Dr. Lloyd Judd practiced medicine in rural Oklahoma. Many of his patients were poor and had no transportation. He often had to drive long hours to their homes to treat them.
One day Dr. Judd checked into a hospital and discovered that he had terminal cancer. His children, distraught, asked why he extended himself so much for his patients. He said, with great satisfaction, ‘because they were my patients, I had to care for them.’
We would consider the doctor’s dedication heroic, wouldn’t we, because he was a true servant for his patients? He showed his family and the medical community that being last often times means going out of your comfort zone to help others; that giving up your own life for the sake of others is the greatest gift you can give.
This is World Mission Sunday and our minds and hearts reach out today to people like Dr. Judd who make it their business to live out of the Gospel message for the poor, the ignorant or the alienated. “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
”Saint Teresa of Avila wrote,” Fix your eyes of the Crucified and everything will become small for you…If the Lord showed us his love by the Cross, how is it you want to please him only by words?” Let me ask you something.
What would you be willing to sacrifice for the good of another person? Much or everything?