I, like many others, have been scratching my head during what has been called the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States of America. This is not about partisanship, or brinkmanship, its about what is happening to us as a nation.
From what I have gleaned listening to the news media and other information sources, it seems the shutdown was based on one side wanting something the other side was unwilling to yield on. In particular healthcare subsidies. I understand the current Affordable Care Act covers some 45 million people in our nation. I further understand the program has some real flaws and limitations. Because of the high cost of premiums, during the pandemic, the government instituted some subsidies to help with the cost of being covered under the ACA. Those subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025. If I understand correctly, individual premiums without subsidies will rise approximately 26%. If that’s correct, the impact to households would be quite harsh.
Adding to the anxiety of the pain of increased healthcare costs, during the shutdown, SNAP benefit recipients would be cut off from that lifeline. Furloughed federal workers also have been without pay during the time of the shutdown.
I don’t want to bash either political party, they each have their own perspectives, issues, and ideologies. My concern here is what we as followers of Jesus understand is our responsibility. When Jesus encountered a crowd who were hungry, he instructed the Disciples to feed them. They, like some of our leaders, complained they didn’t have the resources to do so. Jesus still insisted the hungry should be fed. When he took what little was present to him and blessed it, the multitude was fed. The same was true when dealing with someone with a health issue, or someone who was a foreigner. Jesus acted to protect, defend, heal, and feed the vulnerable.
When did it become acceptable to bargain with the stomachs and health of people? When did we become a nation of people who feel righteous in using people’s livelihoods and dignity as pawns in negotiating?
I understand the political realities of budgets and deficits. I understand there is a balancing act when it comes to which areas need to be prioritized in terms of funding. What I don’t understand is why do those on the margins of society seem to bear the biggest brunt in these fiscal disputes?
I have to wonder what it would be like if the first obligation of our society, our culture, our religion was to make sure everyone had enough to eat, everyone had adequate healthcare, and everyone had a sustainable adequate income? I don’t pretend to have the answers to solve all the issues we face as a nation and world. I’m quite sure the issues are much more tangled and intractable than what I can understand.
As a person of faith, as a person who seeks to be a follower of Jesus, I simply believe when we care for and about one another first, all the other problems we face really can be solved. Somehow, we seem to have lost sight of what Jesus told the Disciples, and us. The two greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If in fact we are made in the image of God, the imago dei, that would mean we see God in each other. If we see God in each other, aren’t we obligated to love each other with every fiber of our being? Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God, the second is like it, to love our neighbors. They are one in the same, aren’t they? If God is in our neighbor, how can we watch our neighbor starve, bleed, be cast aside, be terrorized, be demonized, be other-ized?
You and me, we may believe we can have no effect on what happens around us. We would be wrong in that assumption. When we impact one person’s life, we are making a difference. It might be simply providing a meal, or a helping hand, or a comforting embrace, but it will make a difference. Oskar Shindler saved approximately 1200 Jewish persons from the Nazi death camps. Today there are over 8000 descendants of those who were saved. In the end, Oskar didn’t believe he did enough, he didn’t believe he saved as many as he could have. A paraphrase from the Talmud, an ancient Jewish text, says…’He who saves one life saves the world entire.” The immense value of saving one single human life is as significant as saving the entire world.
We, as followers of Jesus, can impact our world with what we say and do. May God be in our coming and going, in our reaching and helping, in our loving and caring.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom