Jesus and “The Common Good”

In the Gospel of John there are seven stories of miracles that are referred to in the text as signs.  These signs are as follows: the turning of water into wine at Cana, the healing of the Nobleman’s Son, the healing of the palsied man, the feeding of the five thousand, the storm on the lake and Jesus walking on the sea, the healing of the blind man, and the raising of Lazarus from death.  Each sign is a word picture about some aspect of the Jesus of Faith that the early Church community wanted record for their posterity.

These early Christian recorded the story of a Jesus who was first, perhaps foremost, interested in the lives of the common person.  Each of the seven signs were miracles for the common person.  They were to show his power and benevolence towards the common, the poor, the lame, the hopeless, and even the faithless.   He was a Social Justice Jesus and his message was that he was the answer to their desperation.

In other words, John’s Jesus of Faith seemed to have had what is a fundamental principle of Catholic Social teaching: a preferential option for the poor.  In my opinion, this is a different Jesus than the one worshipped in the Conservative Christian Church.

If you believe that this is an unfair, wide sweeping and hasty generalization about American conservative Christianity then I guess that I owe you an explanation.

My evidence: An organization that (dubiously) speaks on your behalf unamimously opposed a public option for healthcare.  (More about conservative Christians and health care reform). Why?  Where in the bible are we taught that the government shouldn’t provide medical care to the poor?  What does this have to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ in the first place?

And finally, what would Jesus say about an organization that seems to always find moral and/or religious reasons to maintain social systems that seem obviously inherently unjust?

Would he say “Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ”?
…or rather “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”?

Interestingly enough, this ambiguous statement attributed to Jesus comes from the Gospel of Matthew, a Gospel wherein Jesus is portrayed as “the Righteous,” and which is the foundation of the Church’s historic involvement in Social Justice issues.

So in our rendering, what is Caesar’s part and what is God’s part?

Caesar’s Part

Caesar’s part in this case was coins, i.e. taxes paid in coins with his picture stamped on them. Jesus was answering a question about the necessity of paying taxes and his response was “pay them.”  The question was important for a Rabbi of his standing to address because some Rabbis (see the Zealots) of standing were refusing to pay taxes because they felt that Rome was not entitled to collect them, for various religious and cultural reasons.

Jesus seems to have believed that paying taxes was a duty and it is very likely that his rationale for paying them was very likely for “the preservation of the common good” and not for the purpose of fighting Rome’s foreign wars (see this article on how America has lost touch with the morality of the common good).  “The common good” is an ancient morality that teaches that what is good for the majority of the people is the most just.  Pope Leo XIII brought this concept into the modern age in an encyclical entitled “Rerun Novarum” (of New Things) in the year 1891 in order “to combat the excesses of both laissez-faire capitalism on the one hand and communism on the other” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_good).

Of course there were many problems with how and when Rome provided for the common good, but Jesus seems to have believed in this role for secular government. This government role is also a component of the Apostle Paul’s instructions to the Romans: 13:1 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher (i.e. government) powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”

Still, sometimes what Caesar demands as his part is contrary to the Law of God and thus can be seen as by definition not for the common good, as with the story Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego (Daniel 3).  Fair enough.

But I ask you, is the providing of health care for every person such a time?

http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/familyvaluesreport.pdf

God’s Part

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

And finally I ask, how is opposition to healthcare reform providing for the common good and obeying Jesus’ law?  I mean, unless you are worshipping a different Jesus than the one of the Bible…?