07/12/25 Weekend Grif.Net - Nursing Home
b...@grif.net
When Jesus mentioned serving the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoners—He left out one group. Mainly because it didn’t exist in His day. But it does now, and I believe Jesus would add it to the others.
It’s the nursing-home crowd. Medicine has created a sub-culture that lives far beyond viability. Families cannot provide the round-the-clock care invalids require, so off they go to nursing homes. It’s a sad reality, but what else can you when grandma or grandpa can do nothing on their own?
Two-thirds of nursing home residents receive no regular visitors, and a shocking number receive none whatsoever. They were dumped there. And often they know it. I’ll grant you, it’s hard to visit them. They don’t always smell good. It’s not easy to understand them if they talk at all. And what do you talk about? They lost contact with life a long time ago so there’s no common ground anymore. “Are they taking good care of you?” “Do you need anything?” “Are you comfortable?” “Is the food okay?”
It doesn’t take much until the conversation is mired in awkward silence. You gaze around the room trying not to stare at the streamer of drool or the flapping hands. One wishes the Lord would just take them home. Why put them through this indignity? This helplessness?
Jesus has an answer for that: “Truly I say to you, as you ministered to one of the least of these, you did it unto Me.”
You say you want to serve Jesus? Head for the nearest nursing home. You’ll find Him in a wheelchair, waiting for you.
[credit: Pastor Wayne Muri]
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Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"
