Ecclesiastes wrestles with some major existential questions. He asks, What good is it that I spend my life accumulating goods, when I can’t take them with me? When I am forced to leave them to undeserving hands? How is this fair?
His infinite desire is colliding with his finite flesh, and this is causing despair. His conclusion? “…All things are vanity!”
People think of the bible as a book. But really it is a library with books assembled over hundreds of years chronicling what is called Revelation History, which is God’s self-disclosure to humanity over time.
But in this process, God is revealing more than His identity: He is also revealing OUR identity. God is teaching us who WE are as well. Understanding who God is profoundly impacts the way we understand ourselves.
So in this historical unfolding, Ecclesiastes is like a primitive snapshot of the spiritual landscape. Before you can appreciate the answers, you must grasp the basic human problems.
Then the lectionary brings Jesus and Paul into the dialogue, and what they have to say is nothing short of revolutionary. Jesus offers a parable that speaks to the heart of the matter: that of the rich man who toils to fill his barn with wealth for years to come, and is ready to congratulate himself on a job well done. God says to him; “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus it will be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” (Lk 12:13-21)
What Jesus is doing is expanding the horizon. No longer does the struggle for meaning and happiness occur in a flat, what-you-see-is-what-you-get universe. Jesus reveals the broader context, and that is our relationship with God.
That is the game-changer. With this revealed, our meaning does not depend on holding onto that which is passing, which is intrinsically disappointing. Rather, we are called from our finitude to partake in the realm of the eternal; to participate in the life of God in charity, in hope and in love.
And this is why Paul’s language is so dramatic. He literally speaks of a death and rebirth in this new life in Christ. It is a life where the old divisions and tawdry habits have dwindled away, where “Christ is all and in all”. (Col 3:11)
We all know that as nice as this sounds, in reality it’s a lot of hard work. Sometimes the spiritual life feels like an eat-your-vegetables grind. Sometimes it feels forced or down-right unnatural. But let’s not forget what sin is; it’s the distortion of our true nature. If the goodness the bible calls us to feels unnatural, it’s not because it calls us to a place we do not belong—it’s because the veil of sin is so thick that we have lost our way, and lost a sense of who we really are.
On a deeper level, what feels like painful work today is really a healing, that in the end will feel more like a loving homecoming to our true nature.
But for now we remain pilgrims on a journey. It may at times feel arduous, but it’s the only one that truly matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment