Sirach 40: Joys and Miseries of Life
Monday, June 2, 2025
This reflection is adapted from one written August 8, 2007, and it reminds us that we benefit from exploring the human life of Jesus as we navigate the highs and lows of life.
The book of Sirach contains wonderfully easy-to-understand capsules of true wisdom intermixed with Old Testament ideas that Jesus the Messiah asks us to put aside. Jesus Ben Sirach must have lived a full life in order to write all that he set down for us; and this chapter is no exception. We examine verses 17 through 27 where he directly compares ways to measure our true success. Gold and silver make one’s way secure but better than either, sound judgment . . . The flute and the harp make sweet music, but better than either a voice that is true.
This chapter is sandwiched between two images of heaven, just as life is sandwiched between the two great transitions in life – our birth and our death. It follows one that describes the heaven we imagine and is followed by one that contemplates death. This structure reminds us that all of us suffer, and all of us gain. All of us wonder about our origin and end. All of us wonder how we will survive all that destroys us, and how we will celebrate the joys that raise us up; but through all of this, Sirach reminds us that for those who worship false gods, the suffering will be worse while our gain will be as nothing.
All that comes from bribes or injustice will be wiped out,
but loyalty remains forever.
Like Jesus, Sirach reminds us that all we accumulate vanishes while all we enact may live forever.
Wealth from injustice is like a flooding wadi,
like a mighty stream with lightning and thunder,
Which, in its rising, rolls along the stones,
but suddenly, once and for all, comes to an end.
Like Jesus, Sirach reminds us that all we do in anger destroys us while all we do in love is eternal.
The offshoot of violence will not flourish,
for the root of the godless is on sheer rock.
Like Jesus, Sirach reminds us that all we hope in Christ comes to fruition and all we enact in love will endure.
But goodness, like eternity, will never be cut off,
and righteousness endures forever.
Like Jesus, Sirach reminds us that all we live in Christ abides with us in our sorrow, and celebrates with us in our joy.
Explore the highs and lows in Jesus’ life by entering the words Life of Jesus in Art in the search bar of this blog.
To learn more about how to find balance in life, click on the dancing flower girl image in this post or visit: https://findyourmiddleground.com/2014/01/08/the-highs-and-lows-of-life/
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