Show your neighbours you care about their eternity.
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From Luke’s Journal February 2024 | Vol.29 No.1 | Missions and Sacrificial Service
“My illness must have caused you some trouble,
but you didn’t hate me or turn me away because of it.
You welcomed me as though I were one of God’s angels
or even Christ Jesus Himself…Where is that good feeling now?
…Am I now your enemy, just because I told you the truth?“
(Galatians 4:14-16)
A Shattered Dream
Plop. Plop. Plop.
Blobs of moisture slide down Stella’s cheek, splattering on the tiles below.
She swats them away with her hand. Has she noticed I’m blubbering? Hope not. The water’s steaming up the shower cubicle, fogging up her face shield and mask. She usually hates wearing them, but today she’s grateful: with these on, her tears could be mistaken for sweat.
Speaking low, struggling to keep her voice steady, Stella says, “Should I wash your hair?”
“No, you fool,” snaps Edith. “Can’t you read the sign on the wall? It says only the hairdresser may wash my hair because it’s permed.”
Stella rubs her chest. I wonder if they make Mepilex for hearts. “Right, of course,” she says. Inside she sighs. Edith, you’re the bane of my existence. My mental health wasn’t great before I started working here, but now it’s completely shot.
Stella hasn’t always felt this way. Her first shift as a nurse couldn’t have come sooner. She’d experienced hardship in her life, and her pastor had said that sometimes God allows us to experience tough times so that we will be equipped to comfort others during their own agonising trials. From then on, Stella yearned for the day she could put what she’d learnt about suffering into practice. But it didn’t turn out the way she dreamed.
Her patients, often cranky and rude, attacked her with words, and a couple of times with fists. Some of them smelled like urine, no matter how well she washed them, and lots had impairments so burdensome her body and mind felt drained by the end of the day. Stella wasn’t alone; she’d seen this happen to others, too. Student nurses would arrive fresh-faced and smiling, eager to practice in hospital corners and to shine a ray of sunlight into lives which weren’t shining as brightly as they once had. A couple of shifts later, those same students would appear with shoulders slumped, mouths frowning, downhearted. Abuse from patients is a major factor in the health profession’s high attrition rate.
A Glowing Review
How can we turn this around? In Galatians 4:13-14, Paul falls sick. There’s debate over what the ailment was, but the New American Standard Bible (NASB) translates it as ‘a bodily illness’. It says Paul’s sickness was a burden on him as well as a trial for the Galatians who cared for him. Paul’s condition was so abhorrent it would repel most ordinary people, but, somehow, Paul gives his carers a glowing review. How did the Galatians show him such tender care? Well, it seems they behaved as though they were comforting Jesus. I love how the Contemporary English Version (CEV) of the Bible translates the Galatians’ response. It says, “My illness must have caused you some trouble, but you didn’t hate me or turn me away because of it. You welcomed me as though I were one of God’s angels or even Christ Jesus Himself” (Galatians 4:14).
“We see a picture of this love for Jesus despite His weakness in Isaiah 53:2, where it says that while Jesus lived on earth, He had no stately form or majesty; no appearance we would take pleasure in.”
We see a picture of this love for Jesus despite His weakness in Isaiah 53:2, where it says that while Jesus lived on earth, He had no stately form or majesty; no appearance we would take pleasure in. Because of this, some Bible scholars believe Jesus was physically unattractive or plain. Yet his disciples still loved Him. We find another instance of this love for Jesus during a time of weakness when He hung on the cross dying. His mind anguished and His body bloodied, bruised and broken, He seemed powerless. Nothing about Him attracted the baying mob. In fact, His ailment was so gruesome that many probably shielded their eyes to avoid looking straight at Him, preferring not to have anything to do with Him at all. But His fearful, hiding disciples still loved Him.
A Soured Relationship
After commending the Galatians’ care for him, Paul goes on to say, “Where is that feeling now…am I now your enemy, just because I told you the truth?” It seems, after a glorious start, that the relationship soured. The Galatians lost their concern for Paul because he told them the truth. Sometimes healthcare workers lose their first love of caring for that exact reason. A trail of grouchy patients will tell you what they really think of you: something unflattering that stabs at your heart and mind. Often though, it’s the mental and physical strain of caring for multiple patients with severe, time-consuming disabilities that results in emotional fatigue and turmoil. That’s how it affected me.
“Sickness often strips us of our dignity, cheerfulness, beauty and talents. We’re no longer capable of putting on a veneer that makes us appear more than what we really are.”
Sickness often strips us of our dignity, cheerfulness, beauty and talents. We’re no longer capable of putting on a veneer that makes us appear more than what we really are. Where once we were athletic, academic, pretty or jovial, we’re now incapable of achieving those awards that won our peer’s esteem. Our patients’ have lost what normally attracts a crowd, and now we, like the Galatians have lost our first love for caring. Could we start to regain it by praying that God will restore the desire we had at the beginning, that of caring for the sick and feeble? Could we, like Jesus’ disciples and the Galatians, show the poor, sick and suffering the same kind of love, attention and patience we would show an angel of God or even Christ Jesus Himself, if it were one of them lying in that hospital bed? That’s one of the ways I’ve lessened the mental strain of caring for others in my own practice.
In 2 Corinthians 6:4-5, Paul states that as a servant of God, he had endured many afflictions, hardships, difficulties, beatings, imprisonments, mob attacks, labours, sleeplessness and even hunger. No wonder he fell sick in Galatia. Could we get back our first love by praying for God to remind us that some patients find themselves in difficult circumstances because they’ve also faced health-altering circumstances? Could we even pray that God will rebuild our compassion to nurture patients who have contributed to their own trials through gluttony, drunkenness, illicit drugs and other sinful behaviours? Loving and serving our patients like angels of God or Christ Jesus Himself is a lofty goal, but if God could help the Galatians do it, surely He will help us also.
A Commitment to Care, even as a Patient
In Galatians 4:13, Paul says he hadn’t intended on remaining in Galatia as long as he did. Only sickness extended his stay, but he didn’t mope in bed or enlarge the burden of his trial for the Galatians. No, instead, he preached. If you’re a patient or a resident of an aged care home, could you do something similar? Instead of amplifying your nurse’s emotional and physical fatigue, could you spend this time of inactivity praying for her, deepening your understanding of God’s word, sending cards of encouragement to friends who aren’t ill or by brightening the day of the patients in your ward?
“The Bible commands that you love them. It’s something God will judge you on when you stand before Him on Judgement Day.”
The Bible says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31). If you’re a patient or an aged-care resident, your neighbours are your nurses, doctors and fellow patients. The Bible commands that you love them. It’s something God will judge you on when you stand before Him on Judgement Day.
This verse also commands that your neighbours love you, and God will judge them on this as well. Rather than intensifying the burden of your trial for them, show your neighbours you care about their eternity by becoming easy to love and care for.
Tanya Tufanova
Tanya Tufanova is a personal care worker and aunt to one nephew and five nieces, one of whom has a chromosomal disorder and a learning disability. She enjoys sharing with others how valuable people with disabilities are and loves telling how God can forgive us of even the worst sins.
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