There was a film that came out a few years back called The Man Who Sued God. Billy Connolly played the part of a former lawyer who retired to bum around Australia on a fishing boat.  When his fishing boat was destroyed by lightning, he made an insurance claim, and it was rejected because of that tiny contractual escape clause, “An Act of God.”

Billy Connolly refused to accept this, and set out on a mission to sue God. He took God to court, or at least God’s representatives; the church. Most of the movie took place in the courtroom, with some very funny scenes where Billy Connolly was questioning the insurance representatives, and also some church leaders, and what emerged from the movie is that the church leaders were just as deceptive as the insurance reps.  They both used their ideology to avoid responsibility.

There is a scene in the movie where Billy Connolly forces the church leaders to make a decision; they must either accept that God exists, and if God exists then God is liable for the damage to the boat, or else they admit that God does not exist.  The only way for them to win the case was to admit that God does not exist.

Here is an excerpt from the script that points out the hypocrisy of the “Act of God” clause. Billy Connolly is speaking with an insurance representative.

Billy Connolly: Would you say that the sinking of the Titanic was an 'Act of God'?

Insurance Rep: I beg your pardon? That was before my time.

B.C.: It was a ship. It struck an iceberg, and perhaps you saw the film? The orchestra played that lovely little tune as they went down.
                    
IR.: I don't think it was one of ours.  It was deemed an 'Act of God'.

B.C.: I'm not surprised, an unassessible risk, an iceberg. Who would have thought? And yet the insurance companies paid out in order to avoid the bad publicity. Now there's a funny thing. One last thing: Last year your company declared profits of billions. Did you remember to thank God for it?

An Act of God

Stop and think about this notion of an “act of God” for just a moment. How ironic! How ironic that God, who was portrayed by the Hebrew prophets and by Jesus and those in the Jesus Movement, as being the champion of the poor and the oppressed, is now used as an escape clause to oppress the poor. How ironic and how convenient for the insurance company!

This morning I will assess the health care system in this country, and how we might respond to the current issues, while being inspired by the teachings of the prophets and Jesus.

I should tell you up front that I'm still getting to know the system in this country. The whole system is very new to me, and it might help you to understand where I come from. In Australia, where I grew up, there was free health care for all until a certain point when private health care was introduced. But the private health care industry was always run in parallel with the public system.

Our family only ever used the public system up to the point where we left the country about seven years ago. Through the birth of three children and various other significant health issues we always found the public system to be very adequate. We found that the public system in Australia did not have any of the problems that are associated with the Canadian health system. So I arrive in America with a very positive perspective on public health care.

In America the system is set up quite differently. and I don't fully understand its intricacies. Bear with me as I learn. My overall impression is that health care in this country is excellent. It’s world-class, but at the same time I sense that access to the health care system is unequal and unjust.

A System In Crisis

It's best captured by a true story that took place in Kansas City about three weeks ago involving a couple, Stanley and Criste Reimer. Stanley walked his wife Criste to the balcony of their sixth story apartment, kissed her and helped her over the edge to her death.

There were many questions asked during the ensuing investigation, and it came out that Stanley and Criste were in dire circumstances. Criste was at her wit's end with frustration regarding her various health issues. Stanley was trying to come up with $700 to $800 a week for the various medications, they had no insurance, and few prospects. It ended in this tragedy.

Now I'm in no way condoning what Stanley did that day. And I know we don’t have a full picture of their home situation, but I do believe if the health care system had even partial responsibility for the couple’s desperation, and even partially led to the death of that woman, I would say that is a system that needs to be improved.  The health system needs to be healed itself.

Illness in Jesus’ Day

So let's come to this story from Mark Chapter 1, and see how this encounter between Jesus and a man with leprosy can guide our various responses and values with regards to the health care system in this country.

