Monday, December 26, 2005

Servitude

When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.... When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."


-Matthew 8:1-3,14-16
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The glass door swung open as a woman walked in. She was met with the familiar scent of bleach and stale air that seemed to almost always permeate through nursing homes. A roomful of elderly men and old ladies peered at her from where they were seated.

The woman smiled cheerfully as she entered. She was somewhere in her early forties with hair just beginning to show a few streaks of gray. With her sure, energetic steps and the bright red scarf around her neck, she seemed robust and young compared to the nursing home's residents.
As she made her way to the front desk, she stopped to shake hands with a few of the elderly. She noticed that many of the hands were clammy and cold. She greeted an old woman in a wheelchair, patting her on the back she said, "Good morning!"

The old woman grasped her hand, as if pleading her to stay. The younger woman kneeled down next to the wheelchair. "How are you doing?" she asked. The old woman continued to hold on to her hand.

"I am fine," she replied slowly. The younger woman noticed that the old woman's eyes were glued on her red scarf. The old woman touched the scarf's fuzzy fringe, her fingers shaking. "Its...beautiful," she breathed.
Tears of pity came to the younger woman's eyes. "Here," she said, lifting the scarf from her shoulders. "You keep it."
"Really?" the old woman's wrinkled face lit up and she clutched the red fabric. "Oh! Thank you."

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"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
-Matthew 25:21-40