What kind of people are we?
I was struck by a story that I saw
on the MSNBC program The Last Word. on June 23, 2017. In
this program the host, Ari Melber, interviewed Karen Clay and her son, Mike
Phillips. Michael suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He lives at home, in
Florida, with his mother. Over the last 30 years Michael's disease
has progressed and his care and treatment has become more complicated. Medicaid
has made it possible for him stay at home and for Karen to remain his primary
care giver. This situation will change dramatically and drastically if the
Republican plan becomes law.

As I listened to the interview I
could not help but think of a passage in the Gospel according to Matthew. In
the twenty-fifth chapter Jesus is reported to say to the disciples, "I
tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did for me" (25: 40, NIV).
We tend to interpret the words from
Matthew 25 in the context of the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:
25-37). Remember that parable begins with a legal scholar asking Jesus
what he must do to inherit eternal life, meaning not just a life after
death, but life in the here and now. It is an existential question. What
do I need to do in the here and now to have a life with God? Jesus answers this
question with the story of a man beaten and robbed and left to die in a ditch
at the side of the Jericho road. One religious person sees him lying in
the ditch and passes by on the other side of the road, and then a second person
comes along and he too goes to the opposite side of the road. But when the
Samaritan comes he sees the man in the ditch and goes to him, binds his wounds
and takes him to the inn and tells the inn keeper to take care of him,
promising to compensate the inn keeper for any expenses that he incurs as a
result of his care for this person. Jesus then asks the question, “Who was the
neighbor to this man?” The answer, of course, is the Samaritan. The parable
concludes with Jesus instructing the person who asked the question, and by
extension us, “Go and do likewise” (10: 37, NIV).
With the parable of the Good
Samaritan in mind, when we read the words in Matthew 25, it is natural that we
should think that we are called to feed the hungry, give the thirsty something
to drink, welcome the stranger, visit those who are in prison and so on. Dr.
King famously said that day will come when we have to build a new road so that
travelers will not be left in the ditches. Understandably we want to be the
people who build that new road, but until then we will follow the pattern
set by the Good Samaritan.
We want to do our best to be
faithful to the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. We want to live
by the Golden Rule and do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Wendell
Berry says: "Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do
unto you." It's common sense. But it is more than common sense. We
are bleeding hearts. Karl Marx who once said that religion is the opiate of the
masses also said: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the
heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless
world." Many religious scholars and preachers have told us that compassion
and empathy are the core of our faith and the keys to understanding the gospel.
And we believe that. This is why Michael and Karen's story is so
powerful.
But then, when I remembered the
passage in Matthew 25: 40, I had to ask myself: What about the guy in the
ditch? What about the people who live on the margins of society and in the
economic shadows? What about the people who are victims of injustice. What
about people who live in daily fear of police violence? What about "those
people" who are, the words of Jesus, "the least of these?" What
about them?
Reverend Deenabandhu Manchala, now with the World Council of Churches, helps
us interpret these words of Jesus when he talks about "Mission at and
from the margins." As he explains, those of us in the West tend to think
that our mission flows from a position of power, privilege, and
possession. Our mission is to help
those who
are less fortunate than we are. Thus, when I was a child my church had a
program called SOS, which stood for "Share our Surplus." Then we had
another offering called "Neighbors in Need," that was to help the
less fortunate. These were ministries enabled by power, privilege, and possession.
Remember the story of Joseph and his
brothers. His brothers sold him into slavery. Over a period of time and after
many trials Joseph worked his way to a position of responsibility in the
government of Egypt. He became the Secretary of Agriculture. When famine
came upon the people of Israel, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to beg for food
that they could take home to a desperate people. This may be the very first
story about an international relief mission in biblical history. Joseph
famously does not reveal his true identity to his brothers until the very end
of the story. Then, after he has given them food to take home, he reveals his
true identity in a dramatic moment and he says to his brothers, “You intended
to harm me. But God intended it for good" (Gen. 5: 20, NIV).
From the surplus of Egypt, Joseph
was able to help his brothers and save his family. A well-known business
consultant has famously said that we must do well before we can do
good. Joseph was only able to help his brothers because he had done
well. We have learned over the years to think of mission in this way.
We have to do well before we can do good. But what does that say about the
“least of these.” Are they among us simply to be the object of our mission? Are
we the instruments of God’s mercy, and the least of these the object of God’s
mercy? Is that the message of the Bible?
During the MSNBC interview, Michael
Phillips was intubated and lying flat on a table. But Michael was very aware of
his situation and his surroundings. He participated in the interview. He was
very articulate, eloquent in fact. If you had not see him lying in front
of you flat on the table and unable to move you would not have known his
condition. But there he was. After listening to Michael's story and to the
words of his mother, Aril Melber, the host, was close to tears as he asked,
"What kind of nation are we?" What kind of people are we? What have
we become that we are debating the need for access to adequate,
affordable health care?
What did Jesus mean when he said,
"As you do unto the least of these brothers, you do unto me." We tend
to focus on the first part of the sentence--doing unto the least of these. But
the second part of the sentence is equally important, "you do unto
me." Jesus is identifying himself with the least of these—the people
who are marginalized, the people who are sinned against, people who are the
most vulnerable, people who are the victims of injustice.
The mission of the church is not
limited to charity, sharing our surplus or whatever else we want to call it.
The mission of the church is to expose injustice. The mission of the church is
to expose the hardness of heart that would make Michael’s health care a subject
of national debate in a nation that prides itself on being the richest country
in the history of the world.
What kind of people are we?
What kind of nation have we become?

From a faith perspective government is not the “art of compromise.” The
purpose of government is the pursuit of the common good. And, the measure
of the economy is the well-being of the people.
What kind of people are we? We
are about to find out.
David Phillips Hansen
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