Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 / Luke 9:18-22
Ecclesiastes talks about time: Everything happens at the time God chooses.
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What are some of the things that we keep putting off until
tomorrow? Why do we keep putting them off? "Time is what we want
most, but what alas! we use worst." William Penn
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Today’s readings show a principal difference between
Ecclesiastes and Luke. This famous passage describes the great circle of time:
"Turn, turn, turn." Everything has its time and season. We experience
these times but cannot understand why they happen or if they have any
directedness. Their meaning, shape or content seem to forever elude our grasp.
All we are able to do is to submit to the brute cycle of life. We cannot pierce
through the cycle to discover its meaning. All we can see is the cycle. Human
life is only eternal return. This sums up the Book of Ecclesiastes.
The whole of Luke so far, chapters 3-9, prepared these two
questions. Who do the people say that I am? and: Who do you say? Peter alone
answers: You are the Christ of God. This was an important point reached. Now
revelation goes one step further. The people's idea was wrong, the apostles at
least insufficient. The Messiah is the suffering servant of God, as foretold by
Isaiah. He is the man of sorrow, the lamb led to the slaughter, who suffers for
the sins of all. Jesus now astonishes with the first announcement of the
passion. The son of man must suffer grievously. He will not be the glorious messiah
of national greatness and welfare. He will be rejected by the elders, the
legislative, the high priests, the religious executive and the intelligentsia;
interpreters of the word of God. These will put him to death. He will die as
the sacrifice for the life of the world. If this was already too difficult to
understand; he adds the incomprehensible: "and be raised on the third
day.”
Generally speaking, for something to work out, there must be
the combination of the right place, the right persons and the right time. These
three factors can be said to be the legs of a three-legged stool, which can
stand steady even in a uneven surface. So, when the combination of the right
place, the right persons and right time come together, that is what we call the
"appointed time", and we also know that it's not through human effort
but rather it's the work of the divine. The 1st reading talks about time and seasons
for apparently cyclic human activities which at the same time are also
apparently opposite in nature. Yet as much as man may be able to comprehend
what is happening at a particular time or season, yet he cannot comprehend the
work of God from beginning to end. And
even in the gospel, when Peter said that Jesus is the Christ of God, he may not
know the full impact of what he was saying nor for that matter of fact, all its
consequences. But in time to come, Peter and the rest of the disciples will
come to know what the Christ of God came to do and how He would go about
accomplishing it. So, let us also be aware that what we do now is a preparation
for the future and has a consequence for the future. Hence if what we do now is
done in God, then we are preparing for the God's "appointed time".
But if not, then we are only creating obstacles in the fulfilment of God's
plan. Let us remember that all time belongs to God, hence let us do what God
wants of us ... all the time.
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Let us Pray: God,
in your wisdom you order the course of time and you lead the world and people to
their destiny in you. You do all things well. Make us see with eyes of faith the
opportunities you give us every moment. Help us to use our time and life and
all your good gifts to build up your kingdom stone by stone, until you complete
it in your own good time through Jesus Christ our Lord.