Blowin' in the Wind
Ecclesiastes • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
Whereas chapter 7 concluded that wisdom was good and should be sought above all things, with the disclaimer about moderation, of course, that you could potentially miss all that life has to offer and ultimately confuse knowledge for wisdom, chapter 8 shift’s its focus in another direction.
The Teacher alluded to an injustice in chapter 3 that doubled down on our sense of unfairness and futility. It’s here, in chapter 8, that he really comes back to contend with that prospect that the fates of both the wicked and the righteous are the same. Keep in mind the Teacher is a character the author is using to navigate us, the readers, through a process of thought.
Ultimately, the conclusion in chapter 3, “that there is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink and find satisfaction in their toil,” is the conclusion here, too, but instead of simply reading the answers, we really get to experience the arithmetic. We’re privy to the author’s narration as well, and I’ll synthesize some of how it’s been interpreted through the course of time and communicated throughout our New Testament.
Transition:
So, in a kind of practical objectivity, I suppose the point behind this chapter is some expression of encouragement. Its intent isn’t to depress you; what’s said has already been said, so that isn’t it. I believe, instead, its message intends to make us humble, a people who trust that even when we can’t make meaning of life, that one day, God will clear the hevel. Again, that word translated to the meaninglessness that Ecclesiastes addresses, that enigmatic smoke or vapor that appears solid, but when you try and grab onto it, there’s nothing there.
That bit of subtext, then, encourages our reverence to God by examining the wickedness we are surrounded by—and encounter amidst our struggle, our toil here on earth.
Scripture summary and interpretation:
So, verses 1-8 really focus on man’s ignorance of what is to come. The Teacher uses phrases like, “who knows the interpretation of a matter?” in verse 1 and discourages dissension in verses 4 and 5 before returning to our inability to foresee or control the future in verses 7 and 8. Though that probably doesn’t sound like any encouragement you’ve ever received before, I think what the author’s trying to communicate is that since you can’t control life, stop trying. Learn to hold things with an open hand because you really only have control over your attitude toward the present moment.
And the sentiments from verses 7 and 8 are repeated at the close of the chapter in verses 16 & 17:
When the Teacher had applied his mind to know wisdom and examine everything taking place on earth, he realized that even if you keep your eyes open day and night without as much as blinking, you’ll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth. Search as hard as you like, you’re not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won’t get to the bottom of it.
I think we can take from that to stop worrying and choose to enjoy, as it is written, “the satisfaction in our toil.”
Often in the course of my counseling’s, it becomes apparent that there’s a sense of fulfillment that is lacking. Now, I don’t think that anyone wants to lead an unfulfilling life; I’m simply less convinced that the individuals I encounter know how to find it. I believe fulfillment is a spiritual concept, not in that it is a characteristically religious one, rather in that it is intangible. It exists in the space between things, the relationships, memories, and feelings we have. So here, I think in the context of the larger message and in association with the literary structure, the Teacher is urging us to engage in some self-care. Keeping good company, taking time to enjoy the sun on your face, a nice meal, the simple things, both the good and the bad, because both are the gift of God.
Application:
As we discovered last week, suffering—to be frank, sucks, but it, too, is a gift. No one chooses to suffer for the sake of suffering alone, but like Garth Brooks said, “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” After all, where would we be if we got all we ever wanted? We’d be spoiled little brats, that’s for sure! And, it’s part of the design for humanity, growing pains, if you will. It is a paradox that even God is not immune to. Even in the Garden, Adam suffered. He couldn’t have everything he wanted—clearly, Jesus cried for Lazarus, knowing full well his disposition in heaven. It’s that we can’t have it all, that submission we’re called to, it’s not just the forfeiture of what we have, it’s the surrender of our will to pursue more hevel.
Rabbi and Psychiatrist Dr. Abraham Twerski, offers a comparative illustration of how the lobster grows: he says,
The lobster is a soft mushy animal that lives inside a rigid shell. But their shell doesn’t expand as the lobster grows. Their shell becomes confining, and the lobster feels the building pressure and becomes uncomfortable. So, it goes under a rock to protect itself from predators, sheds its shell, and grows a new one. Eventually, that shell becomes very uncomfortable as it grows. The lobster repeats this a number of times. The stimulus for the lobster to be able to grow is that it feels uncomfortable. Now, if lobsters had doctors, they would never grow because as soon as the lobster felt uncomfortable, it would go to the doctor, get a Valium, a Percocet, managing the symptom, and never dealing with the problem at hand.
We have to realize that times of suffering are also times that are signals for our own growth and maturation. If we use our suffering for any good that could possibly come from it, we can grow through adversity, perhaps even more than ever possible through our flourishing. It was in this way, last week, that I proposed that the Gospel allows us to recover and pursue God’s wise design. Empathy, that likeness in which we were imbued, is made possible through the suffering we have in common with one another—which allows us to see one another in the way and manner in which God intended.
Transition:
The next section of our passage really gets at the heart of the matter, that unfairness that the Teacher references compelling him to call everything futility. Perhaps nothing is more discouraging than witnessing the prosperity of the wicked. Doesn’t that just make you lose heart? Much of the Bible’s books address this. A central theme present in many of the Psalms and Proverbs are laments about the apparent prosperity of wicked people, so much so that it persists and is addressed by many New Testament authors. Verses 10-14 really dive into this issue. In it, the author gives some qualification to the Teacher’s words; I’ll let you be the judge, but I think as a theme, it’s consistent with our New Testament, but I think there’s some encouragement. Not in that they get what’s coming to them—they do, but more importantly, and I think objectively, the point of the good news of the Gospel is, rather, that the righteous are rewarded greatly.
