Reflection - Bubbles

By Steve Hall

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092620.cfm
Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8
Luke 9:43-45

You might think that the guy was in the depths of depression, that he would benefit from a call to the suicide hot-line, that he certainly needed to see a psychiatrist or at least get a prescription for Zoloft. For a man whose written work starts off in the depths of emptiness, the current passage is almost upbeat. Recall his frequently quoted opening:

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)

Yet here, in our current reading, we find him telling the young to rejoice. So what’s with the apparent contradictions?

Now my observations, while not specifically grounded in Scriptural scholarship, are certainly drawn from a life similar to the author’s. He speaks from the waning years of his life; and, unless I set a new longevity record, I can currently do the same.

His meaning can be better understood if we think of soap bubbles when he talks about vanity. I watched my young grandson the other day. He was using a soap bubble wand and the wind to generate hundreds of bubbles. Some would float off with the breeze. Some would burst just as they were released. Others would hang in the air as if suspended. Still others would catch a passing gust and go off to explore. But in the end, none lasted more than seconds. Try grasping one and it was gone. Chase one and you were soon chasing air. That is the “vanity” of which our author speaks.

If we take a quick tour of his compact twelve chapters we find his discouraging observations about the vanities of life. They weigh heavily upon those of us reading.

“I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:17)

“I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”(Ecclesiastes 2:11)

“I said to myself, "What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been so very wise?" And I said to myself that this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 2:15)

“For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19)

“I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:4)

“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

Yet, these other, much different words are also his:

“What I have seen to be good and to be fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life which God has given him, for this is his lot.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14)

“Rejoice, O young man, while you are young and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart, the vision of your eyes.”

Quoheleth’s age informs his insight about the passing of all things. His experience informs him of the joy and happiness so many of these fleeting things offer, even if only temporarily. So, on the one hand he insists on every one as vanity, a momentary flare bursting upon one’s life. On the other he understands that they have been gifts by which God blesses us so we can enjoy this temporal existence. Consequently, his remarks always carry that undertone of futility. All he sees are soap bubbles, resplendent in their brief existence yet destined to pass into nothingness.

For Quoheleth Eternal life was still a phantom. Living in the eternity of divine presence was still wild speculation. The victory over death had yet to be achieved. Christ had not yet risen.

How is it with us? Can we carry his understanding to a new and more complete level while we enjoy the blessings of the current age?