You Did It Unto Me

[Trying to Walk will now be published biweekly, 1st and 3rd Monday of every month.]

If you read my prior blog, you are aware that I spent a good bit of time in the hospital recently. This blog is not about that time, but it is born out of that time. During almost a week of that time, I was confined to a bed in the CCICU. I observed much of the activities in the ICU in that week. It was a busy place with nurses tending to the patients in every way imaginable, and other hospital employees doing their individual tasks, many on a 24 hour basis.

One employee that caught my attention was the cleaning lady. It seemed almost out of a Charles Dickens’ novel that she moved in, around, and through all of the other hospital related activity, pushing her cleaning cart and doing her job. It wouldn’t be right to call her a misfit, because her job was actually quite important. Imagine trying to heal in a dirty hospital. And there was no evidence that she was mistreated, or looked down upon by any of the medically degreed hospital staff. What stood out to me was that she was ignored. It was almost as if she wasn’t there.

But day after day, she was there. Loyally fufilling her obligation to keep the hospital clean. Nobody ever asked her how she was doing. Nobody ever said, “Good morning,” or gave her any greeting. So, one day as she passed by my bed, I called her over and said, “I just want you to know that I see you every day, cleaning the floors, or whatever needs to be cleaned, pushing your cart, collecting dirty laundry and picking up trash. I want you to know that I think you’re doing a good job keeping the place clean.”

From that point on, you would have thought she worked for me. She mopped excessively around my bed and worked hard to make me pleased with her - all because I did something that pleased her. I just let her know that she was noticed, that people could see her doing her job.

Jesus was good at noticing those of little importance, those overlooked by the important people. In Luke 21:1-4 we find the story of the widow with two mites. In the midst of all the affluent people placing their offering at the temple, a widow walked by and gave two mites, think two pennies, hardly an offering at all. But Jesus wasn’t interested in what the wealthy people were doing. He noticed and praised the widow over them all. “She has given all that she had.”

Two other stories that share a commonality come to mind. In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus was invited to dinner by Simon, the Pharisee. This was probably a prestigious invitation. But Jesus was dismissive of Simon and partial to a woman present at the dinner who was despised by the Pharisees present because she was a sinner. In John 8:3-11, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, and pointed out that the penalty under the law was for her to be stoned. Jesus told them that if they had never sinned then they should feel free to cast stones at the woman. All of her accusers left and she was alone with Jesus. He told her to go and sin no more.

In all three of these instances, Jesus showed no partiality to those whom people would honor. What He did was offer words of encouragement to, or regarding, those who were “nobodies” in society. It is not surprising that Jesus portrayal of the judgement scene in Matthew 25 depicts people doing acts of kindness to Him and being granted entrance into the kingdom. The people can’t remember when they were so kind to Jesus and asked Him when these things happened. Jesus’ answer was, “Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me,” Matt. 25:40.

Consider ‘encouragement” as an act of kindness. While Jesus didn’t use the word in Matthew 25, it is surely implied in visiting those who are sick or in prison. There are many people who would profit from simple words of encouragement that we can so easily share with them: the young man who steps out to lead the congregation in prayer or song, or attempts to offer devotional thoughts, or even the young man who can’t overcome his fear to do so, the young mother who brings babies or toddlers to church services faithfully without the help of a husband, or even the young mother who often doesn’t bring her babies because it is too difficult and/or they may cry out, older folks who are in poor health and are often unable to attend worship or class, the grown man who is teaching a class, or leading a prayer. This list can include so many different situations that it is unwise to attempt to list them all. I think that if we are observant people, we will recognize them when we see them.

The Bible provides us a great example of the value of encouragement. In Acts 12:12, we are first introduced to John Mark. “Peter came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.” So John Mark was raised in a house big enough to accommodate many by a mother who was faithful to Jesus. In Acts 12:25, John Mark joins Paul and Barnabas to go to Antioch, most likely in preparation for a mission trip. In Acts 13:13 we learn that John Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas when they left on their first missionary trip, and also that he left after being on the trip for only a few days. Apparently his departure was due to what Paul perceived as a spiritual weakness.

In Acts 15:35-40, we find Paul and Barnabas readying to go on their second missionary trip. Barnabas, who was John Mark’s cousin was determined to take John Mark with them, but Paul thought it was not a good idea to take a “quitter” with them again. The Bible says the contention between them was so sharp that they split up with Barnabas taking John Mark, and Paul teaming up with Silas. The Bible tells us nothing about the time of John Mark and Barnabas together, but I know that Barnabas was an encourager to John Mark. How do I know?

Because that’s who Barnabas was. In Acts 9:27, shortly after his conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem and tried to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. “But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord . . . and preached boldly in the name of Jesus.” Barnabas took him to the disciples and explained Paul’s situation. Barnabas encouraged Paul, who was being shunned by the Jerusalem Christians, assuring him that he would be accepted.

Besides that we know that John Mark left Paul and went with Barnabas. Just like there was Paul and Silas, there was Barnabas and John Mark. During the time he spent with Barnabas, John Mark became a changed man. Paul even admits as much when, many years later he tells Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry,” 2 Tim. 4:10. In Col. 4:10, (yes, 4:10) Paul writes, “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him.”) Then in Philemon, verse 24, Paul again mentions John Mark as a “fellow laborer.” In addition to this John Mark would also write the gospel of Mark. All of this due to the time John Mark spent in the company of Barnabas. By the way, his name wasn’t really Barnabas. It was Joseph. The apostles gave him the name, Barnabas. It means “Son of Encouragement.”

We may not be able to rise to the Barnabas level of encouragement, but we all encounter people, possibly every day, who are in need of encouragement. Maybe they’re not in need of encouragement in a dire sense, but they still can profit from it. Keep your eyes open. Be on the lookout. There is someone close by that would be helped by your encouragement. What would you do if it was Jesus? Oh! Wait!