Embracing Your Death
For Meditation
Throughout our study of Ecclesiastes, the terrible reality of death has come up many times. Our Teacher sees death as one of the key factors that makes life so befuddling, confusing and at times feel meaningless. But in this section, one of the last in the book, Qohelet faces the reality of aging and death head on, and presents us with a surprising perspective on death. Yes, death makes life feel meaningless sometimes, but by facing your death squarely it can also fill your life with purpose and joy.
Most of the time we live in denial of death. The anthropologist Ernest Becker even claimed that the denial of death is one of the main factors that fuels the anxiety and consumption of modern life. In contrast, the teacher urges us to stop denying the reality of aging and death and face it with stark realism. In doing this, he advises, we can learn to savor our every moments of life, not taking anything for granted.
The key in this perspective is to "remember your Creator." Remember that God is the one who gave you your life, and that every day on this graced planet is a gift from him. As followers of Jesus, we have the added revelation that God has done something to address death itself, which transforms our experience of death in a way that Qohelet could have never guessed.
Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8
7 Light is sweet,
and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
8 However many years anyone may live,
let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember the days of darkness,
for there will be many.
Everything to come is meaningless.
9 You who are young, be happy while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you into judgment.
10So then, banish anxiety from your heart
and cast off the troubles of your body,
for youth and vigor are meaningless.
1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
5 when people are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags itself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!”