Life, Old Age, and Death

Homily for Saturday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

As is often the case with poetry, unless we understand the imagery that is being used, the meaning of poem is lost on us. The reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes that we hear today is such a poem. The subject of the poem is life, old age and death.

The homage to life in chapter 11 of Ecclesiastes is deliberately balanced by the somber yet shimmering radiance of a poem on old age and death. Verses three through five of chapter 12 speak of the effects of growing older upon our bodily members. The “trembling guardians of the house” refers to arms while the “bent strong men” refers to the legs. The “women who grind” is a reference to our teeth, “those who look” refers to the eyes, the “doors” refers to the lips, and the “daughters of song” refers to our voice. “The almond tree” which blooms is a reference to graying hair, and the “locust” which grows sluggish refers to the stiffness that comes with old age. As we sit here today, we come to realize that we all know the effects of old age upon our bodies. The “golden bowl” and the “silver cord” are references to life and death. When the silver cord is cut, life is shattered.

These descriptive words and their meanings reaffirm traditional wisdom doctrine such as fear of God and faithful obedience, perhaps lest some of the more extreme statements of the author be misunderstood. Although the epilogue has been interpreted as a criticism of the book’s author, it is really a summary that betrays the unruffled spirit of later sages, who were not shocked by Qoheleth’s statements. They honored him as a sage, even as they preserved his statements about the futility of life, and the mystery of divine judgment.

The prediction of the passion of Jesus which follows the reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes punctuates the statements about the futility of human life as Jesus willingly gives up his own for the sake of others. The resolution of these two messages is found in our response today: “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.” Like so many of the lamentations that are found in the Psalms, the sacred author moves us from despair to hope. Just as our Savior did, we place all our trust in the kindness and mercy of God.