Tuesday, XIV Week, Ordinary Time
(Genesis 32)
The family struggled for days with the decision. Their husband and father was suffering from heart failure. He had been placed on a ventilator, but the medical team wanted to remove it. Without the machine he would probably die within hours. Would they authorize the removal? The decision was excruciating. They accepted the medical wisdom that there was no reasonable hope for recovery, but they did not want to hasten his death. It was like struggling with God.
Medical technology often leaves families wondering about God’s will. Are they opposing His will when they choose to terminate sophisticated life support? Or is not allowing nature to take its course really fighting God? The struggle is enigmatic, soul-wrenching, and family-dividing. The story of Jacob’s wrestling in the night describes a similarly exasperating experience. His combatant is first identified as a man than as God. Which is he? Jacob seems to get the better of the man but then is seriously wounded. Who conquers whom? Jacob demands a blessing, but does he get it?
Still Jacob’s struggle turns out satisfactorily. If he is injured, he is also wiser for the experience. He is given the name Israel indicating a close relationship with God. Not apparent in the reading today but certainly part of the larger context, Jacob-Israel can now confidently have the dreaded reunion with his brother Esau, whom he swindled. So the decision to let go of a loved one when medical evidence leaves no reasonable hope makes us better people. We reaffirm our belief that God’s care for our loved ones extends beyond death. Also, we turn our lives over to His care as we accept the dreaded responsibilities associated with death.
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