Facing Life’s Endings
Tony Nester
Malachi 4:1-2a
How well are you handling life’s endings?
In our younger years we’re all about beginnings – eager for new chapters to open in our life story.
In our middle years we’re attracted to do-overs and fresh starts. In our later years we have to cope with losses and endings that keep happening as time carries away so many things in our lives.
But no matter our age, we all have to deal with endings – the end of school, the end of childhood, when a pet dies, the end of a relationship, when a job ends, the end of some opportunity, the end of good health, and, of course, the end of our earthly life.
Today’s Old Testament reading from Malachi takes us to the ending of the Old Testament. We’re in the last book of the Old Testament, and the last chapter of that book. And it’s a hard ending. Malachi was a prophet when circumstances were difficult for God’s people, Israel. They had suffered a lot of endings.
We’re about 400 B.C. If you are a student of the Bible, you know that this is the period of the exile, after the Babylonian army had conquered Judah, sacked Jerusalem, and destroyed Solomon’s temple. But now, in Malachi’s day, Jews have begun returning to Judah. They’ve been rebuilding the city walls, and they’ve constructed a new temple.
But nobody’s happy about it. The city is nothing like it used to be, and the new temple is a poor substitute for what Solomon had built, and the worship there was half-heartedly done at best. The priests were bored and bothered by their temple duties – “What a weariness this is!” they complained. (Malachi 1:13).
Too many endings! Solomon’s grand temple and glorious worship – ended and gone. David’s greater Kingdom – ended and gone. Nation-pride and increasing prosperity – ended and gone. And though Babylon was no more, Persia had replaced it as the ruling empire, and would continue to do so until the Greeks conquered Persia under Alexa ...
Tony Nester
Malachi 4:1-2a
How well are you handling life’s endings?
In our younger years we’re all about beginnings – eager for new chapters to open in our life story.
In our middle years we’re attracted to do-overs and fresh starts. In our later years we have to cope with losses and endings that keep happening as time carries away so many things in our lives.
But no matter our age, we all have to deal with endings – the end of school, the end of childhood, when a pet dies, the end of a relationship, when a job ends, the end of some opportunity, the end of good health, and, of course, the end of our earthly life.
Today’s Old Testament reading from Malachi takes us to the ending of the Old Testament. We’re in the last book of the Old Testament, and the last chapter of that book. And it’s a hard ending. Malachi was a prophet when circumstances were difficult for God’s people, Israel. They had suffered a lot of endings.
We’re about 400 B.C. If you are a student of the Bible, you know that this is the period of the exile, after the Babylonian army had conquered Judah, sacked Jerusalem, and destroyed Solomon’s temple. But now, in Malachi’s day, Jews have begun returning to Judah. They’ve been rebuilding the city walls, and they’ve constructed a new temple.
But nobody’s happy about it. The city is nothing like it used to be, and the new temple is a poor substitute for what Solomon had built, and the worship there was half-heartedly done at best. The priests were bored and bothered by their temple duties – “What a weariness this is!” they complained. (Malachi 1:13).
Too many endings! Solomon’s grand temple and glorious worship – ended and gone. David’s greater Kingdom – ended and gone. Nation-pride and increasing prosperity – ended and gone. And though Babylon was no more, Persia had replaced it as the ruling empire, and would continue to do so until the Greeks conquered Persia under Alexa ...
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