The Journey 234: "Bond" of healing ministry
Read: Luke 10:25-37
Images, Images, Images. Images that sometimes force people to act……...There are certain images that you see that you cannot forget, image that brings pain, anger and frustration in oneself. Images that brings instantaneous action and reaction from our fellow human beings. I still remember very vividly the image of a person named Hamid Ansari begging for life in the infamous Gujarat riots. Last week when India celebrated its independence, another image brought in agony and pain to hundreds of Indians in general and malayali community in particular. The image was that of three nurses huddled together on the terrace of the Mar Baselious Hospital, Kothamangalam, Kerala. The terrace itself resembled the scene before creation “chaos and disorder”, with bricks, metals and rods being strewn all over. These three nurses were braving sun and rain and lying on the terrace for almost two days, threatening to commit suicide, if the legitimate demands of the nurses working in that hospitals were not met, needs of the nurses who were on strike for almost 114 days. Who were these nurses? And what forced them to take these extreme steps . The names of these nurses are Priya, Vidyarani and Anu. Of the three nurses, two of them comes from home, where they were in dire financial crisis. They had taken loans for their study and were not in a position to repay back the loans, because the salary offered by the management of the hospital was so meager that forget about the repayment of loans, they could not even take care of the needs of their immediate family. With loans being not paid back, the bank authorities had also come with the threat to seal and auction their house to recover their loan. They dreamt that a job as nurse, would help them to tide over the financial crisis and would also help them to pay back the educational loans. But it seems the hospital run by the church were more bent on making these nurses work like a bonded laborers, without even giving them dignity, and honorable financial benefits. With the future being dim and dark, it was essential for these unknown and poor girls to carry on the fight, a fight not just for their rights, but for their and their family’s survival. It is these factors that seemed to have prompted these poor girls to take the extreme step of threatening of committing suicide. The most agonizing part of the whole incident seems to be the total lack of sensitivity on the part of the church. Neither the clergy, nor the bishops seemed to be empathetic to the cry of these nurses. What a strange paradox. You have clergy and laity creating law and order situations and having no qualms in fighting on the roads, when the church factional fights were going on, and now not even a single soul ready to at least give a patient hearing to these nurses. How can the community of believers call themselves as the church, when the church itself become insensitive to the needs of the common people are not moved by images that are horrifying. When Jesus was teaching the young man about who his neigbhour was [ Luke 10: 25-37 ], he uses the parable of the good Samaritan. Here are three individual who sees the image, the person who is wounded. Both the priest and Levite are not moved by the image of the person lying wounded on the street, as they had other important matters to do and were more concerned about their benefits and gains rather than the loss that they would suffer if they go to help the wounded person. But on the contrary, the Samaritan also was on a journey, he was also not on a pleasure journey or a cruise in the north American term, he was also busy with his work. But the image of the wounded man made him to forget his needs and his gains and he decided to loose some of his time, money so that another person in need could be helped. It is in such a context, that Jesus justifies the action of the Samaritan. I think that is also what God expects the church and the corporate community of believers to do. To be ready to act, to forget ones gain and be ready to loose something when you encounter certain humane images in life. Does images force you to action on their behalf?
P.S. The story of the three nurses has still not ended. Their life is now put more in agony, as the state government got them arrested them for threatening to commit suicide.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
Images, Images, Images. Images that sometimes force people to act……...There are certain images that you see that you cannot forget, image that brings pain, anger and frustration in oneself. Images that brings instantaneous action and reaction from our fellow human beings. I still remember very vividly the image of a person named Hamid Ansari begging for life in the infamous Gujarat riots. Last week when India celebrated its independence, another image brought in agony and pain to hundreds of Indians in general and malayali community in particular. The image was that of three nurses huddled together on the terrace of the Mar Baselious Hospital, Kothamangalam, Kerala. The terrace itself resembled the scene before creation “chaos and disorder”, with bricks, metals and rods being strewn all over. These three nurses were braving sun and rain and lying on the terrace for almost two days, threatening to commit suicide, if the legitimate demands of the nurses working in that hospitals were not met, needs of the nurses who were on strike for almost 114 days. Who were these nurses? And what forced them to take these extreme steps . The names of these nurses are Priya, Vidyarani and Anu. Of the three nurses, two of them comes from home, where they were in dire financial crisis. They had taken loans for their study and were not in a position to repay back the loans, because the salary offered by the management of the hospital was so meager that forget about the repayment of loans, they could not even take care of the needs of their immediate family. With loans being not paid back, the bank authorities had also come with the threat to seal and auction their house to recover their loan. They dreamt that a job as nurse, would help them to tide over the financial crisis and would also help them to pay back the educational loans. But it seems the hospital run by the church were more bent on making these nurses work like a bonded laborers, without even giving them dignity, and honorable financial benefits. With the future being dim and dark, it was essential for these unknown and poor girls to carry on the fight, a fight not just for their rights, but for their and their family’s survival. It is these factors that seemed to have prompted these poor girls to take the extreme step of threatening of committing suicide. The most agonizing part of the whole incident seems to be the total lack of sensitivity on the part of the church. Neither the clergy, nor the bishops seemed to be empathetic to the cry of these nurses. What a strange paradox. You have clergy and laity creating law and order situations and having no qualms in fighting on the roads, when the church factional fights were going on, and now not even a single soul ready to at least give a patient hearing to these nurses. How can the community of believers call themselves as the church, when the church itself become insensitive to the needs of the common people are not moved by images that are horrifying. When Jesus was teaching the young man about who his neigbhour was [ Luke 10: 25-37 ], he uses the parable of the good Samaritan. Here are three individual who sees the image, the person who is wounded. Both the priest and Levite are not moved by the image of the person lying wounded on the street, as they had other important matters to do and were more concerned about their benefits and gains rather than the loss that they would suffer if they go to help the wounded person. But on the contrary, the Samaritan also was on a journey, he was also not on a pleasure journey or a cruise in the north American term, he was also busy with his work. But the image of the wounded man made him to forget his needs and his gains and he decided to loose some of his time, money so that another person in need could be helped. It is in such a context, that Jesus justifies the action of the Samaritan. I think that is also what God expects the church and the corporate community of believers to do. To be ready to act, to forget ones gain and be ready to loose something when you encounter certain humane images in life. Does images force you to action on their behalf?
P.S. The story of the three nurses has still not ended. Their life is now put more in agony, as the state government got them arrested them for threatening to commit suicide.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla