What's Our Attitude

This fifth in a series of discussions on Stewardship of Treasurer is a reflection on recent Sunday readings.  (For past articles click here)

The author, (Solomon) of the first reading after reflecting back his life writes: 

"Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!  What profit has man from all the labor, which he toils at under the sun?  I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun.  A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about. I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind."  Ecclesiastes 1:1-3, 12-14.

Solomon referred to himself as the teacher, or leader of the assembly that he gathered so that they could hear his message.  He was one person in the bible who had everything -- wisdom, power, riches, honor, reputation, and God's favor -- but now voices ultimate emptiness of all that this world had to offer.  He tried to turn people's confidence in their own efforts, abilities, and righteousness and redirect them to a commitment to God as the true reason for living.

He wanted the people to understand that success and prosperity does not last long.  All human accomplishments will one day disappear, and we must keep this in mind.  If we do not we will become either proud or self-sufficient when we succeed or sorely disappointed when we fail.  His goal was to show that earthly possessions and accomplishments are ultimately meaningless.  Only the pursuit of God brings real satisfaction. 

Solomon had a purpose in writing so skeptically and pessimistically.  Near the end of his life, he looked back over everything he had done, and most of it seemed meaningless.  A common believe then that only good people prospered and that only the wicked suffered, but that had not proven true in his experiences.  Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes after he had tried everything and achieved much, only to find that nothing apart from God made him happy.  He wanted others to avoid the same senseless pursuits.  If we try to find meaning in our accomplishments rather than in God, we will never be satisfied, and everything we pursue will become wearisome.

All too often, a rich man believes that he is responsible for his prosperity as we read in the Gospel by Luke 12:3-21.  So much of our stress, anxiety, depression, and workaholism come from the belief that we have to rely on ourselves alone.  Instead, Jesus calls us to a new set of priorities where we recognize our dependence on God and seek to build up that relationship by sharing with those in need.  Jesus told the crowd this parable.

"There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.  He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?'  And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.  There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"  But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'

Here Jesus is teaching on the correct attitude toward the accumulation of wealth.  Life is more than material goods; far more important is our relationship with God.  While the accumulation of wealth is not evil or wrong, the attitude of how one achieves it or uses it comes into question.

Pray with this gospel message; insert yourself into the role of the rich man and reflect on your feelings and attitudes as the story unfolds.  What does this parable demand of you today?

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