Jude still recounted with horror and in pain, the incident that had taken place much earlier at the emergency ward at the hospital where he had gone to on an official assignment. It broke his heart to think of the poor woman who had had to die from immense pain. He even considered that it was more the feeling of abandonment that had hastened her death than from the pain.
You see, Jude could not shake the feeling of helplessness as he watched the woman writhe from the pain whilst the nurses and doctors looked on, making no efforts to relieve her or attend to her. What was their reason, the woman’s husband was yet to make a deposit without which they could not commence treatment. It was heart-breaking. He wondered if he was in the wrong place. He wondered how the nurses and doctors were so comfortable watching the woman suffer and not doing anything about it. It pained him that he did not get there soon enough to process the medical bill payment.
Whatever happened to dealing with fellow humans in the spirit of the Good Samaritan? We are supposed to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper, no?
Well, indeed it all comes to the state of our heart. How can we maintain a perfect heart towards God and our fellow humans? How are we able to demonstrate love to a complete stranger with no strings attached and without laying out ways in which they too can repay us? In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus reveals the greatest commandment, love. Loving God with all our heart, mind and soul and loving our neighbours just as we love ourselves.
If we love in this way, we will certainly see a reduction in world conflict. When we live everyday conscious of the truth that we would like that people do unto us as we do unto them, we certainly will go out of our way being helpful and kind to those we meet. (Luke 6:31, 1 John 4:8 and 1 Corinthians 13).
Uduak Ubak