We continue our line by line meditations on Ecclesiastes 3 by looking at verse 7. The author tells us there is a time to tear, and a time to mend. It seems that we’ve moved from the agrarian imagery of the beginning of the Ecclesiastes 3 (Planting and harvesting) to a more domestic comparison.
What might we be tearing apart or mending back together?
The Pulpit Commentary says this verse is likely related to
the Jewish tradition of tearing of one’s clothing as an expression of grief,
and then the later repairing of that rip. “There were four occasions on which
rending of garments was enjoined by the Jewish Law: (1) death; (2) the apostasy
of a member of the family; (3) the destruction, during persecution, of a copy
of the Law; (4) blasphemy….[Laws of Rending] are very minute, and embrace no
fewer than thirty-nine rules.” Jacob, Job, David, Caiphas are just a few of those in the Bible mentioned as
tearing their clothing in grief.
According to an online Jewish resource, “The Rending of the Garments is called Keriah and is for “psychological relief. It allows the mourner to give vent to his pent-up anguish by means of a controlled, religiously sanctioned act of destruction…[it] satisfies the emotional need of the moment…”
I knew about the ‘rending of ones’ garments’ in grief but had never considered the reality that you would have to mend them afterwards. People of the Old and New Testaments did not have a closet full of clothes. They would have had to sew up the torn tunic after the time of mourning was over. The stitched-up tear would always be a reminder, a scar, that would make you recall the person you lost. Even though your grief had abated, you would still see the repaired cloth and be reminded of the loved one.
We sometimes tear apart a relationship, too, by misunderstanding,
abuse, hatred, etc. That can be even harder to repair than a piece of clothing.
Often there will remain a scar even when the relationship is restored. It may not be visible like a mended tear, or a scar on the skin, but it can linger on as a reminder of the wound.
In Joel 2, the people are called to restore their
relationship with God. God offers reconciliation and calls for repentance. Yet
even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with
fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.
(Joel 2:12-13) The prophet Joel counsels true repentance and mourning
through the tearing of heart, not just the outward sign of tearing the
clothing.
Joel goes on to say that God is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who
knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a
grain-offering and a drink-offering for the Lord, your God? (Joel 2:14)
Ezekiel 36:26 states I will give you a new heart and put
a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a
heart of flesh. God repairs the torn relationship between humanity and God
through Christ. We can now live in that relationship in our lives and
ministries. In the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul states that the
people are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not
with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of human hearts.
We are each and every one of us called to be repairers of
the breach—to sew up the torn fabric of lives, society, relationships. That is esp. needed in this time of political and societal divisions. We do not have to cause wounds in our disagreements, we can learn to listen in order to learn and understand rather than to have ammunition for confrontations. And if we have caused grief, we can work to repair the relationship.
Is there something that is torn in your life that needs to
be mended by God?
Can you work to mend a torn relationship?
Next week, we look at times to speak or be silent. Think about how that might be important in mending a torn relationship.