In the first century illness was a mark of uncleanness, cause for religious and social alienation. In the Temple system those who were ill were kept in their place at the edge of the temple. Those with leprosy were the least of the least. They were the most unclean of all. Therefore, they were kept on the very edge of the life of the community.

The temple was not just a place for religious observance; it was also the legal and financial centre of the community. To be kept at the edge of the life of the temple was not just about being excluded from the best seats at worship; it was also about being excluded from access to the communities’ resources, and it was about being unfairly marginalized as a human being.

And so when Jesus healed the man, whether our understanding is that this happened literally, or else is a powerful myth, the healing wasn't just about his physical condition; the healing that Jesus offered was one where the man was asked to go within and accept himself. Having accepted himself, it was about the man being restored to the life of the community. The healing was about a man having access to the resources of the community. Healing, in Jesus framework, was holistic. It was about a man, his disease and the system that abandoned him.

There is a small phrase in Mark 1 that I want to spend a few minutes on. In verse 41 it says that Jesus was “moved with pity.”  As we often encounter, specific Bible verses have various scholarly opinions about the translation. (1. See note below) This phrase, “moved with pity” has two major schools of scholarly thought. One school of thought says that it should be translated, “moved with anger.” According to this view, Jesus was not angry with the man with leprosy, Jesus was angry at the religious system that would tell this man that his leprosy was an act of God. Jesus was mad at a system that would say that this illness came from God, that his illness may have been due to some sin of his own, so he should learn to accept it.

According to this understanding of the text, Jesus said to the man, “Go and present yourself to the priest as he is the one who represents the system, and testify against the system. Testify against a system that would abandon you in a condition such as this.”

The other school of thought is that it is best translated as “moved with compassion.” Jesus used a very technical word for compassion, and it’s not used in many other places. Jesus borrowed it from an earlier Greek word that indicated the very insides of an animal brought for ritual sacrifice. So according to this view,  the point that Jesus was making was that sacrifice of a scapegoat is no longer necessary. The only necessary response is a deep inner empathy or compassion. Jesus subverted the old world of sacrifice into the new world of self-sacrifice. The impulsive passions behind the making of sacrificial victims were transformed by Jesus into a compassionate restoration of victims.

The only sacrifice required now was the sacrifice of service, the sacrifice of taking care of others, empathizing with their situation. Whatever self is given up in the act of service, that's the only sacrifice that is required, according to Jesus' teaching.

So either Jesus was moved with anger or compassion, but the point is much the same either way. Jesus healed the man in a holistic sense and brought him back into community, and that gave him access to resources of the community. Jesus’ compassion manifested as service to the man, and outrage at the system that abandoned him.

So what values might we draw from Jesus ministry that would inform our understanding of the health care system?

5 Principles for Health Care

The first principle that I draw is that people have a disease; people are not their disease. A man has leprosy; he is not a leper.  Any system, whether it's a religious system or health or education system, that treats people as nothing more than their conditions, is likely to be an unjust system that lacks compassion.  The call of Jesus is to treat people as people, people who may have illnesses but are so much more than their conditions.

The second principle is that systems exist to serve people rather than the other way around. People own the systems, rather than the system owning the people. Systems don't exist primarily to make profits from the people. A nice illustration of this value comes from Jonas Salk, the inventor of the vaccine for polio. Salk was asked the question, “Who owns the vaccine for polio?” His answer was, “The people own the vaccine. Who else could own it but the people? Who owns the sun?” The system exists to serve the people, not primarily to make profit from the people.

Michael Moore has exposed the profit obsession in the health care system in his recent movie, “Sicko”. He points out that in the health insurance industry, a payout is described as a loss. The more claims that are refused, the greater the profit for the insurance company.

The awful truth is that people sometimes die because they can't get medical care, and people get sicker than they need to because they can get health care only through emergency rooms, and emergency rooms do not manage long-term, chronic diseases. People die or come close to dying because of the delays caused by the need to deal with insurance companies whose primary concern is profit. This is a system that needs healing. It may be serving the profit motive and some of the people, but it is not serving all the people.

