Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....October 21, 2019
This series on death and dying was not written to be morbid. It was written because these are issues we will all face in our lives. Although you may not leave here inspired, you will leave informed on how to make a decision on what I consider to be three of the most profound moral issues of our day. The first issue is the sanctity of life, the second issue is human sexuality, and the third issue involves this cluster of moral issues surrounding a natural death or deciding the timing of our death for ourselves.
A few weeks ago we started this series, defining what it means to terminate life and what choices exist for Christians. We can do about anything except taking our own life or the life of a loved one. We can keep ourselves or our loved one comfortable, we can withhold treatment, or we can administer high doses of pain medication when the intent is to relieve suffering but not to take the life of another person.
Over the next 2 weeks I would like to deal with the issue of pain. The stories of pain that some of you are feeling right now are remarkable, and how do we deal with pain? If the only Christian death is a natural death, then what do we do if we encounter this issue of pain? Isn’t meaningless pain cruel, and what are our options? How can we watch our loved ones suffer? Or, is there hope on this issue, and there is. For the Christian there is always hope.
Medically, no one knows when the end really is near. There is a thing in medicine called “spontaneous healing.” And there is a thing in church groups known as “divine healing.” If we are to experience death as a Christian, even then there is hope because death has been robbed of its power and we will not die. We will experience eternal life. I can make a promise to you that you will be healed no matter what. The medical profession cannot guarantee you healing. God can. Most often, healing takes place in this life, but sometimes it takes place in the afterlife.
What do we do about the issue of pain? When we talk about pain, what pain are we referring to? There are many different types of pain when a person is at the end of life. So often, we confuse other types of pain for physical pain. We see our loved one suffering and ask, “Can’t you relieve their pain?” We think it is physical, but it isn’t always physical.
There are at least five different types of pain:
1. One has a physical root.
2. There is also emotional or psychological pain, and sometimes this kind is worse. This is comprised of the feelings generated by going through the dying process or by watching our loved one go through the dying process. We can experience incredible emotions of frustration and panic and fear and assurance and joy and hope.
3. There is relational pain, the unfinished business in our lives and the regrets that we have about our relationships.
4. There is a fourth pain that isn’t spoken much about and that’s spiritual pain. This is the dread that one feels when one realizes that we are mortal and that we will die. That can be a very difficult, horrible experience for some.
5. The fifth pain that people never talk about but which is very real is financial pain. I can’t tell you how many people, looking at a dying parent, asks, “Can’t you relieve their pain?” However, they want their loved one simply to be put out of their misery, but the real misery is the thought that the inheritance is being drained and they can’t see someone else getting it. The real pain for some is financial, and if you doubt that just watch the wrangling that goes on after the death of a loved one.
To confuse things even more is the issue of the level of pain. How intense is it, because it is different for everyone. Everyone has a different threshold of pain.
An elderly woman in a nursing home was screaming in pain and the doctors were trying to find the source of her physical pain. The family was upset because the doctors couldn’t do anything for her. This went on for weeks, and no one knew what to do because they can’t find the source for her pain. One day a cleaning lady was in the room, dropped her sponge by the bed, and reached down to pick it up. She looked at the woman in bed screaming and reached out to take her hand. She sat with the woman and held her hand, and the screaming stopped. She was screaming because she was lonely. She was experiencing relational pain, not physical pain.
How real is the pain and whose pain are we talking about, because that can be very confusing as well. Is it the pain of the individual who is suffering, or is it the pain of the family member who is observing? I’ve seen loved ones die pain-free, but during the counseling afterwards the family talks about how horrible it was to see their loved one in such intense pain. What pain are we talking about? The pain they were experiencing was emotional pain and spiritual pain.
I have seen individuals die pain-free but the family thought it was a horrible experience. I saw a gentleman who chose not to take pain medication because he wanted to be conscious with his family. The family spent his last days together reading scripture and singing songs. In the moment of his dying, they were worshiping and praising God as he breathed his last. The family cried tears, not of pain but of joy because it was the most beautiful thing they had ever experienced. They had experienced the power of God in a room with a person they loved.
What makes the difference between a person who dies restless and cursing and a person who dies at peace and pain-free? The answer is in the confusing mix of the amount of medication, the person’s pain threshold, the level of the care received from the family, the inner strength and disposition of the person, their relational health and their spiritual condition. This mix is unique to everyone and is undefinable.
When we talk about the issue of pain, it is important for us to be very clear whether we are talking about your pain or your loved one’s pain. Are we talking about physical pain, emotional pain, psychological pain, spiritual pain, financial pain or relational pain. It is important for us to be very cautious and discerning about our conclusions.
