Bible Challenge Day 19: A Good Death (Genesis 50)

I am reading a book called Being Mortal about aging and death. I am not very far yet, but the author is making a strong case that our culture does not give us much help in dying a good death. In the first pages, he talks about the difficulty of simply telling the truth about death. People around the dying person pretend that s/he is not really dying, that s/he might get better. In one of his examples, the dying person participates in the lie. In another the dying person is frustrated that others will not face the obvious truth. In both examples, everyone would have been better served, and the inevitable death would have been a better death, if people had been able to be more honest.

Jacob’s death as described in the chapters for today is, on balance, a good death. Jacob is surrounded by his family, and everyone acknowledges that he is dying. But Jacob also tells a truth of his own, the truth about his relationships. He has a final word for each of his sons. A few of them get blessings. Others get something more like curses. That must have been hard to say and also hard to hear. But part of dying a good death is reaching some closure on the important relationships in our lives, even if that closure is painful.

Surely we do not need to wait for imminent death to be honest with each other. But our deathbed is our last chance for real honesty and for taking care of our unfinished relationship business. When my time comes, I hope I am able to take advantage of that chance!

Fr. Harvey Hill