Focus

Slow your breathing and become aware of the taking in and letting out of your breath. Focus on putting things aside so you will be open to what God is saying to you today.

Read

Genesis 49:29–50:14 (NRSV)

Then he charged them, saying to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors—in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah— the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.” When Jacob ended his charge to his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, “If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows: My father made me swear an oath; he said, ‘I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return.” Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company. When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days. When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Reflect

When Jacob died, Joseph was overcome with grief. He threw himself on his father’s body, weeping and wailing. He then instructed the attending physicians to embalm the body, which took 40 full days. Another 70 days were spent in mourning. It was quite a send-off!

What is most important about Jacob’s death and the time of mourning that followed it is this: The scriptures tell us that after Jacob told Joseph where he wanted to be buried, he drew his feet up onto his bed, breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people.

Wow. We grieve for those we have lost because of death. We spend time and money honoring their lives. We want others to know just how special these loved ones were, and we often wonder how we will be able to go on without them.

All of these feelings are normal, of course. We learn and we grow emotionally and spiritually each time we suffer the loss of a loved one. We grieve, we feel the void, the hole in our heart. But what a beautiful thing happened at that moment of death! The instant the one we miss so much took his or her last breath, our loved one was gathered to his or her people and were home!

Pray

Dear God, when we are faced with the death of a loved one, even as we feel the tremendous grief that death brings, let us also be mindful that our loved ones are rejoicing with their family in your presence. Amen.

Go with God.