Unsung heroes!

This Sunday I have been asked to preach on the life of Joseph, a patriarch of the faith who demonstrated daring confidence and trust in God’s revealed message to him. Joseph is enshrined in the “Hall of Faith” recorded in Hebrews 11, and received glowing recognition in Stephen’s message on the occasion of his martyrdom in Acts 7. Joseph had every excuse for breaking the chain of faith handed down from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, Joseph held fast to what he knew was right and what he had received in a vision from God.

Few people recognize the name, Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis. He is credited with saving the lives of countless women. A Hungarian physician, Semmelweis was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Now known as the "savior of mothers", Semmelweis observed that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by disinfecting physicians’ hands in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals with mortality at 10%–35%. Commonly, doctors in the 19th Century would dissect cadavers and then attend a birth without changing clothes or washing their hands. Semmelweis strongly promoted hand washing with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic. He documented that mothers attended in childbirth by doctors experienced three times the mortality rate of those attended by midwives.

Despite various published reports where hand-washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time. His ideas were rather violently rejected by fellow physicians. Some scoffed at the idea that hand washing had any value at all. Semmelweis could offer no scientific explanation for his findings and was reviled by his peers. One account I read tells how Dr. Semmelweis would approach pregnant women on the street and urge them to not allow a doctor to touch them while delivering their babies. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory. In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum, probably because his interest in cleanliness became an obsession. The causes of Dr. Semmelwies’ death vary. One report says he died of blood poisoning, at age 47, another cause of death says it was at the hands of asylum attendants who beat him.

Heroic actions follow inward convictions. The one doing the deeds others consider heroic do not feel fearless and bold, just convinced of a “message” or principle that is worthy of life itself. Joseph’s now well-known words are recorded for our faith and practice, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)

The question we ought to ask, “Am I living live with a compelling conviction that has freed me from the fears of rejection and gives me the potential of saving lives?”