This week, we are addressing
the issue of euthanasia. Specifically, we are asking and answering the
questions “What policies would Jesus promote when
it comes to euthanasia? Why would Jesus take the position that He would take? How
would Jesus engage in the conversation regarding euthanasia?”
Yesterday, we defined euthanasia, also known as
assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide, doctor-assisted dying, and more
loosely termed mercy killing, as taking a deliberate action with the express
intention of ending a life to relieve persistent and unstoppable suffering.
There are two main classifications of euthanasia. The first, which is referred
to as voluntary euthanasia refers to euthanasia that is conducted with the consent
of the patient. The second, referred to as involuntary euthanasia refers to euthanasia
that is conducted without consent. The decision is made by another person
because the patient is incapable to doing so himself/herself. We then looked at
both ends of the conversation that is currently occurring in our culture when
it comes to euthanasia.
Today, with all that background in mind, let’s take
a look at what the message and teachings of Jesus have to say when it comes to
the issue of euthanasia. Specifically, what do the letters that make up the
Bible reveal about euthanasia? So let’s
begin where the Bible begins, which is a passage that we looked at last week
that is recorded in the very first letter of the Bible called the book of
Genesis, in Genesis 1:26-27:
Then God
said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the
cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of
God He created him; male and female He created them.
As we discussed and discovered
last week, in these verses we see the Triune God’s design and desire for the
creation of humanity: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our
likeness”. To be created in the image of God means that every human being bears
the thumbprint of God. We were created in God’s relational image. We were
created for a relationship with God vertically and for relationships with one
another horizontally.
But not only were we divinely
designed for relationships. In addition, as a result of being created in the
image of God, we are created for relationships and to represent Him on earth.
And as part of that representation, humanity possesses a moral, spiritual, and
ethical nature that does not exist among the rest of the creation. As we talked
about last week, your dog, your cat, a horse or any other animal does not
wonder why they are here. Your dog, your cat, a horse or any other animal does
not wonder what happens when they die: Your dog, your cat, a horse or any other
animal are trying to find God.
Humanity has been divinely
designed by God in His image and is of greater value than any other animal.
Every human being on the planet has been woven together with a personality and
a moral, spiritual, and ethical nature from the moment of conception. Throughout
the pages of the letters that make up the Bible, humanity has been divinely
designed with a dignity of life and humanity has been divinely designed with
sanctity of life. And because of that reality, the Lord forbids that any human
being willingly and thoughtfully take another’s life. We see this reality in
Exodus 20:13:
You shall not murder.
Yet, while Jesus and the
authors of the letters that make up the Bible repeatedly reinforce the dignity
and sanctity of life, the letters that make up the Bible also reveal the
reality of the mortality of man. The timeless reality is that all humanity has
an appointment with death. For example, we see the Psalmist
proclaim this reality in Psalm 89:48:
What man can
live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
We see Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, also
reinforce the reality of the mortality of man in Ecclesiastes 8:8:
No man has
authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of
death;
But how are we to navigate the tension between the
sanctity and dignity of life and the mortality of man when it comes to the
issue of euthanasia? And does the message and teachings of Jesus and the Bible
give us any specifics when it comes to the issue of euthanasia? We discover the
answer to these questions in an event from history that is recorded for us in
the opening sections of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the
book of 2 Samuel.
At this time in history a man named Saul was the
king of the Jewish nation. Saul, however, was a king who selfishly rebelled
against the Lord by refusing to obey the commands of the Lord. As a result of his selfishness and rebellion,
Saul found himself engaged in a military battle against the Philistines, who
were the hated enemy of the Jewish people.
As a result of this battle, Saul and his sons died.
And it is in this context, as word travels about the defeat of Saul and the
Jewish army in battle, that we jump into this event from history beginning in 2
Samuel 1:1-10:
Now it came
about after the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of
the Amalekites, that David remained two days in Ziklag. 2 On the
third day, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn
and dust on his head. And it came about when he came to David that he fell to
the ground and prostrated himself. 3 Then David said to him,
"From where do you come?" And he said to him, "I have escaped
from the camp of Israel." 4 David said to him, "How did
things go? Please tell me." And he said, "The people have fled from
the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead; and Saul and
Jonathan his son are dead also."
5 So David
said to the young man who told him, "How do you know that Saul and his son
Jonathan are dead?" 6 The young man who told him said, "By
chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and behold, Saul was leaning on his
spear. And behold, the chariots and the horsemen pursued him closely. 7
"When he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I said, 'Here
I am.' 8 "He said to me, 'Who are you?' And I answered him, 'I
am an Amalekite.' 9 "Then he said to me, 'Please stand beside
me and kill me, for agony has seized me because my life still lingers in me.' 10
"So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that he could not
live after he had fallen. And I took the crown which was on his head and the bracelet which was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord."
Now to fully understand what happened during this battle,
we need some additional information that is found in the very last chapter of
the previous letter, which ironically enough is called 1 Samuel. In 1 Samuel
31, we discover that Saul was wounded in battle by archers who were able to hit
him with arrows.
Badly wounded, believing that his condition was terminal
and untreatable, Saul called for his armor bearer to kill him. Saul explained
that the reason why he wanted his armor bearer to kill him was because he did
not want the Philistines “to make sport of him.” In other words, Saul was afraid that he would
be captured by the Philistines and that the Philistines would cause him to
suffer before he died. So Saul wanted his armor bearer to kill him so that he could
avoid the pain and suffering that would occur by being captured.
The armor bearer, however, refused to kill Saul. Saul
responded by the armor bearer’s refusal to kill him by killing himself so that
he would avoid and further pain and suffering. An Amalekite, who discovered
Saul and his armor bearer’s body on the battle field, decided to tell David
that he had done what the armor bearer refused to do, which was to kill King
Saul, so that he would not suffer.
Now here is a question to consider: If the Amalekite was
able to leave the battlefield alive and make it to David to tell him what
happened, why couldn’t King Saul and his armor bearer make it to David? You
see, capture by the Philistines was not a certainty here. In addition, we see
that King Saul was badly wounded. What we do not see is how badly he was
wounded. We do not see that death from his wounds was a guarantee.
What we do see, is that Saul was suffering and believed
that he was near death. What we do see is that Saul did not want to experience
protracted pain and suffering. And because of that reality King Saul chose to
end his life in order to avoid pain and suffering. Now a natural question that arises here is
“Why would the Amalekite say that he killed King Saul if King Saul killed
himself?”
That is a great question.
The reason why the Amalekite lied about what actually happened to King
Saul is because the Amalekite believed that he would receive recognition and a
reward from David for killing King Saul. After all, King Saul had been trying
to kill David for years. After all, after Saul was dead, David would be King.
So, if he took credit for killing King Saul, David would
hook him up for helping him become king. Or so the Amalekite thought. What
happened, however, was not what the Amalekite expected. Friday, we will
discover what happened next...
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