One morning a man came into the church on crutches. He stopped in front of the holy water and splashed some of it on both of his legs, then threw away his crutches. Little Johnny witnessed the scene and ran into the rectory to tell the priest what he had just seen. Without batting an eye, the priest said, "Son, you have just witnessed a miracle. Tell me, where is this man?" "Flat on his face over by the holy water, Father."
Today Jesus heals. He heals Peter's mother in law and then he heals the crowd and the healing goes into the night. Jesus healing comes in his caring and compassion for the people. It oozes from the pages of the text. As he moves throughout the cities and into the countryside, he moves with compassion in the way he cares for God's people.
Jesus gives care everywhere he goes.
CAREGIVING TODAY
Care giving today is a billion dollar industry. It is not a shock to anyone here that we are living longer today than ever before and in our longevity we are living with illnesses that we would have not lived within the past. New strides in medical science see to that.
More than 65 million people, 29% of the U.S. population, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year and spend an average of 20 hours per week providing care for their loved one.
20 hours per week is the average number of hours family caregivers spend caring for their loved ones while 13% of family caregivers are providing 40 hours of care a week or more.
1.4 million children ages 8 to 18 provide care for an adult relative; 72% are caring for a parent or grandparent; and 64% live in the same household as their care recipient. Fortunately, most are not the sole caregiver
The average family caregiver for someone 50 years or older spends $5,531 per year on out of pocket care giving expenses in 2007 which was more than 10% of the median income for a family caregiver that year .
Statistics are given by the National Family Care givers website.
I bet if I asked you a question about care giving you all will be able to tell me your own story. It might be as simple as being a part of a family where you nurture and care for your family through interaction and caring for their meals or their childcare. You might have a story of your own or of someone you know who is caring or has cared for someone with a long-term illness, caring for someone that cannot care for themselves, caring for those who need a voice.
These were the family statistics but there are other areas of care giving involving hospice, nursing home care and assisted-living that are not included in these statistics.
We can measure some of the diseases of today through institutional measurements as the care givers are - diseases like cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia, Alzheimers and list goes on. We can measure those. They have a name but today the diseases do not have a name.
No matter the disease or illness, caring takes a lot of energy.
Jesus heals someone in the synagogue and then out the door he goes right into Peter and Andrew's house. And as soon as he gets there, they tell him to come because Peter's mother-in-law is in bed with a fever. She is healed and immediately begins to serve them. Jesus has a small respite and then the entire town is there with all their loved ones at the door.
Jesus is tired. We know he is tired and he needs a place of refreshment and renewal. Anyone who cares for people knows that he is tired.
Caring and healing go hand in hand.
ILLUSTRATION:
John Strauss, a psychiatrist, describes a young man who has been through the ravages of schizophrenia: "This 28-year-old man had had the first onset of his schizophrenia ten years previously. He had spent three years in hospital, and then from the period between seven and five years before my interview had been able to manage outside the hospital. However, five years before my interview, he had been readmitted to hospital and had remained there since. As part of our interviews, we try to define the various general levels of illness, at several times in the past. We then determine levels of social relations and work functioning, symptoms and hospitalization during those times and plot a time line of course of disorder. This line is generated by rating scales of established reliability. In this particular study, we also enquire about the worst year the person has had since becoming ill. I expected that when I asked that question of this young man he would say that it was one of the times when his functioning scores were lowest, his symptoms highest, and when he was in hospital.
He said the worst year was about six years ago, a time when by our scores he was doing fairly well and was not in hospital. He said that he had been living with his family and then finally had been kicked out of their house and was living in an apartment. About two weeks after leaving the house he called home. His mother answered the telephone. He started talking, but when she heard his voice, she said 'You have the wrong number' and hung up. He said that was the worst year of his life. My heart sank as he told his story. It was not difficult to understand what he meant, but the worst year according to him and the worst year according to our rating scales were very different. Who was right?" (quoted in Suffering, pp. 69-70).
For this young man, his state of health worsened when his family stopped caring. For this young man, his family community had a great deal to do with his healing. But his family couldn't see it.
In the book, "Aging Together" by Susan and John McFadden, they say that key to the well being is being in community.
"While acknowledging the role of medical and professional care, the authors argue that a key determinative factor in the sufferer's well-being is social context-the community. "
