St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
1359 State Street
Hobart, IN
(219) 942-0697
— Introduction to today’s lessons —
8/1/10 — 10th Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 13 C
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 One can not help but wonder why this book was included in the Bible. One answer may be that its “concluding editorial notation piously advanced an admonition intended to summarize all that had gone before, that is, ‘Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.’1 An additional reason may be that the opening verse of this book claims it is authored by Solomon.2
This lesson may have been included in today’s readings because it implies that working for wealth is a waste of time. Verses 6-8 of today’s psalm specifically reject wealth as having any value and verses 10-12 and today’s lesson from Ecclesiastes indicate that no one can take wealth beyond this life. The Gospel lesson draws the conclusion that greed is to be avoided. Ecclesiastes also is designated as Qoheleth.
“The thought that death cancels all human achievements prompted Qoheleth to consider life pointless.”3 “The author questions many of the accepted beliefs of Hebrew tradition…4 No one knows to whom the names Ecclesiastes nor Qoheleth belong or even whether they are personal names.5
“The author was, of course, influenced by his intellectual environment. He appears to have been well acquainted with the pessimistic and skeptical aspects of Egyptian and Mesopotamian wisdom. And if, as seems likely, he lived in the third century B.C., he was undoubtedly attracted by the philosophical tenor of Hellenic thought.”6 He concludes that “enduring value and adequate meaning for life are not to be found in the pursuit of wisdom.”7
“What is under discussion is the question of the meaning of life: indeed, what it sums up is nothing less than the quest of salvation per se, as Ecclesiastes understands it.”8 “Ecclesiastes is a ruthless exposure of what human life is apart from God and, if taken really seriously, prepares the way for a hearing of the gospel of Christ....Vanity of vanities’—all of human life is ultimately futile and meaningless if viewed in itself, apart from God.”9
The word ‘vanity’ appears four times in this lesson. It means, unsubstantial, momentary, and profitless; everything in life is hollow and utterly futile; it is the thinnest of vapors, fleeting as a breath, and amounts to nothing…Man is destined…to ceaseless effort without result…”10 “Life is absurd unless it is given a meaning and a reference out beyond itself.”11
Psalm 49:1-12 This is “a Wisdom psalm reflecting on the transitory nature of wealth and pleasure. One should not envy the rich, for the grave awaits them, where their lot will be that of the beasts who perish.
“The Vanity of Human Pomp” is the heading for this psalm in The Interpreter’s Bible. “The purpose of the author…is to instruct and exhort men about the fundamental issues of life. His words are directed not to Jews alone but to all mankind.”13
At the time of this psalm the Jews believed that the rich and healthy were rewarded by God for being just and that the poor and those who had physical limitations were punished by God for being sinners, but that understanding was in the process of changing to one of declaring that it was the rich who were ‘unjust’14 “Immortality is offered to all men who are willing to put their confidence in Yahweh and not in riches.”15
“Verse 4. incline my ear. In other words, to catch the inspiration...to the accompaniment of the harp...Verse 5. in times of trouble. I.e., when death approaches.”16 Verse 7: “The money of the rich...cannot buy off
death. They can offer no ransom great enough to extricate themselves from the common lot of men.”17 Verse 8: “the minimal existence of Sheol will be the only redemption the rich man can hope for.”18
Verses 5-11 depict “the vanity of riches…Though a man rule an empire, his domain at death is just a grave.”19 The wealthy meet the same end as the “animals that perish” (verse 12); the pomp of the rich ends of at the time of their death. 20
Verse 15 (which is not part of our lesson) informs the reader that God will ransom his life. The moral is “Do not be envious when some become rich,” because unless they also have faith in God rather than only in themselves, “They will carry nothing away at their death…and will never see the light again.” Those who have faith will be redeemed by God and that “can hardly be referred to anything other than a life after death.”21 “It seems best then to find here an early announcement of belief in a salvation beyond the grave.”22
Colossians 3:1-11 In verse 1 the author indicates “that baptism includes both the dying and the rising with Christ. But...the resurrection with Christ has to be implemented by constant moral effort...”23 It thus recognizes “the risen life as already a present reality in which the baptized share.”24
