Jesus and Healthcare

The Supreme Court declared Obamacare to be constitutional this week. Whatever you think of that (and there is a wide variety of thoughts on that), it prompts me to respond to the claim that we (as Christians particularly) need to support “universal health care” because of Jesus and our call to be incarnational like He was.

So here’s my response:

If you are going to invoke Jesus’ healing as a basis for healthcare, shouldn't you also invoke Jesus' methods?

First, Jesus didn't heal everyone. He intentionally walked away from needy people in order to preach the gospel such as in Mark 1:32-38, though you don't hear that much in missional teaching. I don’t mean that sarcastically. People just seem to skip right over that. The fact is that Jesus showed his love by walking away from needy and hurting people in order to preach the gospel to others. What are all the implications of that? Well, I suggest it at least deserves some consideration.

Second, when he did heal, he didn't do it through hospitals, medicine (unless you count mud made out of spit), insurance (government or private), or free care. He did it through miracles.

Simply put, it seems to me that invoking Jesus in this is inappropriate, unless you are going to heal only some people only through miracles and leave the rest on their own so that you can preach the gospel to people who haven’t heard it.

So if you want to be like Jesus, heal some people through miracles and then leave a long line of sick and hurting people so that you can go preach in another town.

None of that is to say that healthcare (universal or not) is a bad thing. I happen to like health care. I happen to think everyone should have it. But that’s not because of what Jesus did on earth. It’s because all humans are created in the image of God and we need to honor that image by caring for it.

This is simply to warn about violating the third commandment by using the name of God the Son in vain. Jesus’ methods do not support (or refute) health care. They are about something entirely different, namely, proving that Jesus was the God the Son who can save sinners by reconciling them to the Father through His own death.

And that message must be preached because that’s a whole lot more important because it is eternal. Eventually all health care will fail and people will need to stand before God. At that point, “Brother So-and-So lived so missionally he got me health insurance” will not do a lot of good.

Brysen Chesterfield

This past week we welcomed Brysen Chesterfield to our family. He was born Monday, June 25, at 6:42 p.m. He checked in at 7 lbs and 4 oz, and 20 inches.

His middle name is Jan's dad's middle name. To my sadness, I never knew her dad, but I wanted to honor him, and I like the name. I told Jan it sounds like it needs a number after it, like Brysen Chesterfield II or something. But we skipped that part.

He's a keeper. Hopefully today, we will get him up and walking around. He's had a day or so to relax and now it's time to start carrying his weight around here. This laying around and sleeping all the time has to stop. 

Around the Horn

First, here’s a good article about Eisenhower’s D-Day decision. It was a tough one on a number of different fronts. Ike knew that he was sending thousands of men to their death. To look them in the eye and send them on their way is a tough decision. Our decisions are typically much easier, and we probably don’t do as well.

Second, here’s a good word on marriage. The only slight modification I would make is to this statement: “The fact that your marriage is now in bad shape PROVES the truth of the gospel.” This is, IMO, an unwarranted expansion of the “gospel.” The gospel is the hope for this marriage. The gospel is not proved true by the temporal consequences of people’s sin; it is proved necessary. But the bad shape of the marriage actually proves the truth of the whole teaching of the Bible on marriage, not just the gospel. The reason people’s marriages are blown up is most often because they disregard God’s instructions about life.

Third, and speaking of marriage, Doug Wilson did a few talks on homosexuality at Indiana University. If the video trailers are any indication, it wasn’t well received. I haven’t been able to watch it yet, but Wilson is pretty good at stuff like this, and so it should be good.

And last, Ed Young, Jr. (he of “Bed on the Roof” gimmick last year and Pastor Fashion) has spoken to the great debate about Reformed soteriology (it begins about halfway through part 4). Young mocks a church that baptized only 26 people. Erik at the Ordinary Pastor talks about it here. I think there are some problems in the modern reformed movement. BTW, speaking of fashion, does anyone else think he looks a little like Pat Boone stuck in a suit left over from high school in the 80s? Seriously, the suit looks a size too small in a fashion thirty years late. Yikes.

Some Thoughts on Missions (Not From Me)

Here are two things worth your time and careful listening:

This first is a message by David Sitton from the 2006 Desiring God Pastor’s Conference entitled Missionary Martyrs: Fools for Jesus for the Nations.

The second is a panel discussion on missions with David Sitton, David Sills, and Jason Mandryk.

I highly recommend them.

Quotable

“Holiness is far more than an inclination toward occasional acts of kindness and charity. It is a commitment to persistent surrender before God …

Persistence doesn’t make sense unless we live with a keen sense of eternity. …

Christian endurance is based on the idea that there is another life, commonly known as heaven, which is eternal, and for which this life is preparation. The coming world is so glorious, weighted with so much honor, that it is worth making sacrifices now to receive glory and honor and immortality there.”

(Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy, culled from pp. 108-110)