Sisyphus

Greek Legend. King. Founder of Ephyra (later renamed Corinth.) He led the city to be a commercial and navigation hub. But he was also known to be ruthless, betraying guests, even killing them. He was clever, but too clever for his own good.

So when he put his mind to it, he thought he could;d outwit death. He plotted a scheme to deceive Thanatos, personification of death. Not to be confused with Thanos, of the Avengers’ enemy who claimed fame when he wiped out half of the living in the universe.

He betrayed Thanatos and bound him in chain. This caused mayhem and chaos. With Thanatos chained, no death came upon the mortals. No one died. Ares, the God of War, was vexed. Imagine going to war but your enemy never died. Ares trapped Sisyphus, and gave him to Thanatos.

((Another version had Sisyphus outwitting Hades, the God of the Underworld. ))

There’s more to his story, a betrayal by his wife that left Sisyphus in Hades. Permission to leave Hades to punish his wife, but he refused to return to Hades, this bring the ire of the gods … again.

Zues, fed up with Sisyphus, punished him by giving him an eternal task of rolling a boulder up a hill, but once he reaches the top with the boulder, the boulder would roll off the top and back down the hill. Only to redo the task the next day … over and over and over.

Some say it has to do with the absurdity of life, a never-ending task that is set before us. Others say it is we shouldn’t mess with fate … it only leads to more trouble.

In a way, we are all Sisyphus. Laboring day in and day out. Thinking we are more clever than others.

But in the end, there is purpose to life – to glorify God and to enjoy Him (and His blessings) forever. Don’t try to be clever and go for what you want. That leads to trouble. Keep it simple and honor Him.