Ecclesiastes Was Wrong, Sort Of

The cynic in me sometimes gets the best of me, especially when I ponder the foolishness and thick-headedness of humanity, my own included. Why is it, I often wonder, that we keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again? Why do we hardly ever seem to learn from them? Why do we diligently read history but choose to ignore its lessons and so are doomed to repeat it as we do, much to our dismay, chagrin and personal and corporate suffering and regret? In my cynicism I wonder why we even bother to study history

Ecclesiastes, one of the wisdom writers of the Old Testament, had his own take on all this. He, too, must have studied the history of his people and observed the actions of his contemporaries and even of himself and simply came to this conclusion: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” (1:9)

Yet, as much as I agree with him and as much as it is evident that history repeats itself so as to seem that there is truly nothing new under the sun, I must conclude that Ecclesiastes was wrong, sort of. And as much as it is obviously evident that we do not or stubbornly refuse to learn the lessons of the past, it is not written in stone that we cannot learn, that we must and will repeat those past errors ourselves.

Every moment of every hour of every day is new. It is not a repeat of the past nor will it be repeated in the future. Every moment is unique. That should give us hope and allow us to be optimistic even as we lament our failures to learn from our mistakes and our proclivity to keep repeating them over and over again. Because each moment under the sun is a brand new moment, we have the choice and opportunity to either repeat our mistakes of the past or not.

That has always been the case, of course. Every person and every generation is given that same choice. Thus, it seems, the question we need to ask ourselves individually and corporately is why we act the way we do. Is there some defective gene endemic to human beings that prescribes such foolish behavior so much so that Ecclesiastes noted its prevalence almost 3000 years ago?

Would that there were. Then we would be off the hook. We could blame our foolishness on our DNA rather than on our FSA – Foolish Selfish Actions. If our DNA were the cause, then God would be the one we could blame because God created us the way we are. The truth is our DNA is quite attuned to those times when our FSA want to control our lives. God created us and God’s Spirit lives in each and every one of us. That is why we do not have to repeat our past mistakes and sins.

We are not doomed to repeat history. God’s grace is there to enable us to keep each new moment new, to strengthen us to not do what we know is foolish and to do what we know is, well, full of God’s grace and love. Yes, Ecclesiastes observed what we still observe. Nevertheless, we have it within ourselves as persons and as a community, both of faith and of the world, to make ourselves, our world and all things new.

I AM AN ITALIAN-HISPANIC-AFRICAN-JEWISH-ETC. AMERICAN

We did our ancestry check a while back and I discovered that while I am 78% Italian, I have blood from most of southern Europe as well as some from Africa. There are even a little Jewish genes in me. But, then, I am no different from any other person in this country. The only exceptions are the real Native Americans, who, sadly because of how our ancestors treated them, are few and far between.

The point is that none of the rest of us is a pure American. We are all mixed breeds, each and every one of us. That means that no one of us better or purer than anyone else. We are a mixed breed and we are all Americans. So why do we label some Hispanic Americans or African Americans? Labeling others because of genetic makeup only separates us and makes it so much more difficult to act as one people, one nation. But, unfortunately, we do. Is it any wonder, then, why there is so much division in our country?

Not only that, if we would check back on our forefathers, they all came to this country looking for a better life. Both of my grandfathers came here from Italy at the turn of the last century with barely the clothes on their backs. One found work in the coal mines in Eastern Pennsylvania and the other on the railroads in Western Pennsylvania. When they had saved enough money, they returned to Italy, picked up their wives, returned to their new homes and began to raise a family. All they wanted was a better life.

All those coming to this country today want is a better life than they now have. They want to find a job, and it is almost, like my grandfathers’, hard labor for low pay. But they take it, work hard, make a living, raise a family, pay taxes, make this country even better. They aren’t looking for a handout or free anything no matter what the politicians have to say. And they certainly aren’t criminals, not the overwhelming majority of them. Some are. Some of my Italian relatives, I suspect, were part of the Mafia. Not everyone is an upstanding citizen.

