GOD INTENDS HEALTHCARE FOR ALL!!!

GOD INTENDS HEALTHCARE FOR ALL!!!

            His friends laid him by the door of the place of worship.  He had been crippled from birth, and he was unable to walk.  He was born in an era before health care developed methods to cure or heal those who were disabled. He earned his money to survive by begging from people coming to worship.  He was obviously smart about this – he had his friends put him not outside the marketplace but outside a place of worship.  Perhaps those coming to worship God would at least give to him out of guilt or shame as they went to worship God.  Of course, in today’s world, the places of worship would likely run him off, and in my home of Decatur and  Atlanta, it is illegal to beg anywhere.  How would the disciples of Jesus have survived without begging?  Fortunately, for that time, begging is legal.

            One day, two people named Peter and John are on their way to worship, and they encounter this man at the entrance.  This story is found in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, most likely written by the same person who wrote the Gospel According to Luke.  Their encounter with this man who is crippled is the first public act of this little group of followers who have formed after the Resurrection of jesus of Nazareth.   The man calls out to them:  “Alms for the poor, alms for the poor.”  Rather than passing him by or wondering what kind of con game this is, Peter and John decide to encounter this man.  Peter tells him:  “Look at us,” and the man does, expecting to receive a significant monetary donation. 

            Peter tells him that they have no money to give him, but what they do have, they will share.  Peter tells him to get up and walk in the name of Jesus.  Peter doesn’t just talk about it – he grasps the man’s hand and pulls him up.  The man is able to walk, and indeed he doesn’t just walk around – he is leaping and jumping for joy.  He is cured!  He now goes into the Temple, into the place of worship.  He is no longer considered unclean, and he is able to become part of the community rather than being pushed to the margins of the community.

            This man is both healed and cured.  “Cured” because his disabling condition seems to go away through the powerful channeling of the healing power of Jesus.  “Healed” because he is welcomed back into the community, brought in from the margins.  This story is both inspiring and disturbing.  It is inspiring because it indicates that God intends healthcare for everyone – here we see someone at the margins of life who receives the healing and curing power of God.  It comes to him not because he is working hard or because he is from a wealthy family but because he is one of the beloved of God.

            It is disturbing because we know that most people who have disabilities are not cured in this manner.   The issue often is not “How can I be cured?” but rather “How can I find healing and find life and find community in the midst of my disability?”  There are answers on a couple of levels:  first the church is asked to be like this first public act in Acts 3, to welcome all people, no matter our level of ability or the categories into which the world places us.  As my colleague the Reverend Tamara Puffer has reminded us, this is a huge step of healing, and it is a very difficult step for churches to take.  If we are wondering about issues of accessibility and welcoming for those who are differently abled, let us remember this first public act of the church. 

            Second, we are asked to be committed to the revelation in this story that God intends healthcare for all – no ifs, ands and buts about it.  In the failure of the Republican healthcare approach last week, its defeat was brought about by 49 Democrats and 3 Republicans in the Senate – two women who know so much about being marginalized and told that their bodies don’t belong to them but to men, and one man who had just undergone surgery for a brain tumor, reminding him of the base line of this premise that God intends healthcare for all.  The powers who want healthcare confined to the very rich will, of course, be back with another attempt, but those of us who follow Jesus of Nazareth must remember and act in accordance with this first public act of the church:  God intends healthcare for all.

            This story recognizes this struggle, and we’ll look more at it next week, but for now, read the 3^rd and 4^th chapters of Acts and remember:  God intends healthcare for all!!!  Let us pray about it, and let us practice what we pray.