Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures for 10th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13) - Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 (The Message translation)Smoke, nothing but smoke...There's nothing to anything—it's all smoke. Call me "the Quester." I've been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there's not much to write home about. God hasn't made it easy for us. I've seen it all and it's nothing but smoke—smoke, and spitting into the wind. And I hated everything I'd accomplished and accumulated on this earth. I can't take it with me— no, I have to leave it to whoever comes after me. Whether they're worthy or worthless—and who's to tell?—they'll take over the earthly results of my intense thinking and hard work. Smoke. That's when I called it quits, gave up on anything that could be hoped for on this earth. What's the point of working your fingers to the bone if you hand over what you worked for to someone who never lifted a finger for it? Smoke, that's what it is. A bad business from start to finish. So what do you get from a life of hard labor? Pain and grief from dawn to dusk. Never a decent night's rest. Nothing but smoke.
Reflection:
The "Quester" of Ecclesiastes goes on and on about the futility of life. He does not stop at the uselessness of acquiring wealth. He goes on to say:
• "I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found this is just smoke, too."
• "A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either. They are both going to the same place—the dust."
• "No matter how long you live, remember that you will be dead much longer. There is nothing at all to look forward to."
It is a wonder that such a pessimistic book found its way into the Bible, but God does not want us to look at life through rose colored glasses. God wants us to confront the ambiguities, futiliities, and absurdities of life.
Ecclesiastes helps us appreciate what God wants us to consider. The author focuses our attention on the most fundamental question of all: "How can anyone discover what life means?"
Once we confront that question honestly, stripping away all the false sense of meaning this world offers, we can recognize how senseless, useless, and futile life is without reference to God.
One fundamental assumption lies beneath all that the "Quester" says—life is absurd because it ends in death, annihilating any meaning we might have made of life on the world's terms.
For Christians, the answer to that ultimate absurdity is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, whose resurrection from the dead reveals that death does not have the final claim on our lives, God does.
Through Jesus, God has invited us to share eternity with him. That provides a new and different context for finding meaning in life, because life—the life we are already living—is eternal.
That means we discover meaning in living for the values of God's kingdom, values that are centered on and revolve around God's love for his creation and its creatures, especially the human creatures God has made in God's image.
The author of these reflections is always interested in hearing from his readers. You can contact him atrevgood@chartermi.net.
A new reflection is posted every Thursday.