The flu will go away. It can last a week, at the most two weeks. I call in sick. If I am lucky a colleague will call to ask how it is going, and would I like to have a visit? No, that is not nec­essary, a visit is not necessary with the flu.

Many people are sick for longer than the flu usually lasts, three weeks, a month, several months, or a year. That means that their con­tact with the world is reduced. Their world becomes smaller and smaller. They become somewhat isolated and estranged from real­ity, closed off from the outside, until someone comes for a visit, someone from the outside who comes inside the world of the sick. The sick person can smell the outside air: someone is visiting who can go to work normally, walk, bike, shop, go out...

The Fifth Work of Mercy⤒🔗

Visiting the sick makes up the fifth "work of mercy" from the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 "I was sick and you looked after me" (25:36b). But also "I was sick and ... and you did not look after me" (25:43b). Basic mercy begins with giving food, relieving thirst, pro­viding shelter and clothing. However it also is concerned with visiting and caring for the sick.

Jesus urges his followers to remain involved with mercy. If you do not do this then you will fall short and stand with empty hands on the day of the (last) judgment. Mercy begins with simple things: food and drink, shelter and clothing, care for the sick and imprisoned (and dying). The work of mercy is also providing care for those shut in by illness and often feel­ing shut out from the world.

Sickness←⤒🔗

We experience illness as a difficult interruption in our daily rhythm, a disturbance. Suddenly there are a variety of discomforts that normally are not there: headaches, backaches, food no longer tastes good (if you still have a desire to eat), you sleep during the day and are awake at night.

A difficult disturbance. It is as if I am a ma­chine and not a person, a machine that can be affected by a "disturbance", however that can also be repaired. The disturbance can be overcome. However, there is a difference be­tween people and machines. A machine stops when it breaks down, but as a human being I do not stop thinking and feeling when I am sick. There is much that distinguishes a broken machine from a sick person.

I continue to think. What do I think about? That I do not want to be sick, that I do not admit that I am sick. However, I realize that I must accept it. I fret about how I can limit the effects of the sickness. I think about the possibility that this sickness will not turn out well. If I am still sick then perhaps next month I will feel better. I worry about the doctor's concerned reaction to my complaints. What precisely does she conclude about my condition? I worry that we can forget about our nice vacation if I do not get better soon. I ponder endlessly the question what my life will be like after I return home from the hospital following my heart attack.

I continue to feel. I feel helpless. My sickness causes me to feel vulnerable and that I do not have everything under con­trol. I am sorry that because of my illness I will miss the marriage celebration of my friends. My sickness makes me lonelier than I am used to, and for that reason I feel angry. I am angry that I am sick at this time, but when my anger disappears then I feel uncertain and afraid. How will I end up? I am pessimistic about my future.

Health←⤒🔗

When you are healthy then well-being can be taken for granted. If you are sick then wellness can seem to be unattainable. What is health really? Earlier health was described as the absence of sickness and was considered the opposite of the concept of "sickness". Later, health received a broader meaning. The World Health Organization described health in 1948 as "a condition of overall bodily, spiritual and social wellbeing". Health then increasingly became to be understood as a right, although people generally realize that they do not have a right to health, let alone to good health care.

Health does actually mean that a person is not sick — that you, in spite of brokenness and vulnerability, can live without too many restrictions, that there is a reasonable balance between your soul and your body. That you, as a whole and complete created being, serve God and your neighbor.

Health is a gift of God just as your life itself is a gift. God is the Creator who "gives all men life and breath and everything else" (Acts 17:25b). God is the Healer of his people (Ex. 15:26; Psalm 103). Through their rebellion against God people have spoiled life, but God will give them their life back. His own Son Christ came to earth to defeat death and regain life.

When Christ came to earth he healed the sick. Not all the sick but many of them, with various illnesses. He brought health back to the lives of many people. The healings emphasized his mission: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). This mission had consequences for sickness and health. Christ shows that sickness must give way to health. In God's new world, the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no place for sickness, only for health.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.Rev. 21:4

For this reason you must ultimately seek your health from God (who provides much knowl­edge, skill and expertise towards providing health). The poet of Psalm 31 knew that. He asks God to take care of him. He is sick (vs. 9):

Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is con­sumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, my bones grow weak.

In addition people are frightened when they see him. He feels threat­ened and cut off from the outside. He openly describes his situation (vs. 10):

My life is con­sumed by anguish and my years by groaning; strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.

This sick person complains to God because he totally trusts him. He is aware that his lot lies in God's hands and that gives him hope and promise (vs. 16):

Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.

Visiting←⤒🔗

We are on our way to a world without sick­ness. This is the context for visiting the sick. On the way to wholeness of life hereafter you as healthy visitor meet the sick neighbour in the brokenness and vulnerability of life today.

The gospel calls us to help the sick do what they cannot do themselves. That takes effort on our part. They deserve respect in their circumstances. That requires that we do not judge them. Sick people desire to be among other people. That requires that we cross their threshold and hear their story. The sick do not want to be forgotten. Especially those who are sick for a long time need visits because this allows them return to everyday life as it were, even if only for an instant.

Those who visit the sick go in the footsteps of Jesus. He sought out the sick (John 5). Sickness was not a taboo for him. In imitating Jesus vis­iting the sick is obvious. He calls us to see the sick as people in need and to make ourselves vulnerable to their need. That is at the same time the flipside of visiting the sick: those who visit the sick meet Jesus.

At the same time care for the sick is precisely the area where it becomes clear than the dia­conate and the pastoral belong together. Both these activities of the church, the diaconal and the pastoral, are not to be separated. Those who as pastor want to speak about trust and encouragement should at times leave it at fluff­ing up the pillow and holding the hand of the sick. Those who bring the flowers and greet­ings from the congregation may encounter a situation that requires them to pray with the sick person.

The More Tangible the Better←⤒🔗

Following the footsteps of Christ the diaconal congregation will be engaged in visiting and caring for the sick. Healthy people seek sick people who are in need.

I will list three concrete possibilities for proj­ects in the area of health care:

1. Attention to the care givers: Many (chronic) sick people are dependent on the help of others (caregivers) and are cared for by their partner, a child, a neighbour, or a friend. A caregiver of a seriously sick person often has hardly any free time, sometimes gets little sleep that can lead to imbalance and tension, by which care for others comes at the cost of one's own health. For this reason the Christian com­munity recognizes and gives attention and support to caregivers.
    
2. Visiting the sick as volunteer: Many sick and handicapped people are visited by volun­teers. It is good to form visitor groups in the Christian community to support a sick or handicapped person (and their family). This work of visiting demands patience and stamina because it can last for several years. Also in hospitals much volunteer work can usually be done.
    
3. World-wide health care: As congregation you can materially and financially sup­port health care projects elsewhere in the world. The congregation can encourage the young people (and elderly?) with financial support to do volunteer work outside the country for a year in the role of caring for sick and handicapped people.