On Miracles & Justice Through Community: Servants India Y-Team

The follow reflection was written by a member of the Servants India Y-team.  To learn more about this team and ways you can join them, click here.

This week I heard a moving story about a family’s brush with death and their experience of God’s miraculous intervention to save the life of their newborn daughter. They described the six hundred people who were interceding for them all at the same time, the nearness of God throughout the whole ordeal, the state-of-the-art medical facilities and the world-class doctors they were able to get treatment from. I appreciated hearing an honest and personal account of a very difficult situation, and at the end of the story I felt happy and relieved to see a photo of their adorable little girl who continues to develop as a normal, healthy child. But this story of miraculous intervention and the avoidance of tragedy also brought up more complex emotions and questions for me. I couldn’t help but think of all the babies and children in my neighborhood in India who have died of preventable causes over the past few years– things much simpler than the condition this baby suffered from. I wondered whether those children are any less precious to God than this little girl who was saved. I wondered whether God is really petty enough to count the number of intercessors before deciding whether to get involved.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve begun trying to sort out the difference between God’s blessings and the privileges that we hold onto for ourselves. In this story, it was remarkable that the child survived a very serious health condition and a very rare complication after a high-risk surgery– her recovery is certainly a miracle that goes beyond the limits of medical treatment. But still, a part of her story is that she was operated on by, literally, the best surgeon in the world. A part of her story is that her family had access to some of the best medical centers in the world, that they could afford it, and that their families were wealthy enough to put them up in a hotel and provide for their every need while they waited for their daughter to be able to leave the hospital. All of these factors of geography, income, and family connections played a significant role in determining whether the child would live or die.

I’ve waited outside of crappy public hospitals in India with families who shuttle relatives back and forth from home to bring meager provisions for the patient and the people who are waiting at their bedside. I’ve seen the families who come in from the villages for treatment and who just sleep outside on the grass or curl into the fetal position on one corner of their patient’s hospital bed for nights on end because there’s nowhere else to stay and no money to pay for accommodation. I’ve seen situations in which so many odds are stacked against them that it would take a big miracle to save anyone, and I wonder– have we taken some of our privileges for granted and given God credit for things that global economics, or politics, or we personally have allotted to ourselves? How many Indian doctors and nurses are competing for high-paying positions in American hospitals instead of taking positions at hospitals and clinics in their home country where there are severe staff shortages because our country can afford to pay them more, and because treating wealthy patients in spacious, private offices is less stressful than treating poor patients in overcrowded clinics?

I’m not resentful that children in my home country get great medical care. On the contrary, I join this child’s parents in celebrating the gift of her life! But I am also disturbed that children in my adopted home country hardly get any medical care at all, and I also grieve with the parents of so many children whose lives have been lost– not for lack of divine intrvention, but for lack of basic medical care… and maybe for lack of God’s people intervening.

I’m struck by how much relationships can determine in our lives. I know many wealthy people who are extremely generous amongst their friends and relatives. They are often quick to respond to any need that is brought to their attention, but the problem is that few needs are likely to crop up in their network of relationships, because everyone they know is also likely to be fairly educated, wealthy, and well-placed in the world. Likewise, when entire families, neighborhoods, groups of peope, or nations are poor, chances are that the neediest people will only have other needy people in their networks of relationships when some crisis arises.

What if we could change that? What if we who are wealthy (if you’re literate and have access to a computer and an internet connection to read this, then you are in that category) could expand our circle of friends and family to include those who are poor? If a stranger needs housing, or cancer treatment, or a hot meal, we may or may not contribute through some indirect, sterile line of charitable donation. But if our sister or father or friend is the one who is ill or without a job or in need of a place to stay, there’s no way we would let them go without!

The redefinition of family and responsibility for our fellow human beings is at the very heart of the Kingdom Jesus preached. He scandalized his listeners by declaring that his mother and brother and sisters were not merely his biological kin, but included all those who did the will of God. He revolutionized our concept of the “neighbor” whom we are to love as we love ourselves to include not just those who are ethnically, religiously, or geographically close to us but even those who are our enemies. Many people were offended by these teachings because they believed that Jesus was devaluing the relationships between parents and children, or between people of the same nation or religion. Those people didn’t understand him. He was actually telling us that we owe that same level of committed care and compassion to whoever is in need of it, whether they’re biological family or not.

Expanding our sense of family and neighborhood goes beyond just moving money around. It means making our time, our energy, our resources, our connections, and our know-how available to those we have accepted as part of our surrogate family. Maybe that means moving into a neighborhood where poor people will live nextdoor to us. Maybe it means creating opportunities to build relationship with people in need by volunteering somewhere where we will cross paths with people we wouldn’t meet in the course of our usual routine. However we go about it, it’s bound to take some intentional effort and creativity because it will take us beyond our comfort zone. But I believe that if we can do that, then all of the advantages we’ve been given in life—whether direct gifts from God or the unjust gains of an unequal system—will become true blessings to those who give and to those who receive.