Readings:
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23;
Psalm 49:1-12;
Colossians 3:1-11;
Luke 12:13-21

Collect:
Lord and giver of life,
you alone nourish and sustain all people,
through Christ, the bread of life.
Feed our hunger, quench our thirst,
that we might no longer work for what fails to satisfy,
but do what you require,
in obedience and faith; through Christ our Lord. Amen

Reflection

Just what is the meaning of life? Nothing like starting in at the deep-end, but that’s exactly where the Preacher (or Teacher) starts: “Vanity of vanities” or as the Inclusive Bible translates it, “Completely illusory!”, and the Good News Bible renders it “Useless, useless ... Life is useless, all useless” (Eccl 1:2). What’s a verse like this doing in the Bible? And what’s more, the one who speaks these words is the Preacher, known as Qoheleth, a strange word to us, which you may have seen in some translations or references. This is the person who is leader of the assembly, the one responsible for gathered worship and the social life of the community. It appears here in feminine form. Is she telling us it’s all a waste of time?

In the three versions above, the translators are struggling to help us appreciate the Hebrew word hevel, which evokes a puff of smoke, or vapour. I imagine people standing around in the cold, warming their hands with their breath. Another image is to breathe on a pane of glass and draw a smiley face or a heart with my finger. There for a moment. Soon gone.

It would not be fair, however, to think these are words of a cynic, that she’s telling us everything is useless or rubbish, a puff of hot air, soon gone in the cold. That would be a rush to judgement too quick. I think this is why the lectionary challenges us to read on, read more of the wise reflections offered to us as we seek to live good and wholesome lives together, which is where the reading leads us.

The whole book of Ecclesiastes bristles and directly faces up to the difficult questions of fairness and justice while living together: do people get what they deserve? What is the relationship between God and our experience? Just how are we to live together? What is the good use of money? A host of deep questions, and wise sayings, distilled over years, but the responses are not easy to understand or interpret. This book is the happy hunting ground for cranks seeking apparently easy answers, until we read the whole collection of sayings, and then reflect on what they all mean together.

At least one of the meanings of all this “puff of hot air” is brought out in the parable by Jesus we read today. The farmer does extraordinarily well in a crop planted, so well that new barns are built so that the future of the farmer is seen as one of relaxed contentment – eat, drink and be merry. And there’s the rub. The purpose of life is not to eat, drink and be merry. This is not the full human life of those who live together as God’s people. Rather we are to recognize our responsibility to each other, and to ensure that those who have nothing but a puff of hot air are not neglected. When one person (or group) takes and then keeps what belongs to all, there is trouble.

Today, as on any day, we need to appreciate that life, our life, is but a breath, a breath we share with each other, and a breath we share with God. Only then will greed be put aside, and our work be for that which satisfies, and our accomplishments be worthwhile.

Barry Lotz