Verse 2. your life is hidden with Christ Christ is hidden because he is not bodily in this world but with the Father (see note 29, below). seek the things that are above. “Christians are to look upward in order to receive clear direction for their conduct.”25
In this section of the letter the author reminds the church at
“Maintenance of the baptismal state of being raised with Christ depends upon constantly and actively seeking to live out the risen life...’Our relation to God is a new life of existence for others, through participation in the being of Jesus’”27 The author emphasizes “the ethical consequences of Christ’s resurrection and our participation in it...Hence the imperatives: seek the things that are above, set your mind on them...”28 Verse 4: those who have made Christ their life will be with him when he comes again.29
Verses 5, 8-9 list several things to avoid if one seeks ‘the things that are above. “They delimit Christian life negatively. The positive definition of Christian life is juxtaposed later on in v. 10 with ‘and put on...’”30 If one insists upon continuing pagan behavior (verse 7) rather than living by Christian ethical behavior, ‘the wrath of God’ is coming upon you (verse 6). Therefore one must rid one’s self of certain behaviors (verses 8 and 9) and it must be done ‘now’ (verse 8).31
The new self in verse 10 “is the character and quality of life seen in Jesus. It is being renewed [because] the Colossians have accepted this way of life as that into which they must grow.”32 The new nature is not static, but is continually being renewed...but takes upon itself more and more the image of its creator. 33 Verse 11. The risen life that follows baptism eliminates all distinctions that formerly separated those who now are Christian.34
Luke 12:13-21
Jesus being addressed at ‘teacher’ has the same meaning as if he were addressed as ‘rabbi.’35 “He has not come to settle such legal questions…He rejects the role of judge or arbiter” in money and property matters.36 “The rabbis stated that if one heir wanted a division of the inheritance it should be granted.”37 Jesus’ “refusal to be concerned about material inheritance leads to a warning about greed and the folly of the rich.”38
Jesus’ caution about greed and the parable he told here fit in with today’s previous lessons. It has to do with what is important in a person’s life and how one demonstrates that importance. “The possession of property is irrelevant to the life of the Age to come. The parable explains why Jesus regards earthly wealth as wholly negligible.”39
In verse 13, “the man wants the broken relationship finalized by total separation. But Jesus insists that he has not come as a ‘divider’…He wants to reconcile people to one another, not finalize divisions between them…Reconciliation will require the petitioner to gain a new perspective of himself. 40
The new perspective is suggested in Jesus’ warning about greed: “The clear implication is that the petitioner will not have his problem solved if his brother does grant him his portion of the inheritance…‘It is not true that greater abundance of goods means greater abundance of life’ (Manson, Sayings, 271).”41
With respect to the rich fool, there is no sense in trying to build something physical (a barn) to satisfy that which is spiritual (the soul). The rich man thinks that the total needs of the total person can be met by material surpluses well preserved for the owner’s exclusive use.”42 He “discovered too late that material wealth is not a permanent possession.”43 “The man’s soul is discovered to be on loan from God.”44
This reading “draws together the thoughts of the first two readings and gives them precision.45 Verse 21 “implies the use of wealth on behalf of others as the way to become ‘rich with God.’”46 “Ambrose aptly observes that the rich man has storage available in the mouths of the needy.”47 “Death exposes the basic poverty of the [rich] fool.”48
Psalm 49:10 applies to the rich man of this parable. He has not given any thought at all to anyone but himself but he perishes and someone else gets to enjoy the wealth he himself looked forward to enjoying. Matthew 6:19: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart e also.
Footnotes
Ecclesiastes
1. J. Kenneth Kuntz, The People of Ancient Israel [Harper & Row, 1974], 462: In addition, Ecclesiastes “claimed Solomon as its author [1:1]...And by the time the question of whether Ecclesiastes should be included among the canonical works had become a lively issue among the rabbis at the end of the first century of the Christian era, its open-minded reflections may have already become popular in many Jewish circles.”
Ecclesiastes/Qoheleth has been called: “An alien body within the Hebrew Bible.” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 2 [article, Book of Ecclesiastes, by James L. Crenshaw, 1992], 278;
“...a renegade from the traditional faith of
“The strangest book in the Bible.” R.B.Y. Scott, Proverbs · Ecclesiastes, [The Anchor Bible, 1965, 2nd Ed., 1974], 191;
Kuntz, 462: It “questions traditional values…[and] painted an exceedingly bleak picture of the human
condition.”
