The Corinthian church reminds us that Democrats and Republicans must work together to care for the least of these.
During one of the Gospels’ most well-known episodes, Jesus prophesied in Matthew 25 that when the Son of Man comes, he will separate all people into two groups and tell the group on the right that they are blessed by his Father and shall inherit “the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (v. 34). Jesus explains that they are so blessed because of their kind acts for him, including “I was sick and you looked after me” (v. 36). When the righteous ask when they saw him sick and took care of him, he answers, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (v. 40).
Who are “the least of these” that Jesus spoke of? Since 1999, there has been an annual clinic at the Wise County, Virginia, fairgrounds, offering free medical care to uninsured people in the heart of Appalachia. I’ve volunteered at this clinic many times, and the dire need for medical care in my state and the generosity of people willing to help never cease to move me. The patients I met this year were no exception: a mother of four young kids who couldn’t remember the last time she had seen a doctor; a nurse who had lost her job to an opioid addiction sparked by a prescription for arthritis; a man who needed dental, medical, and vision services but had to pick only two because he was too sick to wait in the July sun for all three. The clinic provides life-changing care to thousands in need, but the most compassionate and wealthiest nation in the world should have a health care system that doesn’t force the least among us to wait in a fairground lot for days to see an affordable doctor.
In addition to the uninsured people from all …
Source: Christianity Today Most Read