The truth is that we need more immigrants and not less. Everywhere I look businesses are hiring. We do not have enough workers and we are not reproducing enough. The trucking industry alone needs 900,000 new truck drivers. But we need more immigrants not only to fill out employment rolls but because they make us better. When I was a teenager in the late ‘50s, my Dad opened a pizza shop. Now pizza and Italian cuisine is everywhere and almost considered “American”! And there is Japanese, Chinese, Hispanic – the list is endless – cuisine. And Americans of every genetic makeup dine on it.

What made the United States so attractive to my grandparents was the opportunity it freely and welcomingly gave them for a better life. They took it. People all over the world are looking for that same opportunity. We can’t take it away from them. In fact, we need them as much as they need us.

JOHN THE BAPTIST DIDN’T GET IT AND NEITHER DO WE

We tend to believe that John the Baptist really understood Jesus and Jesus’ mission, but he really did not. John was the last of the Old Testament prophets who believed that God would send a Messiah to right all things wrong and, in the process, lead a military revolution against the powers in charge and make Israel the new world power. That’s what John and, in fact, even Jesus’ disciples and his other followers believed.

They were all wrong. Remember the account (Luke 7:8-23) where John was in prison and he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he, Jesus, was “the one who is to come”, namely, the Messiah, or were they to look for someone else? Why did John have to have that question asked of Jesus? I believe it was because the message Jesus was preaching was not the kind of message a warrior-messiah would preach. John didn’t get it.

And neither do we. Like John, like those who were following Jesus for all the wrong reasons back then, we, too, today, somehow still think that the way to overcome all that is wrong in this world is through the force of power. They were correct and so are we. But what kind of power: that is the issue. Not the power of the force of arms but the power of love. There is no power on earth that is stronger than the power of love.

We still seem to think that what makes us powerful as a nation is that we have more and bigger and more powerful weapons than any other nation. On an international level, on a political level, that may seem true, may even be so. But what makes a country great, what makes a people great, is the love and care that country and its people have one for another. Nothing else matters and nothing is more powerful.

People matter; every person matters. Every person. That was Jesus’ constant message. That was the message he sent back to John. Everyone matters especially the least, the lost, the lonely, the outcasts of society. Everyone. To the extent that we believe some people are more important, better, whatever, than others, to that extend we still don’t get it. We still don’t get Jesus’ message.

Granted, it is an easy message to understand but a difficult one to live out. It always was and always will be given our proclivity to look out for Number One long before we start looking out for anyone else. That is why, sadly, the world is not much better off today than it was in Jesus’ time. After Pentecost some people started getting the message and started living out that message and the world began to change. But then politics and power took over once again and the message got lost. If it did not get lost, it was pushed to the back burner.

But I have hope. The message that is coming from Parkland and all across this great country of ours is that everyone matters and that only love for one another will not only make us great but make us be what we were created to be. Maybe we’re finally getting it.

REJOICE ALWAYS

St. Paul in his first letter to the people of Thessalonica (5:16) tells them – and, thus, tells us – to “Rejoice always.” Really? Rejoice when you’ve just lost your job? Rejoice when your marriage breaks apart or your children are sick or you just failed an exam. Really? Rejoice when bad happens to us or to people we love or even to people we do not know? How are we supposed to do that? Even more, why should we do that?

Yet that is what Paul says we must do. Why? Well, to begin with he would tell us, as that old song says, we should rejoice because “this is the day the Lord has made.” And because the Lord has made this day, then “let us rejoice and be glad in it.” God has given us, individually and collectively, this day to live out as best we can. Yesterday is past and tomorrow is not yet and, moreover, there might not be a tomorrow for us given that each day is an individual gift from God.

Even so, even being thankful that God has given us – given me – this day as a gift, everything about this day on a personal level can be very painful making it very difficult for me to find any reason to rejoice this day. That may very well be true. But that is to miss Paul’s point, I think. While I may find little or nothing for me to rejoice about on a personal level given that I may be drowning in pain and suffering, nevertheless, people I love have reasons to rejoice which should give me a reason to rejoice amid my pain.

