A cure for the dying

Many years ago, I had lunch with Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychologist who went public with her own struggles with bipolar disorder in a book, An Unquiet Mind. Barry Cooper at the Gospel Coalition discusses her latest memoir, Nothing Was the Same about her husband's fight with, and eventual defeat, by cancer. Jamison and her husband, both unbelievers, had placed their hope in science. Even upon hearing the words of the hymn "Immortal, Invisible", her husband liked the tune, but the words failed to land upon him.  They failed to see the importance of Jesus even at this crucial time in their lives. 

Cooper then writes about a conversation with a hospital chaplain when his mother had cancer. He wrote, "In September 2001, my mother died of stomach cancer. The medical staff at the hospice were phenomenal: skilled, sensitive, and familiar with grief. The spiritual staff were less effective, however. I remember asking the chaplain how he shared the hope of the resurrection with dying people. I also remember the look of surprise on his face. 'Oh, that's the last thing I would do at that point,' he answered, oblivious to the irony. Under any other circumstances, I probably would have laughed."

There is but one cure for death...