The Cambridge History of The Bible, Vol. 1, [chapter 6, ‘Canonical and non-canonical by G. W. Anderson, 1970], 133, 134: The content of the Old Testament likely was finalized at Jamnia [30 miles west northwest of Jerusalem]: “The assembly which probably was responsible for the last major stage in the delimitation of the Canon was the so-called Synod of Jamnia, which is said to have met during the last decade of the first Christian century...The records of discussions among the rabbis show that there had been differences of opinion about the status of certain books…Ecclesiastes was suspect because it appeared to contradict itself (e.g. 4:2; 9:2) and because it was alleged to contain heretical teaching (e.g. 1:3)…Perhaps the attribution of the book to Solomon, together with the presence in it, and at its close, of expressions of traditional orthodoxy and piety, secured its place in the Canon.”
2. TABD, Vol. 2, Crenshaw, 275: “A date for Qoheleth between 225 and 250 B.C...seems the most likely” as the time when it was written. This dating would place it some 750 years after Solomon’s death.
TABD, Vol. 2, Crenshaw, 275: Ecclesiastes “advocated enjoyment as the wisest course of action during youth before the cares of advancing years made that response impossible...” Ecclesiastes “sought to demonstrate the claim that life lacked profit and therefore was totally absurd…Qoheleth argued: (1) that wisdom could not achieve its goal; (2) that a remote God ruled over a crooked world; and (3) death did not take virtue or vice into consideration.”
The Making of the Old Testament, The Cambridge Bible Commentary, article by Enid B. Mellor, [1972], 106-107: After the fall of
The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. III [article, Council of Jamnia (Jabneh), by Jack P. Lewis, 1992], 634: “The concept of the Council of Jamnia is an hypothesis to explain the canonization of the Writings (the third division of the Hebrew Bible) resulting in the closing of the Hebrew canon.” At 636 Lewis notes that “discussion of the Song of Songs and of Ecclesiastes... continued after the Yavneh [Jamnia] times, furnishing no basis for the assertion that the canon was closed at Yavneh. To the contrary the sources report later debate about these and also other books.”
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 2 [article, Ecclesiastes by S.H. Blank, 1962], 7: Ecclesiastes was one of the last Old Testament books to be written. “It was probably written during the Greek period (ca. 250 B.C.), and its author may have been a Jewish sage.”
Michael Grant, The History of Ancient Israel [Chas. Scribner’s Sons, 1984], 200: The author “belonged to the third century.” 3. TABD, Vol. 2, Crenshwa, 277;
4.
Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin, Old Testament Parallels [Paulist Press, 3rd Ed., 2006], 223: ‘A Sufferer and A Soul in Egypt,’ which “was composed in Egypt between 2050 and 1800 BCE” argues that “It is the task of the living to get on with life…[it] proposes that the sufferer just stop conforming to society’s expectations and start enjoying life…A Sufferer and a Soul evaluates how to counsel people who conform to all of society’s expectations, but who get sick of living when their efforts get them nowhere. Teachers in ancient
suffering; they simply study it.”
Kenton L. Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible [Hendrickson, 2005], 277: “There is good evidence that the pessimism of Gilgamesh influenced the biblical author of Qoheleth [Ecclesiastes]…The Parallels between these two texts are at points very close…other parallels include…the comparison of human toil with ‘the wind’ and the introspective tone of the two works…”: ANET, 3rd ed.,1969, 79: “As for mankind, numbered are their days; Whatever they achieve is but the wind!” [According to Matthews and Benjamin, at
page 21, the origins of the Stories of Gilgamesh date from 3300-2300 BCE.]
5. See TABD, Vol. II, Crenshaw, 271: “The name Ecclesiastes” derives from the word Qoheleth.
Kuntz 464: “Much of the conventional Jewish thinking of his day probably impressed him as idealistic and alarmingly superficial. His fondness for empiricism instructed him that the data of revealed religion should not be embraced blindly. *Qoheleth had no use for the easy solutions sometimes advanced by the orthodox…Rather he was constantly striving for intellectual honesty.”
