From The Pastor’s Heart OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
A few weeks ago, after hearing one more person speaking about their choice and their freedom to take the vaccination or not and stating that people have the right to wear a mask or not, my wife and I decided to push back by reminding them of the “common good.”
I read the introductory part of an essay that was published February 2018, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy in that “in ordinary political discourse, the ‘common good’ refers to those facilities – whether material, cultural or institutional – that the members of a community provide to all members in order to fulfill a relational obligation they all have to care for certain interests that they have in common.”
The canonical examples of the common good that are offered in a modern liberal democracy include the road system; public parks; police protection and public safety; courts and the judicial system; public schools; museums and cultural institutions; public transportation; civil liberties, such as the freedom of speech and the freedom of association; the system of property; clean air and clean water; and national defense. The term, it says, may refer either to the interests that members have in common or to the facilities that serve common interests.
After reflecting on the philosophical description, above, I have been asking myself, how much are we taking responsibility today for the “common good?” Unfortunately, the response to the coronavirus has been teaching many lessons about the unwillingness of many to care about “the common good.”
Of course, we can see the lack of care about the common good in many other areas than in the pandemic, and such is creating destruction in multiple areas of our lives. The rise in temperatures, the slow melting ice caps on the mountains, the rise of the oceans and the seas, the flooding rivers, the tornadoes and hurricanes, the drought and tragic fires in the western part of the United States, in Europe and other parts of the world, the famines, the earthquakes, and all that is attributable to climate change, are telling a story about our selfishness and self-centeredness.
As is being said, we are seeking to “satisfy our greed and not our need.” We are seeking our own happiness and not that of others. We are forgetting the word of God, as stated in Matthew 7:1) that we are to “do to others as we would like them to do to us.”
Or are we forgetting to remember the commandments of the Lord as first stated in the First Testament of the Bible (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18) and repeated in the Second Testament by Jesus as He replied to questions put to him by a scribal teacher? In response to one such question, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your 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 neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40).
In effect, in responding to the scribe, Jesus was challenging the deep-hearted self-centeredness of His day, and there is no question that if He were on earth today, he would be confronting and condemning the same self-centeredness. Quite likely, he might have asked us to evaluate what we call our cultural ideal, namely, Individualism, which is stated to be one of the four great pillars of American life, and the others, “pluralism,” “Evangelicalism,” and “capitalism.”
He would be asking us to evaluate the political ideology that teaches, “It is your money; Use it how you want.” He would be telling us that our words and phrases might sound good for a political campaign. Finally, he would contend about our proclamations of our concept of freedom, saying that we are building up selfishness into our hearts, which has been the tragic flaw of humanity since “the fall” (Genesis 3). I know some of you who might be reading the reflection might not like the concept of “the fall,” but I am sure you know that something is wrong with our world, and at the center of it is selfishness.
I have said that this coronavirus has taught me more and more about the selfish hearts of humanity. The simple calls to wear a mask and take the vaccine bring so many negative reactions that it is amazing. Some governors are using dictatorial powers, as it were, to stop mask-wearing, while other governors and mayors, school superintendents, and other leaders who are calling for the wearing of masks are being attacked.
The point is that is most interesting is that some who even claim to be very religious, some calling themselves Christians or “nones,” have fallen into the camp of the self-centered. Yes, many have forgotten that the earliest Christians worked together, “having all things in common in practice” (Acts 2:44). They not only prayed together and studied the word of God together, but they shared their possessions with one another.
One commentator states: “The hateful sin of selfishness exists to a great degree, even in some who profess to be devoted to the work of God. If they would compare their character with his requirements, especially with the great standard, his holy, just, and good law, they would ascertain, if earnest, honest searchers, that they are fearfully wanting. But some are not willing to look far enough or deep enough to see the depravity of their own hearts.
“They are wanting in very many respects; yet they remain in willing ignorance of their guilt and are so intent upon caring for their own interests that God has no care for them. Some are not naturally devotional, and therefore should encourage and cultivate a habit of close examination of their own lives and motives, and should especially cherish a love for religious exercises and for secret prayer.” (EGW92 111.2)
At this time, I am calling for us to think more of the “common good” and think more about our responsibilities. Remember that whenever we think about our survival as individuals and the well-being of others, that there will be a positive impact on the social system.