The third value that I draw from the ministry of Jesus involves the question that people often ask regarding health care. Do we have an individual right to health care? I want to turn that question around and suggest that it is not about whether we have a right to health care; rather we have a responsibility to ensure that the most vulnerable in society have access to health care. That to me is beyond question. That grows out of the ministry of Jesus. We have a responsibility to ensure that others have access to health care, especially the most vulnerable in society.

Health care is becoming out of reach for many Americans and the situation is unjust. It's captured well by the joke that’s been doing the rounds- Nowadays on a bottle of medication it says to “take two pills when you can afford it.” 

Where are our priorities? In 2005, the US spend 450 billion on the military and only 15 billion on fighting poverty. That same year, 185 million was spent on advertising campaigns just to maintain the status quo of the health care system. That’s a lot of money, attempting to defend an indefensible system.

The health care system in this country seems to have gone to an extreme of profit before people, corporate gain before service. We are certainly not taking care of the most vulnerable people in society. I understand the President is considering vetoing a bill that gives access to health care to 4 million children in this country. I cannot for the life me understand how a bill to give health care to children could be vetoed.

Children, some of the most vulnerable people in our society, must be protected by having easy access to the health care system.

I understand the hospice system in this country is a wonderful beacon of light and hope to the rest of the health care system. Hospice is one of those areas where people do get access to the health care system. If only the hospice system could be an inspiration to the whole health care system. Then we might move toward service and universality rather than profit and elitism.

That brings me to my fifth and final principle that I draw from the ministry of Jesus. Religious groups are measured primarily by their care for the poor and vulnerable. That includes our community. Our community’s health is measured primarily by how well or effectively we care for the poor and vulnerable. And we need make no mistake of the fact that the American health care system very clearly discriminates according to class, color, and gender.

It is important for a community like ours to protect the most vulnerable; children and the dying, those who are discriminated against and marginalized in society. This is the measure of the health of a community.

There is a wonderful verse in the Mishna, which is a collection of Hebrew oral tradition. The Mishna was put together around the same time as the New Testament. The Mishna says, “Why did God begin creation with one person?  To teach that one who saves a single life- it is as if he has saved the world.” (Sanhedrin 4:5) 

It is a wonderful principle that is echoed in the prophets and Jesus’ teachings.

Making Room for All

Does the current health care system have room for all? 
Is our compassion, as a community, broad enough to include all?

There is a beautiful Hasidic tale involving Rabbi Raphael of Bershad, who invited a group of his disciples to come share with him in a ride in his coach. "But there is not enough room!" a disciple cried out, "The rebbe will be crowded." The master replied, "Then we shall have to love each other more. If we love each other more, there will be room for us all."

Isnt that beautiful? That’s an act of God!

I don’t know what your perspective is on the system in this country. Maybe
you're an advocate, like Michael Moore, for removing insurance companies from the system altogether.

Maybe you’re an advocate for Medicare for all and private health insurance above and beyond the basics. Maybe you’re an advocate for universal, single payer health care. You have your own perspectives, and I'm not here to tell you what to think. I'm here to challenge you that whatever your perspective, whatever your preference for the health care system, make it large enough for all. If there is not room for all in your perspective then you need to love a little more. If you love a little more there will be room for all.

How deep is your compassion? How large is your heart for all people, especially the most vulnerable in society? If there is room for all in your perspective, that itself will be an act of God.

1. The Greek word in Mark 1;41 is either orgistheis, "moved with anger," or "splagchnizomai,- “Moved with compassion”. Splagchnizomai, is a rare Greek word and seems to be a special Synoptic word for Jesus.
The verb form in earlier Greek literature is even more gruesome. Splagchneuo meant to eat the inner parts at the sacrificial meal, or to use the entrails in divination.

Mark 1
40A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 41Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” 42Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.