That may be difficult to do, of course. In fact, it almost always is. When we are in pain of any kind, it is truly difficult to summon up the strength to rejoice in the good others are experiencing. We are expending all of our strength just to get through this day and Paul expects us to summon up the strength to rejoice that others are not in pain? Well, yes, yes indeed, Paul would say.

Even more, while we may be in pain, deserved or undeserved, there are always many reasons for us to rejoice amidst all that pain. And we can put names and faces on those reasons. In fact, those named faces are the ones who are standing beside us, walking with us, praying for us as we endure the pain we are now experiencing. They may not be able to take away the pain, undo the damage, make things better, but their presence always helps somehow in some way to ease that pain. Is that not a reason to rejoice?

This day has been given to us for a reason. It has been given to us to live as fully and as faithfully and as best we can else God would not have been given it to us in the first place. Once we awaken to this day, even though we may awaken to pain, Paul would remind us, we are to find all the reasons we can to rejoice in it. And if we awaken pain free, rejoicing in that gift, we are to do all we can to help the ones we love who are in pain to get through the day.

There are always reasons to “rejoice always”.  It is up to us to find them…and rejoice!

IT WASN’T GOD’S WILL THAT JESUS DIED

The Heresy Police, I am certain, will be after me, but here goes: It was not God’s will that Jesus be crucified or killed in any other manner. It is never God’s will that bad things happen to good people, even bad things happen to bad people. In the latter case it is also because no one is bad in God’s eyes. We are all good because we are all children of God and God does not create anything that is not in and of itself inherently good.

That is not to say that we good people, one and all, don’t do some very bad things which can cause some very bad things to happen to others and to ourselves. It is never God’s will that we do such to others or to ourselves. When we do, God laments as much as we do and as do those whom we have hurt by our selfish actions.

But what about Jesus? Don’t the Gospels say that while Jesus was in agony in the garden just before he was arrested and taken off to be crucified that Jesus asked God to do something so that he did not have to undergo what he was about to undergo, but in the next breath say, “your will be done?” Yes, but, again, I don’t believe Jesus said that even though the Gospel writers say he said it.

So why do I say it? For two reasons. First, no one heard what Jesus said. Those closest to him – Peter, James and John – were sound asleep. The others were nowhere near to hear anything he said. Second, and most importantly, that’s what we always say when bad things happen to good people: “It was God’s will.”

Tell the parents of David who died of brain cancer shorty after graduating from high school that that was God’s will. Tell the parents of Nancy, home for Christmas during her freshman year of college who did not wake up because she died of an unknown but congenital heart defect that that was God’s will. Tell the parents of Katie who was killed by a wild animal while the family was on vacation in Africa that her death was God’s will. Tell the parents in Parkland, Orlando, etc., etc., etc., that the killing was God’s will.

It wasn’t, and neither was Jesus death on the cross. Jesus knew, as did Martin Luther King, Jr, as did Gandhi, as did all the prophets before them, that someone sooner or later would kill them. Jesus certainly knew that once the people proclaimed him to be a king as they did on what we call Palm Sunday, his days were numbered. The powers in charge would have to stop this nonsense at once, and they did.

Again, sometimes we know why bad things happen to good people and bad people: we people do some very bad things that hurt ourselves and others. But sometimes, like with David and Nancy and Katie, we do not. What we do know is that it was not God’s will but that God will give us, as God gave to Jesus, as God gave to David’s and Nancy’s and Katie’s parents the grace and strength to move on, never understanding why what happened happened, but somehow in some way to find resurrection and life.

THE FORGOTTEN POOR

Christmas has come and gone. We were all wrapped up in the season in more ways than simply wrapping presents. We remembered all those we love, who are important to us, who are special in some way or another whether we gave them presents or not. And even when we do give loved ones gifts, the truth is none of them need anything we give. They and we already have more than enough. All the while we tend to easily forget about those who do not have enough: the poor.

