Is There No Balm In Gilead? By Shannon Daley-Harris, M.div.

Surely they identify with the cry, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”

Too often this identification, however, is made in silence. Many people experience shame about being uninsured and feel a sense of failure. Pastors, congregation members and friends may be unaware of those who experience the stress and physical repercussions of lack of insurance.

Even those who have health insurance may be in the midst of a health crisis of their own or that of a loved one. Surely the cry and question is upon their heart, “Why then has [my] health…not been restored?” To be sure, one needs to recognize that health care coverage is not a guarantee against sickness and injury, and insured people may experience their own struggles and grief over poor health.

Still others may come to this text with the familiar words of the hymn in their head, “There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.” In discussing health in a religious context, one always needs to be mindful of the connection many still make between sickness and sin; surely, if I (or she) had not done something wrong, had not been sinful, I (or she) would not be “punished” like this. Pastoral sensitivity is called for to ensure that the sick, or the uninsured, do not blame themselves, and that others do not blame them and assign a moral judgment to the one who is suffering.

Preaching the Lesson

“Sin-sick soul” is not a medical condition, it is a spiritual condition. And it is not only an individual complaint but the status of society.

The themes of turning away and repenting and a movement from sin to judgment to lamentation are especially fitting in the context of Cover the Uninsured Week as it is observed by congregations across the nation.

While we might like to keep the notion of sin vague and at arm’s length, we are confronted by concrete examples close to home:

· How would God judge our nation’s sin in allowing 8.5 million children—the same number as every first- and second-grader in our country’s public schools—to lack health insurance and suffer the consequences?

· How would God judge the sin of our nation allowing nearly 44 million people to lack health insurance, and live sicker and die younger as a result?

· Can it be other than sin to live in a nation blessed with unparalleled health technologies, trained health care providers, state-of-the-art health care facilities, and allow one in eight persons to lack health insurance and the access to the care that he or she needs?

· How would our silence and inaction on solving the problem of the uninsured be judged, when we know that people who are uninsured live sicker and often die younger as a result?

Surely, this fails to meet God’s standard of justice and God’s expectations of community and compassion.

Our scripture gives voice to the anguish that the prophet and God feel at the sin of the people, at the unrelieved suffering, at the failure of justice and compassion.

The prophet asks rhetorically, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”