Pain is a very good and positive thing. I know that seems foreign to people’s thinking because in our culture, pain is something to be avoided at all costs. There is a reason why God put in our bodies the ability to sense pain because unless you experience pain, you will die very young. God has put sensors all over our bodies so that when something breaks down, it can be diagnosed and fixed quickly. It is important for us to listen to those sensors. We have physical sensors, emotional sensors, relational sensors and spiritual sensors. When we experience pain, it is a warning signal that something in us needs to be fixed and you need to become attentive to it.
What happens when the “Check Engine” light flashes on your dashboard? What happens if you ignore it and keep on driving? You will fry the engine, ruin your car, and it will die an early death. The same thing is true about any pain we feel wherever it’s at. This is God’s warning light and you need to pay attention, find the root and deal with it.
NEXT....We will talk about three areas of pain and how to deal with it.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
At a fund-raising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the school's students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question. "Everything God does is done with perfection.
Yet, my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is God's plan reflected in my son?" The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the world, an opportunity to realize the Divine Plan presents itself.
And it comes in the way people treat that child." Then, he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that most boys would not want him on their team. But the father understood that if his son were allowed to play it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs, and the game is in the eighth inning.
I guess he can be on our team and I'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning." In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield. Although no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base. Shay was scheduled to be the next at-bat. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that this was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to first." Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled "Run to second, run to second!" By the time Shay was rounding first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman for a tag. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head.
Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, "Shay! Run home." Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered as the hero, for hitting a "grand slam" and winning the game for his team. "That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face," the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of the Divine Plan into this world."
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Over the next few months we are going to take a trip through the Bible with some explanations of the verses and what they mean.
In the Beginning
Genesis 1-3
“In the beginning, God”: this is how our story opens. We do not know anything about God but only that God is.
God’s first act is to bring Light into being. This Light is a mystery. We can’t really understand it as physical light, since the luminous bodies have not yet been created. All we know is that the Light enters a previously dark universe and that the Light is “good.” The Light does not eliminate the Darkness but lives with it, separate from it.
The rest of the first chapter of Genesis describes the creation of a flawless world. It is not just “good”; it is “very good.” All God’s creatures coexist peacefully, and the human being is God’s crowning achievement.
But instead of continuing in the next chapter, the story seems to go back over itself and reach a very different conclusion. Chapter 2 gives us the so-called “second account” of creation. This one does not describe a flawless world at all but a life of need, suffering, and sin.
In Chapter 1 of Genesis God first creates the animals, then human beings. In Chapter 2 the order appears reversed. Is this a contradiction?
That is the wrong question to ask. Such questions confine us to the most superficial, least relevant aspects of the text. There is a reason for the reversal. In Chapter 1 the focus is on the world, the entirety of God’s creation. In Chapter 2 the focus is on the human situation. And so the human being is mentioned first.
And the human creation is limited. Man cannot live by himself. He needs woman to be his partner. God places them in a wonderful garden, in which they may enjoy themselves and do anything they like, except for one thing: they may not eat from the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil.”
In Chapter 3 a new character is introduced: a serpent. But this is no ordinary serpent. This one talks! Yet the woman shows no surprise when approached by a talking snake. So who is this serpent? Clearly a symbol of something. We may think of the serpent as a symbol of desire. Keeping this in mind will reveal a new dimension of meaning as the story unfolds.
In Chapter 1 there was no desire, and also no sin. There was only God’s perfect creation. Chapter 1 describes God’s creation in essence. This “second account” of creation describes the existence, the experience of the human condition.
The serpent makes a tempting offer: eat the prohibited fruit and you will be just like God! You will know the difference between good and evil, and you will not die. The desire for knowledge, power, and immortality is too hard to resist. The woman accepts the offer. And so, in turn, does her husband.
But the knowledge they gained was not what they expected. They acquired self-consciousness. They suddenly realized that they were naked, and they made clothes out of fig leaves. They also felt shame, and they wanted to hide from God.
God takes them to task for violating the order to leave that tree alone. The man blames it on the woman. The woman blames it on the serpent. We see a crack in the previously idyllic union between the woman and the man. Their loyalty and trust has been compromised. This is the first in a series of separations.
The next separation is from the garden in which they had lived a carefree life. Their offspring will be in perpetual conflict with their desires (the serpent). Man and woman will know a life of hardship and pain: the daily struggle to maintain their existence, the pain of childbirth, the knowledge of their mortality.
There are many ways of interpreting this story. Are these punishments new? The first way that man and woman changed after eating the fruit was that they became conscious of themselves. Their “eyes were opened”; they “knew that they were naked.”
They did not become naked; they had always been so. But now they came to realize it. Similarly, it is possible to interpret these curses in the same way: they are not new, but now man and woman are conscious of them. They leave the untroubled existence of childhood and become conscious of their human condition, that it is characterized by pain, suffering, and death. Of all God’s creations only human beings are aware of this inevitablilty, and only human beings suffer the psychological and spiritual consequences of this knowledge.
This is why only human beings undertake a spiritual quest.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou