: vanity of vanity

Ecclesiastes 1:2;2:21-23; Psalm 90 If today you hear his voice harden not your hearts; Colossians 3:1-5,9-11; Luke 12:13-21

Vanity of Vanity, all is vanity...the opening lines of todays first reading. It seems a bit over the top but what does it mean.

In order to understand what the words mean, it helps to know who is saying them.
Who is this mysterious 'Qoheleth" fellow and where doe she get off bringing us down with such a pessimistic attitude, "vanity of vanity, all is vanity."

Really, what is his deal anyway?

Qoheleth is a hebrew name that simply means one who speaks before a gathered assembly, could be preacher or could be just man with the gift of gap, a mere churchman who when has the opportunity will speak his mind.


It is believed that this Qoheleth fellow who is the author of Ecclesiastes is looking back on his life of many years and is giving a summation of what he learned by the life he lived.

He was a man of means. He was a man of fame and fortune. He was a man who indulged his sense in the pleasures of the world. He had everything at finger tips. As yo read ecclesiastes, you get the sens that the life he lived would make the lifestyles of the rich and famous of today seem like mere paupers.

He had it all and all he had.

Now at the end of his life he wants to teach the younger generation about life. Sounds like most older people. they know a little bit of what life has to offer and they are going to share regardless of who listens and who doesn't.

So sum up his life endeavor he tells us, "vanity of vanity all is vanity."

Now when we hear these words we think of vanity as someone who is caught up in there looks. Someone who can't walk by a mirror or a glass without checking out there reflection. They have all their life bottled up in their appearance.

Well, this isn't exactly what Qoheleth is talking about.

When he uses these words, this phrase, the Hebrew sense is more like following, "life as you know it is a waste of time, and you might as well just go head and die now."

think about that for a moment.

Here this old man is telling the younger generation that life is a waste of time...all of it is wasting away.

What a downer! Is this guy depressed? Does he need medication? Or is it meaningful for us today?

I have come across a similar bit of wisdom in my travels.

There is a church in rome that comes to mind. There in the Barberini district,a suburb of Rome, is a church, the immaculate conception, looked after by the friars of St. Francis. This church contains a crypt that has four rooms filled, or rather decorated with the bones of the friars who have long been deceased. Each room contains the bones and even full skeletons still wearing the robes of the friars.

It is quite a somber walk through.

At the end of the crypt, there is a sign written as is it is form the friars themselves and it states the following, "as you are now, we once were, as we are you, you shall be."

The friars are a lot like 'Qoheleth.' They want to remind us of our finally end, not to bring us down but to wake us up. They want us to realize the urgency of right now.

JEsus does this in the gospel as well.

The story of the rich man who stockpiles his goods. After he stores up all his excess, he decides to finally begin to enjoy life, "eat, drink, be merry." But before he gets the opportunity to indulge in his plans, God has other things in store, "you fool, this night your life is demanded of you, and what now happens to all your stuff."


Qoheleth, the friars, and JEsus all want to wake us up to reality. There are two important messages here.

One: don't wait to start to live. Live right now. Rarest commodity in life is the moment we are in. The future is never as secure as we think, hope, or dream.

The only moment that is secure is the one of today.

Think about how often, people work and slave for years and finally they get to retirement and they think the sweat of brow and the callouses of their hands have bought them time and they discover it isn't so. How often their plans get pushed aside Because of tragedy or sickness. And what they thought they would do never gets done.

We only have today.

Secondly: The message is this. Who we are is for more important than what we have. We should busy our self with creating space for stuff because in the end all that stuff will waste away and turn into dust. What we should busy ourselves with is developing a character that we will not be ashamed of int he end. Because who we are is the only thing we can take with us when we go.

Who we are will last forever while what we have will dissolve into dust in the grave.

It is who we are that should determine what we have and what we are willing to let go for the sake of honor and glory to come, not the other way around that is what we have should never determine who we are and how we live.

In the end, when Christ appears in glory, as St. Paul says, we too shall appear with him. In glory the only thing that comes with us is the legacy who we are and what we become with the gift of life we have received.


This is what it means to be rich in what matters to God.

Vanity of vanity all is vanity if we live wrong.