Today’s Scripture
Reading (April 26, 2015): Job 10
The trial of Henry Rayhons presents an interesting problem
for our contemporary culture. Rayhons, who is 78, is charged with third-degree
felony sexual assault. The charge arose because of alleged sexual contact
between Rayhons and his wife in a nursing home. His wife, who passed away in
2014, suffered from advance dementia. The prosecution is arguing that because
of her condition, Mrs. Rayhons could not give consent for sex. But the problem
is that that is not definitively known. What we know is that Mrs. Rayhons, if
she was alive to answer questions, would probably be unable to articulate
consent to us. But we also know that consent does not have to be verbal. Our
problem is that we know so little about this vital part of life.
Henry Rayhons’ defense points out that dementia normally
presents a state of fluctuating mental ability. In other words, the mental
state of the patient does not remain the same, nor is it constantly diminishing.
The reality is that a patient with dementia may be able to consent to sex in
the morning, and not be able to consent in the afternoon – or even remember
that sex had happened in the morning. But the other problem is that our
research is showing that our drive for intimacy is actually primal in nature.
Some have argued that the desire for intimacy should be paired with the desire
for food, or the desire to breathe – all of these are the last things that we
lose in the process of dying. And it might be that the desire for sex may
outlast even our desire for food. We would consider the denial of food for a
dementia patient a criminal act. So why is the denial of sexual intimacy
between a husband and wife a laudable act? We seem to be left with the picture
of nursing homes as being places where life is no longer honored, and those
staying there can no longer be termed to be living - they are simply there waiting
for death. Apparently joy dies long before this stage in our lives.
Job recognizes that his stay on this planet is swiftly
drawing to a close. The pain that he is experiencing is intense because, at least
in Job’s mind, the hand of God is laying heavily on him. And so Job has a
request. Would it be possible, before Job finally dies, for God to remove his
hand from him so that he could experience one last time the joy of life. For Job,
that joy might be found simply in the absence of pain – or it might be
something more. But either way, it will require the removal of God’s heavy hand.
Of course, we know what Job didn’t know. We know of the
discussion that was happening in heaven, and we know the end of the story. Not
only is God going to remove his hand, but he is going to restore Job and give
him the joy that he craves – even give to him more family to help recover all
that he had lost (they would never be able to replace his losses, but thy would
help restore the joy and meaning to his life.) And it is this joy that makes
life worth the living.
And maybe that is something that we all need to remember as
we deal with the end of our lives – maybe the joy of life can persist longer
than we really believe that it does – if we will let it.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Job 11
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