Diseases are here to stay. Microbes, our enigmatic fellow sojourner yet chief enemy taunts and mock us, comes in and out, and dances a fateful tune, luring humanity, playfully, intentionally, even religiously leaving an ocean trail of destruction and death. All the Kings’ men and all the Queens’ horses cannot and will not get rid of it, even if we have come a long way from the days when we do not know the scientific causes of illnesses and plagues. We have had some tremendous breakthroughs in the discovery of germs, which led on to cures, vaccines and effective preventive measures. Mercifully, we have managed to eliminate one deadly pandemic which is smallpox1).
While diseases, which bring discomfort, pain, misery, suffering and sometimes death are present everywhere in the world, there are those if left unchecked will cause millions to perish on a global scale in short periods of time2).
Through the ages, we have seen the likes of Typhoid Fever, Bubonic Plague, Smallpox, Cholera, Influenza and Typhus killing millions as the diseases spread over countries and continents. Such are pandemics that have proven to challenge, confound and terrify the medical profession, governments, armies, the religious, undertakers and soothsayers alike.
In this first decade of the 21st century, AIDS, tuberculosis ( TB ), malaria, and the lack of clean water are testimonies to the vulnerable and unbalanced landscape in which we live , in spite of the huge advances in medical sciences, public health, economic development and political will. A simple survey and observation will tell us that most of the dynamic impact of these present day pandemics are in the places and regions where poverty is endemic.((UNAIDS and World Health Organisation annual reports.))
Accordingly, relationship between humans and diseases is more than just the infection with the physical consequences ; of germs, symptoms and medicine. It is far more complex and challenging, obviously demanding many disciplines and fields such as medical sciences, environmentalism, cultural anthropology, biology, public health, psychology, human behaviour, sociology, economics, religion, politics, etc. to even try to comprehend the symbiotic nature and warfare of this juxta-existence. To respond in a meaningful and effective way to pandemics, is by no means easy and straight forward. Therefore, the task is enormous and overwhelming. So, this writing which is part of a whole, where my learned fellow scholars are equally contributing, I have chosen to reflect things from an experiential, theological and pragmatic point, especially with my work with people who are living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and affected by it in Malaysia.
“See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal,
And no one can deliver from my hand.”
Deuteronomy 32:39
Diseases are as old as the bible. From the plagues of Moses’s time upon the Egyptians and the many diseases recorded in the Old Testament , we gather that God was very much involved in the process –
“If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name – the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendents, harsh and prolonged diseases and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded and they will cling to you. The Lord will bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this book of the Law until you are destroyed.”
Deuteronomy 28:58-61
In other words, God was and is always present and clear in the midst of sickness and disease. The assumption is that when there is disobedience to the law, read sin, we can and will fall sick. If the people of God ( and now society ) as a whole transgress the law, there are consequences. But before we jump into the seemingly conclusion that we become sick because we are sinful or when we break the laws of God, it is seen that not all of God’s people or society, fall ill or are killed by pestilences or calamities in spite of falling short of the expectations of the law. The book of Job challenges the linkage between sin and illness. It seems to me that sickness and diseases are explained as a judgement or a consequence of something done by the sick or done to them, it helps the people to accept things and look to God for the cure or alleviation of their sufferings. In doing so, the focus is upon God who gives and takes away, the author and creator of health and disease, who is in control and is the One who heals and delivers.
“He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases; he redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion.”
Psalms 103:3,4
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Matthew 4:23
The Gospel stories of Jesus was full of healings and miracles. It was the modus operandi of Jesus to go about healing all who came to him and from everywhere . ( Matt 14:14; Mark 1:34; Luke 9:11, 13:14 ) Jesus had compassion on the people and therefore healed the sick and ministered to their varied needs. ( Matt 14:14, 20:34; Mark 1:41 ) In these healings were the signs and announcements that the Kingdom of God was here and present in the peoples’ midst! ( Matt 11:2-5, Luke 11:17-20 )
In the story of Jesus’s healing of the man who was born blind ( John 9 ), when questioned by the disciples, as to who sinned, whether it was him or his parents that he was born blind; Jesus answered –
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 9:3-5
Jesus made sure that there was not always a correlation between sin and human or natural tragedy. First of all the catalyst of divinely caused illness, disease or plague is by no means inevitably moral or disobedience but it is to make a theological point, to illustrate God’s power and control.((Johanna Stiebert
“Does the Hebrew Bible have anything to tell us about HIV/AIDS?”, 24-34 in Musa Dube, HIV/AIDS and Curriculum: Methods of Integrating HIV/AIDS in Theological Programs.
(Geneva: WCC Publications, 2003 ))) In fact, Jesus proposes and demonstrates that such forgone causal questions are irrelevant, and that it is only an opportunity for God to do something good out of it! And that he was the one who would carry out God’s will and do that good thing, that leads to the healing of the blind man !!
While there was still a very strong theological and traditional association of sin and sickness in the times of the disciples; Jesus’s response to another question raised about the sinfulness of some Galileans and others who were slaughtered by the Roman authorities or who died accidentally, cautioned that those victims were no more sinful than all the Jews. (Luke 13:1-5 ) It is every man for himself, and be responsible for what one does. What actually happens is not so easily explained, diseases and accidents can happen to anyone, sometimes there are obvious causes, and has to do with sin ( John 5:14 ), other times we do not always have the reasons or answers, but when we seek to do right and help towards the situation, to heal, to provide care and understanding then we are providing the platform on which the work of God might be displayed in the lives of the affected people.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”
Luke 4:18,19
Many of the sick and diseased were the poor and marginalised. Jesus chose the text from Isaiah, written more than 700 years before him, to declare and authenticate his Messiahship, he as the Anointed of God – because he was to set out to fulfil his calling in the very actions prophesied; as was alluded to again when he was questioned by the disciples sent by John the Baptist, who was imprisoned ( Luke 7:18-23 ). He went deliberately and intentionally to the poor and needy who were the sick, the blind, the lame, the lepers, the orphans, the widows, the outcasts, the prisoner, the demonised, the prostitutes, and healed them, touched them, comforted them, restored them, dignified them, invited them, and saved them so that he is indeed the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Saviour of the world.
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love your God with all your heart and with all heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matt. 22:37-40
Here is the crux of the matter. The two greatest commandments are inter-related ( And the second IS LIKE IT ( the first commandment ). To love God is to love your neighbour. In other words, ‘Whoever loves God must love also love his brother’ ( 1 John 4:21 ). Christians are to love, can love, will love and act upon it as God did in Jesus Christ , to the point of laying down his life for all, so that we are now called to lay down our lives for others ( 1 John 3:16). The sufferings and cries of others ought to bring us into acts of compassion and diligence, that will prove that our faith is real and authentic ( Romans 12:15; James 1:27 ).
Short of these acts ( read practise, doing, real time, real space, real people, sweat, smell, tears, money, ouch! ) of feeding the hungry and thirsty, housing the stranger, clothing the naked, looking after ( healing, nursing, curing, protecting ) the sick, visiting those in prison, etc. one cannot hope to be righteous before God, and inherit the kingdom ( Matt 25:31-46 ). Another way of saying one is not a Christian, not a follower of Jesus or not being Church!
The Micah Mandate is a Christian-based public interest advocacy ministry that seeks a transformation of our nation through justice, mercy and humility.
