Sirach 11:18-34: a reflection

18One grows rich by his diligence and self-denial, and this is the portion of his reward: 19when he says, “I have found rest, and now I will eat of my goods!” he doesn’t know how much time will pass until he leaves them to others and dies. 20Be steadfast in your covenant and be doing it, and grow old in your work. 21Don’t marvel at the works of a sinner, but trust the Lord and stay in your labor; for it is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord to swiftly and suddenly make a poor man rich. 22The Lord’s blessing is in the reward of the godly. He makes his blessing flourish in an hour that comes swiftly. 23Don’t say, “What use is there of me? What further good things can be mine?” 24Don’t say, “I have enough. What harm could happen to me now?” 25In the day of good things, bad things are forgotten. In the day of bad things, a man will not remember things that are good. 26For it is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord to reward a man in the day of death according to his ways. 27The affliction of an hour causes delights to be forgotten. In the end, a man’s deeds are revealed. 28Call no man happy before his death. A man will be known in his children. 29Don’t bring every man into your house, for many are the tricks of a deceitful man. 30Like a decoy partridge in a cage, so is the heart of a proud man. Like a spy, he looks for your weakness. 31For he lies in wait to turn things that are good into evil, and assigns blame in things that are praiseworthy. 32From a spark of fire, a heap of many coals is kindled, and a sinful man lies in wait to shed blood. 33Take heed of an evil-doer, for he plans wicked things, lest perhaps he ruin your reputation forever. 34Receive a stranger into your house, and he will distract you with arguments and estrange you from your own family.

Sirach draws a sobering portrait of a man who has grown rich by diligence and now settles back in false security: when he says, I have found rest, and now I will enjoy my goods, he does not know how much time will pass until he leaves them to others and dies. His mistake is not his wealth but his presumption, resting in his accumulated security as though tomorrow were guaranteed, when in fact he does not know how long he has.

Notice the presumption the passage exposes. The man imagines he has arrived, that his labor is done, that he can now settle back and enjoy the security he has built, unaware how uncertain his hold on tomorrow really is. He counts on a future that is not his to count on. It echoes Jesus' parable of the man who told himself, You have goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, only to be told, This night your soul is required of you.

That presumption is a common one. We are prone to rest in the security we have built, our savings, our arrangements, our comforts, and to assume the future is ours, planning as though tomorrow were guaranteed. But we do not know how long we have. This is not a call to anxiety, but to hold our security loosely and our days humbly, remembering they are not ours to presume upon. Do not settle back as though tomorrow were assured. Hold your plans and your comforts with an open hand, number your days rightly, and rest your security not in what you have stored up but in God, who holds your times.

Lord, Sirach describes a man who, grown rich, settled back saying, I have found rest, not knowing how soon he would leave it all and die. Guard me from that presumption. Keep me from resting in the security I have built, my savings, my arrangements, my comforts, and assuming the future is mine, planning as though tomorrow were guaranteed. I do not know how long I have. Not in anxiety, but in humility, help me hold my plans and comforts with an open hand, to number my days rightly, and to rest my security not in what I have stored up but in you, who hold my times. Teach me to trust you with my tomorrows.