The Sunday of All Saints (CL)

Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁸ I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴ There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

I don’t think I have every really thought about the vanity of having to pass on your kingdom, toil, or labor to another. Many times I have thought about how true it is, if my parents were to die does that give me the right to what they have, or possess. Will I treat this gift as a special gift or will I misuse it.

But the thing that I have not really thought about before is the vanity of death. The real problem is not the person who comes after him. It is death. The problem is not that he has gained and worked too hard. It is death. The problem is not even that he does not get to take his possessions with him to the next world. It is death.

The wages of Sin is death. It is said the only thing guaranteed in life is death and taxes. To each of sinners we gather and collect our goods, fame, honor, and family, only to hand it over to God as we die.

For the righteous one, he still faced death. Amazingly he died not to hand his inheritance over to ones who are currently pleasing God, but to sinners. The righteous one of God dies to give you life and knowledge and joy. Jesus Christ gives you his inheritance. The Second Adam has given you his creation. Now we can surely think of who we pass this gift on to, as we die each day and rise again to new life.