Qoheleth, another name by which the book is known, derives from the Hebrew root meaning ‘to gather and may indicate he gathered a group of students to instruct.”
Fuerst 91: “’The most heretical book of the third century B.C.’, someone has called it; the author ‘had faith, but he lacked love and hope’, says another. It is claimed that God in Ecclesiastes is not
Fuerst 92: Ecclesiastes belongs to wisdom literature, a type of writing that “existed in the civilizations of the Nile and Mesopotamian valleys throughout the period of
The Making of the OT, 41: “Wisdom and the wise also appear in the literatures of
6. Kuntz, 463-464;
Peake’s Commentary, Nelson, [1962, reprint 1964], Ecclesiastes, by E. T. Ryder, page 460; “It seems reasonable to conclude that he… drew from the common stock of international wisdom sayings current throughout the ancient Near East…Egyptian influence may in this respect be found to preponderate.”
Fuerst 93: Wise men reflected on mankind and on nature and critically analyzed what was generally accepted as true, and then drew conclusions from their analysis and what they saw and experienced, and passed their conclusions on in the form of ‘wisdom’ sayings to their contemporaries and to those who followed them.
Ecclesiastes is a wise man “schooled and trained in the learning of [his] people, who subjected this knowledge and folklore to searching cross-examination, and applied what [he] knew to the complex questions of justice, human destiny, life and death, the meaning of pain and suffering, and the goal of human life. In both the Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations, this speculative force in wisdom produced impressive documents…Job and Ecclesiastes are the foremost examples of speculative wisdom in the Old Testament.”
7. Fuerst 106; Fuerst 156: In his “view, the world simply was not made as a place where God’s justice is always manifest and where God’s fairness can be demonstrated; he finds on the contrary that the world is full of inequity, injustice, and undeserved loss. It is impossible to count on even-handedness in the world of God’s creation; its cornerstone is not fairness.”
John Bright, A History of
8. Gerhard von Rad, Theology, Vol. I, [Tr. D.M.G. Stalker, 2nd ed., 1957; 1962], 455;
9. Reginald Fuller, Preaching the Lectionary, Liturgical Press, [Rev. Ed. 1984], quoting a position of Sir Edwyn Hoskyns, 492;
The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. V [1956], Ecclesiastes, by O.S. Rankin, 19: “Central both to Ecclesiastes and to the teaching of the New Testament is the question: What is the worth of life, what content of real value has it or can it be made to have? Here Ecclesiastes is as relevant to Christianity as were the prophets whose ethics and ideals the Jesus of the Gospels accepted and fulfilled.” 10. Scott, 202, 212;
11. Herbert O’Driscoll, Worship and Preaching [The Episcopal Church, 1991—1992], 60;
Psalm
12. Mitchell Dahood, S.J., Psalms I [The Anchor Bible, 1965], 296;
13. The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4 [exegesis of Psalms by William R. Taylor, 1955], 254;
Artur Weiser, The Psalms, The Old Testament Library, [tr. Herbert Hartwell, 5th Rev. Ed., 1959, 1965], 385-6: The psalmist is dealing with a riddle of life: “The social problem and question of how earthly possessions are to be valued from the moral and religious point of view, and what man’s attitude to them should be in his everyday life.”
14. Dahood, Anchor, 296: Verse 2. “rich and poor. The Targum [“Interpretation given to the Aramaic translations or paraphrases of the Old Testament” The Oxford Dict. of the Christian Church, ed. F.L.Cross, 1958, page 1322] identified these with the “unjust” and the “just,” respectively.” .
The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4 [exegesis of Psalms by William R. Taylor, 1955], 254: The author “lives in a time when the old belief of a balance between merit and reward is being subjected to criticism in the light of the hard facts of life.”
See Mitchell Dahood, S.J., Psalms I [The Anchor Bible, 1965], 296; Also, see Isaiah 53:9 (where ‘the wicked man’ is synonymously parallel to ‘the rich man’), Job 24:6 (where ‘the vineyard of the wicked man,’ really means the rich man’s vineyard) and Proverbs 11:7.
