Deuteronomy 34.1-12, Matthew 22.34-46
The Last Sunday after Trinity, 29 October 2023, Clapham
Moses died by the kiss of God.
Where our bible tells us that ‘Moses died … at the Lord’s command’, Hebrew scholars teach that the literal translation is that ‘Moses died by the mouth of the Lord’.
His last breath was drawn while being gently kissed by a loving God. It was a peaceful transition from life to death. The idea of death coming gently with a kiss even found its way into modern Hebrew. Mitat neshikah (‘death by kiss’) refers to a person that has died a sudden and painless death at a ripe old age. [1]
What a lovely way to go.
Unfortunately, not everyone can experience death as a kiss of God. Some of us will live long full lives, while others will die much too young. Some of us will die swiftly and with minimal pain. Others will languish, and death will come as a welcomed release from suffering. We cannot know how we will die. Death comes for everyone and we are powerless to stop it.
However, the way we live our lives until that final moment is up to us. We can spend our time being angry and resentful about the misfortunes of our lives, dwelling on our failures and missed opportunities. All too often, people make those choices. And in doing so they turn their faces away from God’s intended kiss. [2]
Like Moses, our lives are a complicated mix of joys and pains, of opportunities taken and missed, of loves gained and lost, of passions good, bad, fulfilled or spent.
If Moses had been listening in on the Israelites after his death he might have raised an eyebrow at the way they eulogised him: gushing with praise for all the signs and wonders he performed in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, and all the terrifying displays of power he performed in the wilderness; forgetting all the times when they were hungry and they castigated Moses for not feeding them, when they were thirsty and they lambasted Moses for their lack of water, forgetting the times they turned their backs on him and their God to worship idols of their own making, their impatience frustrating Moses; their heretical ways angering him.
But rather than dwelling on these things, the scripture suggests that Moses tried to come to terms with his frustrations, and failures, and sought to find peace and wholeness at the end of his life.
Moses’ final moments were peaceful because he stopped fighting God’s judgement. He had to let go of his dream to lead the people into the Promised Land. He had to be reconciled to his own powerlessness.
Moses died by the kiss of God: meaning that he came to accept that he would find peace, with the knowledge that he had finished his life’s work and that others would continue what he started. [3]
We can only speculate on what happens to us after we die, of course, but if you’ve ever heard the testimonies of people who have died, maybe in an operating theatre, and then been resuscitated, when they talk of what happened in those first moments of death, so many of them speak of having felt peace and calm. One person whose heart stopped for eight seconds following a seizure remembers an indescribable feeling that the weight of the world lifted off their shoulders, as if everything they cared and worried about was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. [4]
I believe that our loving God extends his gentle kiss to all who face the end of their lives.
And this week I pray for Bill Kenwright to know the gentle kiss of our loving God after a tremendously successful life in theatre, who has died before being able to realise his dream of leading his beloved football club, Everton, into a successful era in a new stadium which he initiated but will never see completed. [5]
Sir Bobby Charlton never claimed any kind of religious motivation for the dignified, dedicated life he lived. But he did often express the guilt he felt at surviving the Munich air crash in 1958 when so many of his teammates died; and of how he translated that emotion into a firm desire to provide good leadership in football and in life. Tributes to him this week have spoken of his brilliance as a leader on the pitch and ‘his modesty and quiet nobility off it … a man of gentle and distinct charm’. [6]
I believe that our loving God extends his gentle kiss to all who face the end of their lives. And I also believe that we can know the gentle kiss of our loving God as we face the end of our lives, his presence and guidance in prayer and reflection helping us to make peace with ourselves, with others and with God.
In this season of All Saints and All Souls our hearts go out lovingly to those who have gone before us; and as our spirits turn to embrace the realities of our own mortality, may we know ourselves to be held and supported in the loving embrace of God as we live our lives, each day until that final moment.
Notes
[1] Kevin Peters, The Serene Kiss Of Death. Sefaria, a Living Library of Torah. Edited.
[2] Kevin Peters, The Serene Kiss Of Death. Sefaria, a Living Library of Torah. Edited.
[3] Kevin Peters, The Serene Kiss Of Death. Sefaria, a Living Library of Torah. Edited.
[4] Victoria Vouloumanos, People Who've Clinically Died And Been Resuscitated Are Revealing What They Felt And Saw Moments After Their "Death". Buzzfeed, 20 April 2022.
[5] Will Rooney, Bill Kenwright’s stunning plans how to open Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium. Yahoo, 26 October 2023.
[6] Sam Pilger, Sir Bobby Charlton: England’s Greatest-Ever Footballer. Forbes, 22 October 2023.
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