Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
2 The Teacher says, ‘Nothing has a purpose.
Nothing that ever happens has a purpose.’
Wisdom has no purpose
12 I, the Teacher, ruled Israel as king in Jerusalem. 13 I decided to study everything that happens on the earth. I used wisdom to try to understand these things. I realized that God has given people hard work to do, which causes them to suffer. 14 I thought about all the things that people do on the earth. I realized that all these things have no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
Work has no purpose
18 I thought about all the hard work that I have done here on the earth. When I die, all the things that I worked so hard to get will belong to the next king. So I hated all my hard work. 19 The next king may be a wise man, or he may be a foolish man. Nobody knows! But all the things that I used my wisdom and hard work to get will belong to him. All this has no purpose. 20 So I was very upset when I thought about all my hard work on the earth. 21 Some people are very wise and clever. They use their knowledge to provide good things for themselves. But after they die, someone else will have all their things. Their good things will belong to someone who did not have to work to get them. This also has no purpose. It only brings trouble.
22 People have to do a lot of hard work on this earth and it causes them to worry. But in the end, they have nothing. 23 Every day, their work causes their bodies to suffer. At night, their minds do not have any rest. All this has no purpose.
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
Riches cannot save you
49 Listen to this, people from every nation.
Yes, listen carefully,
everyone who lives in this world!
2 All people must listen, whoever you are,
whether you are rich people or poor people.
3 I will speak wise words to you.
When you know my thoughts,
you will understand things better.
4 I have studied proverbs.
I explain what they mean
as I make music on my harp.
5 When trouble comes,
why am I afraid?
When cruel people are all round me,
and they want to hurt me,
why am I afraid?
6 Those people think that their money will keep them safe.
They are proud about their riches.
7 Nobody can pay the price to save another person.
Nobody can pay God the price for their life.
8 A human life costs too much to buy it back.
Nobody could ever pay enough.
9 So nobody can live for ever.
Everyone goes to their grave one day.
10 Surely you see that even wise people die,
in the way that fools and stupid people also die.
Then their money will belong to someone else.
11 Their graves will be their homes for ever.
They had their own land,
which was called by their name,
12 but people do not live for ever,
even if they are very rich.
They will die, just like the animals.
The old life and the new life
3 God has raised you with Christ to a new life. So you should want more and more the things that belong to heaven. That is where Christ is now. He sits there at God's right side. 2 So think about the good things that are there in heaven above. Do not think only about things that are on the earth. 3 Remember that your old nature has died. God is keeping your new life safe with Christ. 4 You have that new life because you belong to Christ. One day, Christ will show himself clearly to everyone. Then everyone will see that you are with him. They will see that you also are great, like he is.
5 Your old nature likes to do bad things that belong to this earth. But your old nature is dead, so do not do these bad things any more. Do not have sex with someone that you are not married to. Do not think bad, disgusting thoughts. Do not want to have sex in a wrong way. Do not want to do any kinds of bad things. Do not want to have many things for yourselves. That shows that you worship those things as your idol. 6 God will certainly punish people who do those kinds of bad things.
7 At one time, you lived like that. You did those kinds of bad things. 8 But now you must refuse to do all kinds of things like that. Do not become angry with people or shout at them. Do not do anything or say anything that will hurt other people. Do not speak any bad or disgusting words. 9 Do not deceive each other with lies. Remember that you have taken off your old nature, like an old coat. As a result, you can stop doing all the bad things that you liked to do before.
10 Now you have received a new nature. It is God who made it for you so that you can become more and more like him. You will learn to know him better and better. 11 People have this new nature only because they belong to Christ. That is the important thing. Jews are not different from Gentiles. It does not matter whether someone has circumcised you or not. It does not matter which country you come from or how clever you are. It does not matter whether you are a slave or a free person. Christ is all that matters. He lives in every believer.
A story about a rich fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I have a problem with my brother. Our father has died. Tell my brother to give me my part of the things that our father left us.’[a]
14 Jesus replied, ‘It is not my job to say which of you is right or wrong. And it is not my job to say how much each of you should have.’ 15 Then he said to all the people, ‘Be very careful! Do not want more things than you really need. A person's life is worth more than the things that he has, even if he is very rich.’
16 Jesus then told them a story: ‘A man had some very good ground, where he planted seeds. The plants grew very well. When they became ripe, he had much more than he planted. 17 He thought about how much he would soon have. “I have nowhere to store all the food from my plants,” he said to himself. 18 But then he decided what to do. He thought, “I will pull down the building where I now store my food. Then I will build a bigger place to store it all, as well as everything else that is mine. 19 Then I will say to myself, ‘You have plenty of things stored safely. These will be enough for you for many years. Now you can live an easy life. Eat and drink as much as you want. Enjoy yourself.’ ”
20 But then God said to the man, “You are a fool! Tonight you will die. You will have to leave everything behind that you have stored. Somebody else will have them, but you will not!” ’
21 Then Jesus said, ‘Some people think only about having many things for themselves. This story shows how those people live. But God says about them, “They have nothing of value at all.” ’
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