However, in Jesus’ time the blind, deaf, dumb, and crippled were still thought of as having committed some sin and that explains why they are crippled. 15. Dahood, 298; 16. Dahood, 297;
17. TIB, Psalms, Taylor, 255; 18. Dahood, 298; 19. TIB, Psalms,
20. J.H. Eaton, Psalms [Torch Bible Commentaries, 1967], 135: Verses 11-12: As to the rich, “Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever. They acquire new properties as if they could keep them for eternity. But soon they are parted from their pomp; in death they have no advantage over their cattle.”
21. Gerhard von Rad, Theology, Vol. I, [Harper & Row, New York., Tr. D.M.G. Stalker, 1962], 406;
22. Eaton, 135;
Colossians
23. Fuller 73, where he continues: “It is a hidden reality that is not finally revealed until Christ’s second
coming.” 24.Fuller 492;
G.H.P. Thompson, The Letters of Paul to the...Colossians... [The Cambridge Bible Commentary, 1967], 150: “To be raised with Christ is to accept and share in this higher plane of life, which Jesus, now enthroned as King [‘seated at the right hand of God’], embodies and represents. This is what is meant by seek the things that are above and by set your minds on things that are above.”
Eduard Lohse, Colossians and Philemon [Hermeneia Commentary, Tr. W.R. Poehlmann and R.J. Karris,
1968, Fortress Press, 1971], 132: “Life with Christ is actualized when one belongs to the [Lord] and follows his command.” 25. Lohse, 133; 26. Thompson, 150; This helps explain verse 6 of today’s psalm.
27. Fuller 492, 493, quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 28. Fuller, 257;
29. Thompson, 150: When Christ...is revealed: “Jesus’ kingship is hidden in the sense that it has not been finally and openly demonstrated.” The idea is that he will be revealed when he comes again. Lohse, 134: “That which is now secretly present shall become manifest at some future time, when Christ shall appear...When, however, Christ...appears at the end of days, then it will also become manifest that his own are with him in life.”
30. Lohse 136; 31. Thompson, 152: “The now is emphatic.” 32. Thompson, 152:
F.F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians... [The New International Commentary on the New Testament, 1984], 131: Since Jesus’ people “share his risen life, their interests are now centered in him; his interests, in fact, have become theirs. They must therefore pursue those things which belong to the heavenly realm where he reigns; their mind, their attitude, their ambition, their whole outlook must be characterized by their living bond with the ascended Christ. The conclusion is inescapable. Having died with Christ, they now live with him and in him.”
33. The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 11 [exegesis of Colossians by Francis W. Beare, 1955], 216;
34. Lohse, 144: “Barbarian is the non-Greek...The Scythians are cited as an especially strange kind of barbarian. It was said of them, ‘they are little better than wild beasts’...[People] of completely diverse origins...have been gathered together in unity in Christ through allegiance to one Lord.”
Luke
35. Kenneth E. Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes [1980, Eerdmans, combined ed., 1983], 58;
At 58-59 Bailey says, the rabbi was expected to be knowledgeable regarding the law and ready to give a legal ruling. Jesus’ ministry does not include passing judgment on legal cases. He refused to settle a family property dispute, even though that is something a rabbi normally would be called upon to do.
36. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., Luke, The Anchor Bible Vol. 28A, [1985], 969;
37. Bailey, Peasant Eyes, 59; at 61 he says: “He wants to reconcile people to one another, not finalize divisions between them.” 38. Fitzmyer, 968;
39. Joachim Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, [1962, 6th ed Tr. S. H. Hooke; 1963, Charles Scribner’s Sons], 165; Bailey, Peasant Eyes, 63: See Psalm 49 and Sirach 11:19-20. “Jesus expands Ben Sirach’s very short story into a drama.”
40. Bailey, Peasant Eyes, 61; Bailey quotes D.G. Miller, Saint Luke [SCM 1959] 110: “There is a greater gain than getting an inheritance and a greater loss than losing it.”
41. Bailey, Peasant Eyes, 62, Quoting, T.W. Manson; At 63, Bailey adds: Jesus’ cryptic answer warns the reader in two ways. First…the desire for material things will prove insatiable. Second, the dreams of the abundant life will never be achieved through such an accumulation of surpluses.” 42. Bailey, Peasant Eyes, 66;
43. G.B. Caird,