Understanding God’s perfect will is an importantissue for a nurse. It means that nurses empathize withtheir patients.
Main scripture: John 12:1-8
The Broken-jar woman: a nursing modelThe Bible says, “And truly I say to you, whereverthe good news goes out through all the earth and whatthis woman has done will be talked of in memory ofher” (Mark 14:9). Mary was an important person whosecharacteristics can be considered when discussing God’swill. She eagerly chose to be close to our God. Martha’sfamily expressed their hospitality to Jesus while He wasin Bethany. Martha who was filled with passion and enthusiasmmade Jesus at home. I believe Mary was ableto do this also, but she decided to sit in front of Jesus andlisten to what He said to them. God wants men to buildrelationships with Him and know the Gospel of heaven.
The scripture in John says that someone prepareda feast for Jesus. Mary didn’t sit and listen this time.What was she doing? She brought a kilogram of valuableoil and came to Jesus. Mary broke the jar andsplashed all the perfume onto Jesus’ feet, then she usedher hair to wipe His feet. To a Jewish woman, the valueof this oil was similar to the amount of a dowry givenat her marriage—a once in a lifetime gift. The purportof this woman using even her hair to wipe Jesus’ feetis a valuable lesson for life. For Jesus, Mary loosed herhair to wipe His feet. The disciples were unhappy. Judas,one of the disciples, wondered, “Why was not thisperfume traded for three hundred pence, and the moneygiven to the poor? Then Jesus said, Let her be. Let herkeep what she has for the day of my death.” In my opinion,they should have felt shame for acting so. Jesus wasinvited to the Bethany banquet six days before He wasgoing to be crucified. No one knew what and how Jesusfelt to walk to Golgotha to die on a cross.
To understand God’s perfect will
What time did Jesus start to walk in the shadow ofthe cross? He was recognized as the Son of God, andHe was the Christ. The great mission of the Messiahwas to die for us on the cross. At this time, He claimedwhat was to be done and that He was to be crucified, butHis disciples didn’t understand. Peter took him asideand began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said, “thisshall never happen to you!” Peter perhaps thought that ifJesus was king, Peter might sit next to Him with Jamesand John. What we can see is Jesus. His path throughlife was hard. No one knew what He needed at that moment.The disciples did not understand any of this. WasHe afraid of being crucified? Depressed? Did He wantto run away? He was the Lord, yet He was a man, too.The most painful moment was neither the physical painsuffered as His hands were nailed to the cross, nor as acrown of thorns twisted together was set on His head.The most painful moment was not when He was beingmocked. But Jesus, who was the Lamb of God, carriedhuman sins and cried out, “My God, My God, why haveYou forsaken Me?” His soul was overwhelmed with sorrowto the point of death.
General speaking, anyone who demanded cleanlinessand needed to wash his hands every five minutes,but falls into a latrine pit would suffer less than Jesuswas going to suffer. Only five days later, He was to becrucified. The disciples did not understand how He felt.They even quarreled with each other about who shouldsit next to Jesus and who was more important. Mary wasthe only one, just a little woman, who realized what Godwanted and showed her understanding of it. No matterwhether she had the perfume later for her marriage,whether the perfume was of great value, or whether shelost something of great value, nothing was better to herthan to know and be intimate with Jesus. Therefore,Mary broke her jar for Jesus.
Bringing spiritual values into theworkplace
What specific ability do all nurses need? It is notspecial medical knowledge, nor being skillful at updatingcharts, nor ability to comfort patients, but the key issueis to understand God’s purpose. While we know whatour Lord wants, we should understand how to meet thepatients' need.
In a leadership conference , one of the women, amedical professor from Egypt, shared her story. She wasborn in a wealth family and went to Europe during summervacation every year. Shopping and fashion was oneof the great loves of her life. God asked her to take careof poor and helpless children. She responded to God’scalling and quit her regular job to help the children. Sheis quoted as saying, “It seemed that as I did it to the leastof these brothers, I did it to God.” As Jesus teach us inMatthew 25:31-40, ‘…for I was in need of food, and yougave it to me: I was in need of drink, and you gave it tome: I was wandering, and you took me in….’” Why didhumans invent a new type of medical system? Becauseof God’s wisdom (He is Almighty), The Lord made manin His image, like Him. He made us special and put usinto a certain position because He desired us to rule overevery living thing which was on the earth. Our Lordsaid to the bad and lazy servant, “You did not make anyprofits and you have done no work.” God didn’t ask forskill or be little the servant for less talent. However, Hewill blame us for the neglect of duty. For a Christian,our profession is not the rule or the moral ethic we liveby. We believe that God wants humans to govern thewhole world. This is a higher principle than ethics. It isequal to life. It is something you die for. Sometimes theethics of our profession do not permit us to do that, butwe disobey it. We are then conscious of being discomforted.However, we work for God while we are workersas nurses. Nurses are serving God through nursing care.The nursing profession is a serving profession. Anynurse should cherish the opportunity as the best one ofher lifetime. You can provide empathetic nursing carein the workplace with the same attitude of service thatMary had when she broke her bottle for Jesus. In short,nurses know best what is good for doctors and patients.All nurses have done their best.
Reply God’s 3 calling:
There are three callings that God gave to the Egyptiansister. Her responses are following:First: To go through the valley of deep shade:Her aunt, a guilder, who had taken care of weakerchildren, died. Her aunt’s death distressed her greatly.Why was life so painful? She began to do the samethings that her aunt had done before. By doing them, shewould cause herself great hardship and suffering. Howcan the LORD become my shepherd? According to God’s promise, He is always with us. His rod and His supportare our comfort. That is the reason why she spent somuch time in Bible study and prayer.
Second: Give what property you have in exchangefor money, and follow Jesus.
Third: understand God, know Him better, and joinHim:
She holds her peace at the presence of the LordGod, “for the day of the Lord is at hand: let all the earthkeep silence before him.” She often comes to Jesus.In my opinion, all medical personnel should responseto these same callings. Nurses work so hard everyday. This includes relieving pain of the patients, whosuffer and are sometimes helpless, even surviving byhelps of tubes and machines. In another word, nurseswalk through the valley of the shadow of death. We needGod with us. But how? The busier you are, the moreyou need to meditate on the Word of God.
The nursing profession is a job without a good salary.Give what property you have in exchange for money,then just follow Jesus. “And whoever makes you go onemile, go with him two.” You must be willing to do morefor God, such as helping and caring for patients who aresuffering with disease, and their families, allowing themto meet an angel who can comfort them. If our lives arelike valuable ointment, it can be splashed on our patients.Let them experience God’s love. Moreover, Jesus said,“Mary has done a kind act to me.”
Be joyful when going to work. Don’t be a man likeNicodemus who had first come to Jesus secretly, thenlater when He died on the cross, with myrrh and aloesmixed, about a hundred pounds. Jesus doesn’t need anything except our understanding about what He is thinking.Nurses are able to do it to the least of these our patients,our brothers; therefore, we do it to Jesus. Nursesshould be more thoughtful of our patients—the same asMary did to Jesus. Nursing is an act of kindness.