Life strikes a surprise at every moment. When you think you have seen it all, a dramatic thing happens to shatter your plans. One is a poor and insignificant person today, but tomorrow he is riding on the waves as one of the big shots in town. Another presumes to own the world, but within the twinkle of an eye, he experiences a reversal that brings him to the lowest rungs of the social ladder. Then you hear everyone saying: such is life.
Indeed, such is life, as no condition is permanent. The wise person sees life as a totality of events and possibilities while the less wise pines away brooding over momentary setbacks. We are encouraged in the readings of today to always look at the larger picture and not be discouraged by momentary accidents. Everything has its time, and no single event or experience occupies the place all the time. God is always in control, and with Him the end story is always sweet.
God’s Timing in Qohelet
The first reading of today comes from the famous text of Ecclesiastes (3:1-11), where the author, otherwise called Qohelet, sees God’s timing of events as beyond human grasp but remains the best guide for the universe. In the divine ordering of events, everything is assigned its proper time. There is time for everything under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to tear down and a time to build, etc. No one avoids time and no one remains in the same event all the time.
Positive things happen and negative experiences balance them. No matter how joyful or successful a life is, moments of pain and sorrow remain inevitable, showing that reality comes with diverse faces. Joy and sadness have their slots, rejoicing and weeping have their separate times, just as living and dying have their assigned times. The part of wisdom is to remain humble and continue to wonder about God’s mysterious ways and design and never to pretend to know everything when many other parts are yet unopened.
The last part of today’s reading says it all: “He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Eccl 3:11). God’s inscrutable ways make human life very entertaining, as something new comes at every moment.
Time for Dying and Time for Rising
In the Gospel text of the day from Luke 9:18-22, Jesus announces to his disciples that he will pass through suffering, be rejected and killed but will rise again on the third day. In other words, he will pass through progressive experiences of suffering, death and glorification. Knowing the identity of Jesus is linked to accepting the fate of dying and rising with him. Peter’s confession of him as the Christ is followed with Jesus’s announcement of his impending betrayal, suffering, death and resurrection. It is not enough to know him as the Messiah, one must also accept him as a Messiah who wins through suffering. He may be seen today as a wonder worker, he will be betrayed tomorrow as a malefactor. Such is life. There is a time for receiving praises, and there is a time for receiving bruises. But all will end in glory for those who persevere.
God Cares for Us at All Times
In the face of the transitory nature of time-bound events and the unpredictability of the future, the faith of the psalmist (Psalm 144) remains rooted in God whom he hails as his rock, his fortress, his stronghold, his deliverer and his shield. Like the psalmist we are encouraged to remain rooted in God in the face of life’s upheavals, as He always cares, and His mercy and favor are ever there to accompany us.
