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. “

BEING IN COMMUNITY

30 Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and the people told Jesus about her.

JOKE

Two men were having lunch together. One man says to his friend, "My MIL is an angel." His friend replies, "You're lucky. Mine is still alive."

Byrl and I were having tea with my mother the other day and out of the blue she said, “I’ve decided I want to be cremated.” Byrl said, “Alright, get your coat.”

Today Jesus comes right in and they immediately tell him that the mother-in-law is sick. Some of the commentaries said she was the first deacon. But I thought this is calling as the matriarch of the family.

This must have been a great household because Andrew and Peter live here and then Peter must have been married as this is his mother-in-law. There may have been children and Andrew may have had a wife and or children. It is common in the day to have extended family live together.

This mother-in-law is important in today’s story. She is the matriarch of the family. She is the one who provides the opportunity for fellowship. And she isolated from her own community.

When a matriarch of the family dies, it is important that there might be another who intentionally steps in and is the one who makes attempt to keep the family together. Sometimes there is one who is a natural one and sometimes it is intentional. This is a sense of community that brings a sense of wholeness to the people in the family - a community of caring where we belong. - a place of safety and is a place of healing. The schizophrenic knew this. He needed this place for healing. We care for each other in community.

ILLUSTRATION:

Several mental health studies have revealed that the U.S. has one of the highest rates of depression (and other mental health disorders) in the world. On the other hand, these same studies indicate that Nigeria has one of the world’s lowest rates of depression. Despite the fact that the average standard of living in America is roughly four times that of Nigeria, and despite the fact that Nigeria is a country with a multitude of social problems—including dehumanizing poverty, a serious AIDS epidemic and ongoing civil strife—it has far less depression per capita than the U.S.

The people of Nigeria understand the importance of being in community. They know that each one of them understand that they need one another. They don’t have the luxury of trying to live life solo, even if they have the inclination to do so. Consequently, they tend to have a sense of belonging that most Americans lack, and this provides them with a general satisfaction in life, despite the hardships they endure. Many studies have shown that personal happiness is more closely associated with the depth of one’s relationships and what one invests in others than it is with the comforts one “enjoys.” And this is exactly what we’d expect given that we’re created in the image of a God whose very nature is communal. It’s against our nature to be isolated. It makes us miserable, dehumanizes us and ultimately destroys us. (Christian Century, 2009)

When the church becomes a healing community through their compassion and caring, the world notices. How do they notice because the people are different? The members who are being healed are different. They have a new sense about who they are they take on a new identity – an identity of vitality. That is what a caring community does for people who are sick. They can’t help it. The sick know they are not going it alone.

LIFE ZAPS OUR VITALITY.

The scripture doesn’t say what they are. But maybe they are people suffering from the same kinds of things we suffer with – life burnout. For some people in today’s culture, people are struggling to make a living and working for poverty wages. For some people they are carrying burdens of life in raising their children on one income, living in crime-filled neighborhoods. Maybe they are coming to Jesus just to have someone listen and to care. He cured all their disease – maybe their disease is a place of hopelessness and loneliness not believing anyone really understands.

Life zaps sickness and disease and a caring community restores it.

Sometimes what we do in our caring is take someone by the hand and say I want to walk with you through this time. Jesus took her hand and raised her up. That is what most of the world needs – a caring hand to walk with them and an opportunity to be raised up out of the place where they find themselves.

A caring community gives vitality - something that might be lost. Peter’s mother in law got up and served. She fed the community. She gave them the same vitality Jesus gave to her. She refreshed them in her giving.

WORDS GETS AROUND FAST

So when people are being touched and lifted up, people hear.

Mark 1 29-39 That evening at sundown they brought to them all who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door.

When people are healed, people hear. First of all we can’t wait to tell. When people are being healed, word gets around fast. They are hungry for vitality. They are hungry for a healing touch.

JESUS CARES FOR HIMSELF

40% to 70% of family caregivers have clinically significant symptoms of depression with approximately a quarter to half of these caregivers meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression.

Vs. 35“In the morning, while it was still very dark he got up and went out to a deserted place and there he prayed.”

It is important to know as a caring community we need to care for ourselves.

That means that we need to keep ourselves close to God who cares for us.

We must return to our place of prayer over and over again so that we may be refreshed and renewed.

As Jesus moves on to proclaim the kingdom of God, we are called to continue reaching out to the world.

CLOSING:

I want you to notice that in the both of the healings. There are people facilitating the healing. Peter and Andrew bring Jesus to Peter’s mother –in-law and the people of the town bring their sick.

I can’t tell you how many times people come to one of the member’s of Team Spirit with a request to help someone they know who needs someone to come or intercede - someone who does not have a caring spiritual community to help them through their sickness.

LET ME LEAVE YOU WITH THIS

Perhaps, Henri Nouwen, the Roman Catholic theologian, has said this better than anyone else. The author of many books, Nouwen speaks of Christians as "wounded healers" who have compassion.

Wounded healers - who suffer themselves;
Wounded healers - who are willing to pay the price of entering into others' lives, instead of just giving advice;
Wounded healers - who are aware of the loneliness of suffering because they have been there;
Wounded healers - making their own wounds into a source of healing by helping people share;
Wounded healers - dividing and sharing the pain of others.

"Wounds and pains can become openings and occasions for a new vision,"

Nouwen says. The people who suffer long to be touched by people who really care, people with compassion, wounded healers. Jesus was such a person. We, the people called "Church," are called to be like him.