"Rise up, Child": Responding to the Suffering of Children on the Oncology Ward Through the Lens of Mark's Gospel
Jessica Shand, MD, MHS, University of Rochester Medical Center
How can we respond faithfully to children who suffer, but whose voices are not heard by the dominant social, cultural, and medical majorities? In these challenging times, when the health of our children- inextricably linked with the health of our communities and ecology- is in peril, we bear an urgent responsibility to ensure that the suffering voices of children are heard and attended to. Laid before us is a kairos moment- in which we, as healers, activists, and ministers to the sick, must discern the right course of action. In medicine and ministry alike, we must re-envision how our call to heal can address the imminent suffering of children by poverty, violence, exploitation, and illness.
In this paper, I will explore the recognition of children, and their suffering-through- illness, through interpretation of Jesus’ ministry to Jairus’ sick daughter and the hemorrhaging women in Mark 5:21-43. I will use my interpretation to support a theological position that children, specifically those who are ill, represent a marginalized population in Mark’s Gospel- particularly in the ochlos, or suffering crowd. Drawing on the work of contemporary Biblical scholars Teresa Okure and Ched Meyers, I will argue that through Christ’s ministry to children in the ochlos, the invisible become visible, unheard voices become heard, and the recognition and ministry to children becomes a parallel to Christ’s suffering- allowing the creation of a living space in which we are called to discipleship in faithful response to the presence and autonomy of children.
I will then apply this theological position to the narrative interpretation of two clinical cases recently encountered in my clinical practice as a pediatric oncologist, punctuated by the challenges faced by clinical care staff, medical trainees, and chaplaincy professionals attending to these children in their times of greatest suffering. Through the case studies, I will argue that choosing to turn both the analytic and spiritual gaze toward the pain children endure validates their place in the suffering “crowd” of hospital care and medical treatment paradigms- that they rise up into a living space for healing, regardless of clinical outcome. Finally, I will conclude with a thematic analysis of responses to debriefings held with pediatric resident physicians relative to their adaptive coping and grief management with those two cases through the lens of this theological interpretation, revealing that- regardless of faith or spiritual identity- conceptual frameworks from scriptural interpretation can be used as valuable teaching tools to create a more comprehensive clinical language around the care of pain, suffering, and death in children.
In this paper, I will explore the recognition of children, and their suffering-through- illness, through interpretation of Jesus’ ministry to Jairus’ sick daughter and the hemorrhaging women in Mark 5:21-43. I will use my interpretation to support a theological position that children, specifically those who are ill, represent a marginalized population in Mark’s Gospel- particularly in the ochlos, or suffering crowd. Drawing on the work of contemporary Biblical scholars Teresa Okure and Ched Meyers, I will argue that through Christ’s ministry to children in the ochlos, the invisible become visible, unheard voices become heard, and the recognition and ministry to children becomes a parallel to Christ’s suffering- allowing the creation of a living space in which we are called to discipleship in faithful response to the presence and autonomy of children.
I will then apply this theological position to the narrative interpretation of two clinical cases recently encountered in my clinical practice as a pediatric oncologist, punctuated by the challenges faced by clinical care staff, medical trainees, and chaplaincy professionals attending to these children in their times of greatest suffering. Through the case studies, I will argue that choosing to turn both the analytic and spiritual gaze toward the pain children endure validates their place in the suffering “crowd” of hospital care and medical treatment paradigms- that they rise up into a living space for healing, regardless of clinical outcome. Finally, I will conclude with a thematic analysis of responses to debriefings held with pediatric resident physicians relative to their adaptive coping and grief management with those two cases through the lens of this theological interpretation, revealing that- regardless of faith or spiritual identity- conceptual frameworks from scriptural interpretation can be used as valuable teaching tools to create a more comprehensive clinical language around the care of pain, suffering, and death in children.