Scripture summary and interpretation:
In verse 10, the Teacher interprets the times he saw wicked men given solemn burials in holy ground with flowery eulogies—more smoke, he says. In verse 11, “because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil.” He observes that people appear to be outrunning the consequences of their actions and that the temptation is too great for others to act justly in the face of blatant corruption. It’s almost as if he concedes that some kind of retribution is necessary—keep in mind, when we want this in place when it benefits us, we’re kind of responsible for it when we’re on the other side of that justice. Everyone knows Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged,” but verse 2 states, “for you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.” Perhaps this is the reason H. Hertzberg called this a prophetic work; this is where we’re left without justice!
Verse 12 is kind of laid out like a lament. Laments are generally structured with a grievance, followed by a statement of a promise and how that’s not being met, but end with a recollection of God’s goodness, how he’s delivered in the past, and faith in that it is in the works; a pep talk if you will. Verse 13 is just that, “it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.”
But wait—did you catch that the Teacher just called God out? Verse 12, “a sinner does evil and prolongs his life,” 13, “they will not lengthen their days like a shadow.” A long life is a well-known symbol of righteousness and good standing with God, especially within the wisdom tradition. But in the opening line of verse 14, we’re reminded that the Teacher is speaking strictly about that which is under the sun; he says.
Just as the Old Testament Teacher urged his hearers to be wise in their dealings, Jesus also stressed the limitations of human wisdom in trying to find out all the work of God. Jesus praised the Father “because [he hid] these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants… No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt 11:25–27). Nevertheless, “all the work of God,” all his doings, remain a mystery for us. Neither do we know nor are we able to comprehend all the work of God. I think this is why Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” This is the line of thought I interpret Matthew 6: 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” If the wicked seem to be prospering here on earth, how much more will the faithful prosper in eternity?
In verse 14, you can really hear the heart of the Teacher’s grief. He says, here’s something that happens all the time and makes no sense at all: Good people get what’s coming to the wicked, and bad people get what’s coming to the good. He says that this is futile, but I hear, “It’s all a load of smoke” –in all caps! As if it would be funny if it weren’t the truth.
Exposition:
Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia and avid mountaineer, once said about climbing Mount Everest:
“Because you get these high-powered plastic surgeons and CEOs, and they pay $80,000 and have sherpas put the ladders in place and 8,000 feet of fixed ropes, and when they get to the camp, they don’t even have to lay out their own sleeping bag—it’s already laid out with a chocolate mint on the top. The whole purpose of planning something like Everest is to affect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. If you compromise the process, you’re nothing more than you were when you started out. You were a jerk then, and you’re a jerk when you get back.”
Even an entire generation of the Israelites spent a lifetime in the wilderness, learning how to be an obedient, trusting people. When you follow God’s design in this fallen world, things may not always work out immediately, but they will work out ultimately. Learn to hold things with an open hand. You only have control over your attitude toward the present moment.
If your fulfillment depends on things you can’t control, you will never have it. Paul introduces himself in his letter to the Church in Rome as “a slave to Christ,” but I would wager he had fulfillment.
In her book, Rising Strong, Brené Brown says that when she charges a speaking fee, she feels respected and valued; when she doesn’t charge a speaking fee, she feels respected and valued; but when she does pro bono work because she believes in the causes of the organization she is supporting, she feels respected and valued, but also expects to be appreciated. She observes in herself that 90% of these times, she feels disappointment. That disappointment leads to her own self-righteousness and eventual self-loathing after internalizing her anger. She feels entitled to something, and her need becomes external to her own control. That’s what our author’s getting at. “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” Find satisfaction in your toil.
Transition:
Again, not in that we take joy in the eventual judgment of the unrighteous; take a look in the mirror. In fact, it’s worth noting that we shouldn’t be upset about its execution upon us if this is something that upsets us. Perhaps that’s why at the very beginning, in verse 3, we’re told to respect authority. But all this is to say that we can delight in our toil when we are fulfilled, exercising that control over our attitude towards the present moment—keeping ourselves out of that self-righteous mindset that puts ourselves on the judgment seat and bringing about that sense of entitlement. You will always have an unlimited amount of things to be upset about—but, and especially on this side of the cross, you really only need one reason to be thankful.
Implications:
So, where does the rubber meet the road—what does this mean for us? I like to ask myself, “what’s at risk if we don’t get it right?” I think we can see in the difference between what’s being said here and someone who said something similar but was reproached; Job, who expressed, in a very similar manner, his lament. Unlike Job, who criticizes God, the Teacher only criticizes the world. He knows that the contradictions he witnesses are within the Divine’s purview; however, he refuses to deny that God is just, even if in God’s own mysterious terms. Job attacks divine justice. The Teacher, as we discovered last week, especially in relation to some of the Proverbs also authored by Solomon, personifies and regards Wisdom as a creating partner within the Trinity, even before His bodily incarnation and advent on earth.
As such, Wisdom cannot be contained or fully understood. In his final verse, he stresses three times, “no one can find outwhat is happening under the sun. No matter how much they may toil in seeking, still, they can not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they will not find it out.” Not the wise, not the most studied, revered, or even most holy human beings can find out all the work of God. As God says through the prophet Isaiah 55:8 “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9 In the same way as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Close:
In that way, Ecclesiastes 8 is a passage equally relevant for both people who act unwisely as well as those who think that we can ascertain Wisdom in a manner such that we can satisfy all the questions we have. If you listen closely, the Teacher isn’t saying that life doesn’t have a meaning; instead, that its meaning is never clear. Like smoke, it’s confusing, changing, and uncontrollable. His desire was for his generations of readers to learn how to hold things with an open hand, able to control their attitude towards the present. His point is that they find satisfaction in their toil. When you follow God’s design in this fallen world, things may not always work out immediately, but they will work out ultimately.