1 Maccabees 9:35-42: a reflection

35Jonathan sent his brother, a leader of the multitude, and implored his friends the Nabathaeans, that they might store their baggage, which was much, with them. 36The children of Jambri came out of Medaba, and seized John and all that he had, and went their way with it. 37But after these things, they brought word to Jonathan and Simon his brother that the children of Jambri were celebrating a great wedding, and were bringing the bride, a daughter of one of the great nobles of Canaan, from Nadabath with a large escort. 38They remembered John their brother, and went up, and hid themselves under the cover of the mountain. 39They lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a great procession with much baggage. The bridegroom came out with his friends and his kindred to meet them with timbrels, musicians, and many weapons. 40They rose up against them from their ambush and killed them, and many fell wounded to death. The remnant fled into the mountain, and the Jews took all their spoils. 41So the wedding was turned into mourning, and the voice of their musicians into lamentation. 42They avenged fully the blood of their brother, and turned back to the marshes of the Jordan.

This is a grim episode of vengeance. A wedding procession, full of music, celebration, and joy, is ambushed in revenge for a brother's death, and in a moment, the text says, the wedding was turned into mourning, and the voice of their musicians into lamentation. One moment there was feasting and song; the next, grief and death. The passage is not holding up the revenge as admirable, but it does capture, starkly, how suddenly joy can turn to sorrow.

Notice that stark line: the wedding was turned into mourning. It is a picture, however violent its setting, of the fragility of human celebration and security. People were rejoicing, sure of their happy day, and in an instant everything reversed. Our joys and our sense of safety are more fragile than we like to think; the ground can shift under a celebration without warning.

That is not meant to poison our joys with dread, but to hold them with humility and gratitude. Because life can turn quickly, we are wise not to presume on tomorrow, not to build our security on circumstances that can reverse in a moment, and to receive today's joys as gifts held with open hands. Number your days, the psalmist says, that you may get a heart of wisdom. Hold your celebrations gratefully, do not presume on their permanence, and anchor your deepest security not in circumstances that can turn to mourning but in the God who does not change.

Lord, in a moment a wedding turned to mourning, a sober picture of how fragile our joys and securities are. Keep me from presuming on tomorrow or building my security on circumstances that can reverse in an instant. Help me hold today's joys with gratitude and open hands, number my days wisely, and anchor my deepest security not in what can turn to mourning but in you, who do not change.