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Ecclesiastes. A man sets out to research the world, applying wisdom to everything on earth - and just ends up moaning about it all. But is life as bleak and pointless as he makes it sound? He starts off with a word he’ll use often - useless. Everything is useless, vain, like a vapour. When he talks of life being “useless”, he sometimes means it’s fragile - possessions - and life itself - can be snatched away in a moment. Another phrase he uses is “chasing the wind”. If you run after the wind and try to grab it, you will expend your energy for nothing. Like searching for “a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”, it’s silly. Why would you?
He describes a lot of things as useless and “chasing the wind”, but I will summarise his words regarding what our lectionary readings compel us to look at. Enjoyment and happiness, when sought through riches. He gained this then realised it was useless. He, a wise man, would end up dying. He had no advantage over a fool. And all this wealth he’d slogged his guts out to gain, he’d have to leave behind. The hard work, the stress, the worry - it would all be for nothing because his successor would get it all and he might be an idiot. People work hard to succeed, but only because they’re envious of their neighbours. People bust a gut to be top dog, but can’t really enjoy it because they might be knocked off their pedestal. Someone might gain more than them so they have to keep working and stressing and fretting. Loving money means you’re never satisfied. Wanting to be rich is a never ending quest, because you’ll never be rich enough. You’ll stay awake at night worrying about getting more or losing what you have. A bad deal or a disaster outside your control and you can lose it all. Better to be content with a little than have a lot and be too stressed to enjoy it. Eat, drink and enjoy what you have, whether much or little - it’s a gift from God, so be grateful. Be satisfied with what you have instead of chasing after bigger, better, faster, more. Keep reminding yourself that death is waiting for you. That’s the end of my summary.
Is it wrong to have money? I don’t think so. It’s wrong to make money your god or your goal in life. You can’t serve God and money. Money isn’t eternal; God is. It’s not how much you have, it’s what you do with it that counts. Paul wrote to Timothy: “Command those who are rich in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain thing as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share with others. In this way they will store up for themselves a treasure which will be a solid foundation for the future. And then they will be able to win the life which is true life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Are we to envy the rich? No. “It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” (Matthew 19:24) “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:9-10) “You shall not covet your neighbour’s car, house or bank balance.”
Other parts of Ecclesiastes make life sound like a misery. It would be better not to have been born. The good person is no better off than the sinner. Enjoy your life because you’ll be dead a long while. Not things I expect to see in the Bible! Did he actually believe this, because for all his talk about how useless life is, he didn’t exactly suffer persecution or poverty. I can’t help wondering if this book is satire - is he mocking the ungodly attitudes of ungodly people? The person who compiled Ecclesiastes comments at the end, “The sayings of the wise are like the sharp sticks that shepherds use to guide sheep, and collected proverbs are as lasting as firmly driven nails. They have been given by God, the one Shepherd of us all.” (Ecclesiastes 12:11) Is he using the words of ungodly people as a stick to poke them into recognising their own bad attitudes? Is he saying, “Stop and listen to yourselves. This is what you’re like - complaining, murmuring, grumbling - when actually everything is good. You’re ungrateful towards God!”
Our Gospel reading shows the Lord Jesus doing this. A man in a crowd wants Jesus to tell his brother to share the inheritance his father left them. An apparent case of injustice but, instead of acting as judge, Jesus tells a story which acts as a sharp stick to teach both brothers not to be greedy and that life is more than riches. A rich man had land which bore good crops, so he stored up his harvest, built bigger barns to store more, congratulated himself that he could now take it easy and live in luxury. He says to himself, “Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!” Very much like what we read in Ecclesiastes! But God says he’s a fool and will die that very night and who’ll get all his riches? Again, very much like Ecclesiastes! Here’s the sharp point of the stick: “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21, NIV)
Back to Ecclesiastes. Sure, he states that God has laid a miserable fate on us and laid heavy burdens on us. Yet also, God wants us to eat, drink and enjoy what we’ve earned. God gives knowledge, wisdom and happiness to those who please him. A person who loves God will escape the traps of sin. The whole timetable of the world (and of each individual) is set by God’s will. Whatever God does lasts forever and makes us stand in awe of Him. God is testing us. God will judge us. God is all powerful. God is beyond our understanding. He’s no whiny atheist. He sets his complaints in the context of a world where God is active and to be revered.
The final chapter sums things up. Life is short, so remember God while you’re young. You’ll get old and ill and frail and die. People will mourn your loss. Your body will turn to dust. Your spirit will go back to God, who made it. The author ends, “After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for. God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret.” (12:13-14) We are to chase God, who is to be obeyed and honoured, not worldly riches, which we can’t take with us when we die.
Our reading from Colossians raises our minds higher. Christ is the reason we don’t seek our fulfilment from this earthly life. “You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!” (3:1-4) We shouldn’t seek satisfaction on earth, but in heaven. Earthly desires such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed, have zero place in the life of Christians. They are among a long list of things we died to - and God hates them. Anger, passion, and hateful feelings, insults, obscene talk and telling lies must go. These don’t belong in the lives of people destined for Heaven.
Our hearts should be set on heavenly things, not on getting as much world as we can. Our best life isn’t now, but in heaven, where we’ll spend eternity, sharing in the glory of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Chasing worldly wealth and status won’t lead us to Christ. Seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
I want to close with words from a hymn. May this be our experience.
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining ev'ry day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”
Amen.
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