Kingdom Building

August 24, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. –Luke 13:10-13

My first real job was working as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home when I was 16 years old the summer before my senior year in high school.  I loved the work and what is more, I learned many life lessons in that three-month experience. I learned the ravages of missuse of alcohol and tobacco and the understanding that one’s attitude about life makes all the difference in the world in one’s mental health. I learned that love shared in regular small measures is as important as big parties. I learned that sharing time with people of all ages is crucial to life’s happiness.

One of our patients had never had her hair cut and it hung beautifully down her back in the beautiful natural colors of a long-lived life. A daughter stopped by every morning on her way to work to brush her mother’s hair and braid it into one long braid that was sometimes wrapped around her head, but most often lay across her shoulder. Walking by I could hear the daughter telling her mother about the lives of their family. One of her great grand children had taken her first step.  A grandson just won first place at the county fair for his steer. The daughter was present for only 20 or so minutes every weekday but she left enough love to last the mother through the day.

Another patient was once a leader in the community active in civic affairs and her church. She was one of few people who had a private room, but she preferred to be just one of the patients like the others. She was there because she had a serious heart disease that required 24/7 medical attention. Her one demand was that she be allowed to take a tub bath once a week. Nursing homes prefer patients take showers or even sponge baths, but we were equipped with a tub and a tub bath she got once a week. Because of her heart condition she could not be afforded the privacy most prefer while bathing and thus I was assigned several times to sit with her as she bathed. Her lack of privacy did not seem to bother her. She loved to sing, and I think I got picked to sit with her because the first time I sat with her she burst into singing old familiar hymns and insisted I join her. I did know most of her favorites and could even sing the alto to her soprano on most. She created her own joy to the end of her life.

The gospel writers included many examples of Jesus’ healing people. I like the words he is quoted as saying in the scripture above, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’  We can become prisoners of our life challenges or allow others to become prisoners to theirs, or we can choose, like Jesus, to do all we can to free ourselves and others to feel loved, to share love, and to know God’s joy.

Prayer: Lord, help us to love like Jesus in all we do as we strive to know and share joy. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.