The Palliative of a Petty Purpose Some might find it strange that Scripture would advise that wine be given to ease the pain of those in extremity. Yet, this is merely an instance of irony, which is designed to stress the point just made that it is hardly suitable for kings, who need all their wits to fulfill their duties (vss. 4,5), to drink what might be given to dull the senses of the dying and depressed. Nevertheless, the words of this Scripture also reflect the reality of life as people often live it. While people often resort to alcohol or drugs to relieve the strains and pains of life, these are by no means the only ways in which they seek to palliate or distract their consciousness. A “palliative” is designed to relieve suffering, not its cause. When no remedy is available to heal a terminally ill patient, physicians at least try to provide “palliative care” to ease the pain associated with departure from this life. It has been said that “everyone is terminally ill.” No one escapes the clutches of death forever. A person can do everything right to preserve his health and life, but old age, if nothing else, eventually takes its toll on the body, which inevitably loses its ability to function and succumbs to the demands of its own mortal nature. While everyone recognizes this, few want to live with constant reminders of it. So, people find ways to distract themselves. Psychologists use terms such as “denial” or “compartmentalization” to describe how people cope with reality which they dread but about which they can do nothing. They either refuse to believe, or to think about, what is unpleasant. Such coping mechanisms are not altogether bad. The mind must be freed of the weight of ultimate reality to be able to concentrate on immediate reality. Otherwise, life becomes unlivable. Even Jesus said that worrying about the future hurts the present (Matt. 6:24-34). However, even if people cannot ultimately do anything about death itself, there is something they can, and should, do about what comes after it. A life well lived is a life lived for something beyond life. It is as Paul put it, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Yet, some do not believe that there is anything for them after death. Others do not want to spend what might be the only existence they have denying themselves its pleasures. Furthermore, it is painful in itself to contemplate that this life is all that there is. If that is the case, then there is no grand and important purpose for it. There is no reason to be here. People just are, and a few years after they die, few, if any, will remember that they ever lived. It will not make a difference for them or anyone else that they ever lived, for even those whose lives might have been favorably influenced by them will themselves die. In other words, it will soon be for themselves and others as if they never existed. This is painful, indeed. It is too hard to think about it. So, they choose to distract themselves from thoughts of their demise and its implications with the causes and purposes, large or small, noble or base, to which they give themselves and their lives. They give themselves to petty purposes (and, under such circumstances, any purpose would be petty). They might devote themselves to pleasure, or a profession, or hobby, or family, or sports team, or recreation, or social or political cause. The list is virtually endless. They might do so with intense zeal and enthusiasm, even giving their fortunes and lives for their causes. In some cases, they think of these purposes as bigger than themselves, but, in the end, they are all nothing more than a palliative which diverts them from the reality that a life not spent seeking God is pointless. Every other purpose is but a distraction which dulls the painful reality of a purposeless existence.