All Things Must Pass Away
Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
The first reading for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time comes to us from the Book of Ecclesiastes, one of the books from the Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is not one of the most loved books of the Bible. In fact, we may sometimes wonder why it is in the Bible at all. But with that taste for shocking paradox that was characteristic of him, Sir Edwyn Hoskyns used to say that Ecclesiastes is the most Christian book in the Old Testament! What he meant was that 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. Ecclesiastes is not so much good news as it is the bad news that has to be heard before the good news becomes audible. “Vanity of vanities”—all of human life is ultimately futile and meaningless if viewed in itself, apart from God.
After the Beatles broke up, George Harrison issued a solo album entitled All Things Must Pass. It was George Harrison’s first solo composition after the breakup in April of 1970. The lyrics of the title song could have come directly from the Book of Ecclesiastes:
Sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
It's not always gonna be this gray
Sunset doesn't last, all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
It's not always gonna be this gray.
Now, the darkness only stays, at nighttime
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always gonna be this gray
All things must pass
All things must pass away.
Whether we admit it or not, the wisdom of this song is true of everything in our lives. Nothing lasts forever. This is true of the good things in our lives as well as the hard times in our lives. Once one grows old, it is easier to see this reality and it is while we are young. Qoheleth, a name that means “assembler,” a person who gathers or assembles the class, the group, or the community.
In its opening verses, Psalm 90, which is ascribed to Moses, doubles down on this lesson. He writes: “You turn humanity back into dust, saying, ‘Return, you children of Adam!’” A little later in the psalm, we hear these words: “Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty, if we are strong.” Despite the fact that modern medicine has made it possible for us to live even longer than 80 years, we are all aware of the fact that eventually our lives on this earth will come to an end.
In his Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul writes: “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” While the first reading and the responsorial psalm may come off as being a little pessimistic, St. Paul urges us to think about the kingdom of God rather than our time on this earth. Almost every day, we pray: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” You might remember that it was just last week that Jesus taught his disciples to pray these words from what we now call the Lord’s prayer. If we stop and consider these words for just a moment, we see that Jesus also taught us to dwell on God’s kingdom rather than our days on this earth. We have to admit that while we may let these words escape our lips without thinking, we are actually asking God to help us in our efforts to take St. Paul’s words seriously.
Finally, we come to the parable from St. Luke’s Gospel that tells the story of a rich man who has just realized a bountiful harvest. This parable draws together the thoughts of the first two readings and gives them precision. The rich fool is a man who lived his life without reference to God and was caught in the toils of futility and meaninglessness (“vanity of vanities!”). He organized his life without reference to the transcendent; he did not “seek the things that are above.” So comes the crashing judgment: “This night your soul [that is, your life] is required of you.”
Our first inclination upon hearing this particular story might be to criticize the man for his greed. However, the true moral of this story is something from which we all can benefit; namely, remember that Jesus has died upon across so that our lives will go on after the death of our human bodies. As Moses reminds us in the responsorial, God created us from the dust of the earth, and it is unto that dust that our bodies will return. However, our human souls will live forever if we place our faith in the resurrection of Jesus. In this respect, Qoheleth is mistaken. Solomon, in all his wisdom, knew nothing of our afterlife. All of life is not vanity or useless if we school ourselves to place our trust in the things that are above as St. Paul urges us today.
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