Jesus did a lot of emergency work, and he also spoke about it. He healed people in all sorts of situations. He told the story of the 'good' Samaritan. Sometimes we think that the church should not be doing ambulance work. We should have moved on past that. Someone once said, and there is a certain validity in their implied criticism, 'The church should be an army on the march; instead it is a hospital full of wounded soldiers.' That may well be so. However, it is also the case that if you have been bearen up, you want an ambulance. You want a hospital. There are many examples of valuable ambulance work that the church has done, just as such things played a big part in the earthly ministry of Jesus.
I believe they need to continue to be a big part of the ministry of the Body of Christ here on earth today. So, in my early ministry in Scotland I was involved in work with unemployed people. In London, and again in Birmingham, I was involved in work with refugees. In Panama City I got involved with a community that had been displaced at the time of the US bombing that ousted Noriega and his regime.
Of course, we should not just bandage the injuries of the wounded and leave them to it. The 'good' Samaritan also took the wounded traveller to an inn, paid for his keep and promised to check on him at a later date. Thank God that many Christians respond when God calls them to do some important ambulance work!
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