Why is it that the poor are so often so forgotten? Why does it take a natural disaster to awaken us to the plight of the poor, to that fact that there are so many poor people throughout the world? When it comes to the poor and the needs of the poor, “out of sight, out of mind” seems to be the prevailing philosophy of everyone who is not poor. It seems that if we were not reminded of the poor on a more or less regular basis, we would forget about them altogether.

This lack of concern for the poor is nothing new. It is age old, as old as the world. It seems that every generation has neglected the poor and the downtrodden in their midst. The poor may never have been completely ignored, but they were also never on anyone’s priority list, not now, and it seems, not ever.

And yet, if we read Scripture closely, all of it, the poor are always, always, always, God’s Number One priority. In every generation everywhere God has had as a first concern the care for the poor. The picture of the Last Judgment that Jesus paints in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is one where the only criterion for entrance into external life is how we treated the poor of the world. Did we treat them well or did we mistreat or even ignore them?

The problem is not that we are so callous that we neglect the poor or even use and abuse the poor. The problem is that we can get so wrapped up in our own lives, often struggling just to makes ends meet, that we don’t even give the poor a second or third thought unless we stand face to face with someone in need. Then and only then do we seem to be shaken out of our own little world to catch a glimpse of the wider world out there. It is a world where poverty and disease run rampant and will continue to do so until and unless those of us who have begin to address the situation to help the have-nots.

The disciples in Jerusalem, for example, wanted to remind Paul that once he set off on his missionary journeys he must not forget about the needs of the poor in Jerusalem where so many of the needy in that part of the world gathered. These disciples knew Paul would be very busy trying to evangelize the gentiles, that his days would be consumed with this mission and that it would be easy for him to forget about the poor simply because his mind was not focused on them. He assured them he would not forget about them.

It is unfortunate that we all need such reminders, that the poor are not foremost in our thoughts and front-burner issues in our lives. Reminders, however, are only as good as the responses we make to them. 

A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

It is certainly a fact of life and thus should be a serious concern for our life of faith that we can seek too much pleasure. We can eat too much, drink too much, become so angry or so jealous that we cannot think straight or act sensibly. We can and we do, each one of us, at times in our lives. That does not mean we are gluttons or sexual perverts or anything like that. It simply means that we can go overboard, overindulge, on occasion. We have. We also know the harm even such momentary outbursts can cause others and cause even ourselves.

When we do not maintain some sort of self-control, when we allow our passions and desires to grab hold of us and then gain control over our human appetites, it can be a long and difficult journey back to normalcy. We do not become gluttons, for instance, overnight nor do we become self-controlled in the area of food intake overnight. The road back from perdition is as long as the road to perdition, and we should make no mistake about it. And it is a very difficult road at that.

Just as vice has to be fed to become vicious, so virtue has to be fed to become victorious. Neither happens automatically. It would be wonderful if we never had to worry about our passions taking over and getting the better of us. It would be even more wonderful if a virtuous life were standard operating procedure for each and every human being. But passions being what they are and the pleasure attached to succumbing to them being what it is, virtue is in for a battle even if it is more natural for us to be virtuous than not, which it truly is, child of God that each of is.

In order for us to live a good and godly life, we have to work at it. In order to stay strong when passion rears its head, we have to work at it. It is always easier to give in, which is why we sometimes do. It takes grace and strength to resist those temptations that push us to go too far. Saying “no” to pleasure, God-created pleasure, when that pleasure is misplaced or misused is difficult, even when we know what we are doing is wrong. Such is the nature of what has now become a beast.

We know that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We know that when our passion to do what we know is wrong kicks in, the fruit of the Spirit can easily take a beating and, often and unfortunately, lose.

We also know that good intentions to live in the Spirit are not enough, especially when they are placed face-to-face with those passions that would turn good into bad. Yes, we have to be intentional about being self-controlled, kind, loving and all the rest. But we also have to be intentional about doing the work necessary to make virtuous living our standard operating procedure, one that flows naturally from us. But even then, we can never let down our guard, never, ever.

Perhaps beginning each day asking the Holy Spirit to help us eat of the Spirit’s fruit will keep us on the straight and narrow that day. If we do so, we will be well fed.