Sermon on the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany: How should we heal?
Like last week, this week’s gospel has a major focus on Jesus as healer. Obviously, it was important to his message and ministry.
Let’s imagine how it might work today:
Jesus comes to a town, staying at the house of one of his assistants. People from all over the town flock to the house. They have heard of how Jesus heals people. They have heard he doesn’t charge anything. So, they come to this house, where Jesus is staying, eager for treatment.
But Jesus's method of healing has changed. At the door, an assistant greets each person and asks, “Do you have the cash to see the Master Physician?”
If the answer is no, the assistant says, “Are you insured?”
If that answer is no, the assistant says, “We can’t take you to the Master physician, but one of the apostles can try and treat you.” For those who accept apostolic treatment, unfortunately, the record of the apostles is rather hit or miss. Some get cured, some do not. For those who do not accept the treatment, they return to their own homes without many choices for healing.
If the answer is yes, they have cash, the assistant says, “Would you like to pay a lot extra for our special superior clinic plan, that gives you privileged first class service?” And those people get immediate access to cures.
If the answer is yes, they have insurance, the assistant says, “Which kind of insurance? What is your deductable? What percentage is your co-pay? What are the top limits of your out-of-pocket expenses? Are you in our network or out of network? Do you have a referring physician? How comprehensive is your insurance coverage? Does your insurance plan cover new therapies for demonic possessions? Do you have any co-insurance? Can you sign a contract committing yourself to pay any and all costs beyond what your insurance company wants to cover, even if we have no idea how much they will be? If you cannot pay, you are aware we may force you into bankruptcy?”
These are some of the ways health care works today in America, the only technologically advanced and industrialized country in the world without a national health policy which spreads costs through public taxes rather than private payments. And more and more these days, huge sectors of providing health care in America are based on earning profits, with the purpose of profits rewarding investors rather than improving services of care to the sick.
Modern health care is often effective yet also expensive. It takes much money and effort to maintain well-equipped facilities and train capable physicians and other medical personnel. Jesus had the advantage or working miracles, but those were only for a few people in a few places.
Modern medical science can often achieve what previous generations would have called miracles. It seems to me, though, we are now obligated to continue Jesus’s message and ministry of healing. How then should we, as Christians, promote the best care for all people who come to the door seeking to be healed?
Written for the parish of St. James & St. George 2021 February 7
URL: <http://therev.brianpavlac.org/srms/20210207.html