- It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart. -
If you aren’t thinking back to chapter 2 verse 2 when you read today’s passage, then I encourage you to consider it.
“I said of laughter, ‘It is mad,’ and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’” As I argued in the post, there is a distraction in laughter.
Laughter can cause us to be disconnected from the painful experiences of others. It’s good to laugh at parties, but life isn’t a constant celebration.
If you spend your time being with people who just want to have fun, don’t be surprised if no one is around when you are suffering.
What does laughing have to do with our verses? Well, imagine a feast (or party) without laughter in the background.
Do you want to be there? Probably a pretty lame party if no one is telling a good joke or laughing at some ridiculous hijinks.
And what’s wrong with a good time? Life is hard enough! We need the opportunity to joke and unwind with people who love us.
Didn’t Solomon say there was nothing better under the sun than this?
In this verse, we can explicitly see Solomon working to undermine that argument. There is something better to do with your time than to go to the next feast.
You can go to the house of mourning.
Why on earth would you ever want to do that? Hey man, if you want to come over later, I’m going to head out to Frank’s funeral. It’s going to be lit.
Right, that’s a bit ridiculous. You’re not going to a funeral to enjoy yourself. It’s not a good time. To weep is your expectation, not laughter.
So why would you want to go?
Because maybe you want to take your life seriously. Maybe you want something more than the next dopamine hit with slick serotonin to wash it down.
Maybe your sick of waking up every day and being disappointed in the fact you never found the way to truly live for God.
Maybe you’re not scared enough to get out of your comfort and excess and pursue the parts of your life that truly can awaken and develop your soul.
Perhaps you need to see a corpse, a casket hovering over a 6’ drop, and to hear someone speak of the poor soul no longer with us.
The Hebrew word here translated to “living” means just that in addition to raw and fresh. What’s the idea? Those awake and new will take what they see at a funeral to heart.
It’s only those who are hardened that can ignore its lessons. They have decided, as Dr. Peter Kreeft notes, to treat death like a stranger.
Is this wise? No. It’s never right to ignore the inevitable.
Does that make it less frightening? No. Solomon expresses this when he describes that no one knows what comes after.
Yes, we have our faith, but none of us know exactly what may await us in heaven.
Yet, we have a promise and a great Love the buoys us up, allowing us as it were to live our best lives now and in manner where even our deaths can be seen as a noble adventure.
Is that bliss meaningless? Does God mean to trick us?
Perhaps one way to know is to go to the burials of the redeemed.
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