality, and civility that face us as a nation during these historic times. We cannot cross to the other side of the road and create a divide between ourselves and the needs of society. If we are Christ’s then we are the conscience of our community, our city, our state, and our nation. There is simply no avoiding it! 50 million people in this country work and pay for healthcare and yet still cannot afford to get sick!
Finally, we must be proactive, the parable does not say that the Samaritan responded to a plea for help. Rather it says that he saw the man and went to him, he was proactive, he saw the need and was moved by the spirit of compassion within him to act. It is that same initiative, motivated by Christian compassion that should move us to reach to our fellows, put our shoulders to the yoke, and work together to the bringing down of strongholds.
As we follow to the example of the Good Samaritan when looking for the answer to the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” we evangelize in ways words alone could not fully do. We demonstrate, in a tangible way, that we serve a God that is loving, caring, and actively involved in the affairs of humankind on the side of justice, equality, and peace.
That is how we Make A Difference . . . For Life!!!
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