The Good Book Club: Week 23

Solomon's existential crisis, and another perspective on Jesus' life

Philippe de Champaigne, Vanitas or Still Life with a Skull, c. 1646, public domain.

This Week

We are reading:

• Ecclesiastes 1-12

• Mark 1-10

• Psalms 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 23, 29

Summary

This week we read Ecclesiastes and find Jesus again in the Gospel of Mark.

Ecclesiastes is believed to have been written by Solomon, written from the perspective of a man who had everything — wisdom, wealth, women, power — and learned it was all vanity. It’s as relevant today as it has ever been.

And then we’re keeping up with Jesus again reading the Gospel of Mark. Mark is the shortest, fastest-paced Gospel — it’s like a catalogue of the greatest hits. No birth narrative, no genealogy, Jesus just shows up and starts healing people.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 152 — Monday, 6/1 — Ecclesiastes 1-6, Psalm 8

• Day 153 — Tuesday, 6/2 — Ecclesiastes 7-12, Psalm 9

• Day 154 — Wednesday, 6/3 — Mark 1-2, Psalm 11

• Day 155 — Thursday, 6/3 — Mark 3-4, Psalm 20

• Day 156 — Friday, 6/5 — Mark 5-6, Psalm 21

• Day 157 — Saturday, 6/6 — Mark 7-8, Psalm 23

• Day 158 — Sunday, 6/7 — Mark 9-10, Psalm 29

Day 152 — Monday, 6/1 — Ecclesiastes 1-6, Psalm 8

• Solomon catalogues everything he tried — wisdom, pleasure, work, accumulation — and finding it all hollow.

• I know these chapters are dark but I find them oddly comforting. Our troubles, while they may be hard, are not new. Suffering (especially with chronic illness) can feel so lonely and isolating, but we are not the first or only people to have suffered like this. Although arguably Solomon did have a bit of a unique situation, but still, hard relate to the ideas in Ecclesiastes.

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

Day 153 — Tuesday, 6/2 — Ecclesiastes 7-12, Psalm 9

• The Bible really does have a passage for everything. I’ve been thinking a lot about nostalgic internet trends and how they make people sad, when Ecclesiastes 7:10 jumped right to the heart of it: “Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise.”

• This one too, Ecclesiastes 7:16-17: “So don’t be too good or too wise. Why destroy yourself? On the other hand, don’t be too wicked either. Don’t be a fool! Why die before your time?”

• It may sound silly, but the entirety of Ecclesiastes is why I prioritize family travel and book nice resorts for us when I can (and leverage points when we have less money). There was a period of time just a few years ago when Alex and I were bracing ourselves for the possibility that he was going to be a single father to our little girl; to now have a thriving family of 5 is a miracle we didn’t believe was possible. Solomon had literally everything, but what good was it? I will praise God and enjoy my blessings every single day.

• Ecclesiastes makes blatant what should be obvious: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.

Day 154 — Wednesday, 6/3 — Mark 1-2, Psalm 11

• Mark opens with a bang: John the Baptist, Jesus baptized, Disciples gathered, lepers healed, all in the first chapter.

• Jesus immediately starts pissing off the religious establishment by healing people, forgiving their sins, and casting out demons.

Day 155 — Thursday, 6/3 — Mark 3-4, Psalm 20

• Chapter 3: Jesus heals on the Sabbath and the Pharisees start plotting to kill Him.

• Jesus appoints the twelve apostles, casts out demons again, and is accused of being possessed by Satan. He famously says a house divided cannot stand — a metaphor to explain how Satan couldn’t drive out himself.

• Jesus speaks in riddles, reciting parables that render him perpetually misunderstood.

• In one of the funniest stories in the Bible (imo), Jesus says to his disciples “let’s cross this lake” and then falls asleep in the boat while a storm approaches. The disciples wake Him alarmed that He’s going to let them drown

Day 156 — Friday, 6/5 — Mark 5-6, Psalm 21

• The Jesus hits keep coming: He casts a legion of demons into pigs who proceed to throw themselves off a cliff into a lake, heals a woman after twelve years of bleeding simply from her touching his cloak, and raises a twelve-year-old girl from the dead.

• Jesus goes back to his hometown and they can’t get past knowing him as a carpenter’s kid.

• John the Baptist is executed because King Herod’s wife hates him.

• Jesus feeds 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

Day 157 — Saturday, 6/6 — Mark 7-8, Psalm 23

• Jesus uses yet another parable to poke holes in the Pharisees empty faith, saying it’s not what goes into a person (food) that makes them unclean, it’s what comes out (their actions). A lesson for the wellness obsessed.

• Jesus heals a Gentile woman’s daughter, a deaf man, and feeds four thousand people with 7 loaves of bread.

• Jesus predicts his own death and tells his disciples what’s about to happen. Peter pulls Him aside and reprimands him for speaking so openly and Jesus doubles down.

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Mark 8:36

Day 158 — Sunday, 6/7 — Mark 9-10, Psalm 29

• The Transfiguration: Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain, and he is visibly transformed, with his clothes become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appear and have a conversation with Jesus, and then a cloud comes over them and announces that Jesus is the son of God.

• The disciples argue about who among them is the greatest. Jesus puts a child in front of them and says: this is what greatness looks like in the kingdom. 🥹

• A rich man wants to enter Heaven, but does not want to give up his wealth. Jesus says it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

What came up for you this week? Ecclesiastes, Mark, or both — share below!