He Will Be Handed Over

“Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and  they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, put him to death, but after three days he will rise.’”  (Mark 10:32-34)

As I meditated on today’s gospel, I kept thinking about my families at the hospital. We walk into the room to explain that their child has cancer and the treatment they will be receiving. For the teenagers and the other kids old enough to understand this is what they hear. The chemotherapy that we are going to give you will make your hair fall out, it is going to cause severe nausea and possibly vomiting, you could get mouth sores, diarrhea, bleeding in your bladder or seizures; your counts will drop and you will probably need to get blood transfusions, you will be at an increased risk of bleeding and may need platelet transfusions, and you will be at risk of developing a life threatening infection. It can damage your kidneys, liver and heart and it may cause you to develop a secondary cancer called leukemia.  It sounded so familiar to Christ’s words, “they will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him and put him to death.”

Of course we present this information in a compassionate way and are confident that we can cure their child’s cancer, but they still have to hear this awful information. Their child is going to go through hell. We will try as best we can to prevent these side effects but for some of them there is nothing we can do. But what choice do they have? If their child is not treated they will die. Just as Christ was obedient to his Father and did what had to be done in order to save us from eternal separation from his Father, their child will go through what needs to be done. We were talking to a teenager today about what an awesome job he has done through his treatments and he should be very proud of himself. He could have complained and fought us and his parents every step of the way but he didn’t. He was compliant with his treatments. He has a great attitude and faith in God’s healing power. He turned to God for strength and courage. His family and friends prayed for him. He isn’t done yet. He faces surgery next and possibly a stem cell transplant. I am in awe of how my patients and their families take things in stride. They walk this life-threatening journey with grace and trust in God, just as Christ faced his journey knowing that he would be crucified but never losing faith in his Father. The parents trust us and place their child in our care, they hand them over to us knowing that God uses all things for His glory.