ENGAGING EACH DAY ________________________ Ecclesiastes 8:10–10:20 ______________ P.C. Edwards Introduction One of my earliest memories of childhood rebellion was that of hiding in my room listening to a cassette tape of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Of course, I am not old enough to have heard the song when it was first released in 1975. Instead, I came to be acquainted with the song through the iconic classic, “Wayne’s World.” But, Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen and writer of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” never explained the meaning behind the song. And so, debate has raged throughout the decades since seeking to pinpoint exactly what the song is about. The song opens saying, … well, just listen to it for yourselves, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see, I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, Because I'm easy come, easy go Little high, little low Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me The song closes repeating this sentiment saying, Nothing really matters Anyone can see Nothing really matters Nothing really matters to me Any way the wind blows Now you’ll forgive me but I think you’ll understand why, given our study through the book of Ecclesiastes, that I read these lyrics and I think of what the Teacher has been saying: All is vanity; nothing matters. It’s a sentiment that philosophers often call nihilism. Nihilism has found many different expressions and articulations in the modern era. In Nietzsche, for example, it takes the form of a total rejection of objective truth and morality. In the Russian novelist Dostoyevsky, moral standards are abandoned. Most simplistically we could P.C. Edwards 1 define Nihilism – the rejection of tradition, morality, and authority based on the foundational belief that there is no meaning to life. We are simply biological robots that work and then attempt to relieve ourselves of that toil through entertainment and stimulating experiences. Now listen again to that last description: We are simply biological robots that work and then attempt to relieve ourselves of that toil through entertainment and stimulating experiences. Does that not sound very much like the Teacher we’ve been conversing with in Ecclesiastes? I’m not saying that the Teacher is nihilistic, but that he’s really been wrestling with it because observation of the world seems to be leading him toward this conclusion that nothing really matters. And this confrontation comes to a forefront this morning in chapters 8–10. I mean the Teacher faces head-on this impulse toward nihilism, toward the belief that ultimately nothing we do matters, but he starts to find a way through it. These chapters, this morning, are really the last great enigmatic debate that the Teacher has with himself, with God, and with this world. Next week in chapters 11 and 12 we’ll see him finally turn the corner and start to find resolution to this enigma of life he’s been wrestling through. But for this morning we come face-to-face in the most intimate way thus far with this fundamental struggle of humanity. And I think what makes this confrontation so important is that despite the fact that the Teacher penned these words thousands of years ago that this drift toward nihilism is exactly the same today as it was then. Now hang in there with me because I know that very few of us are interested in philosophical discussions of modernity and postmodernity. When we hear the names Foucault or Derrida we’re more likely to think that these are curse words or venereal diseases. But regardless of whether or not one is familiar with this lingo, this is the prevailing worldview of many today. We base our beliefs on human reason and yet we can see that human P.C. Edwards 2 reason is limited. And so culture has a whole has more or less arrived at a place of belief in which absolute truth is not knowable. In other words, there’s no denial of truth itself, but of the ability for you to know that truth. And so, since it is impossible for us to really know what the meaning of life is then we should just go on with our lives, enjoy what we can, be a good member of society and just leave it at that. Friend, this is the dominant worldview of our age and it is directly what the Teacher confronts and wrestles with in this book of Ecclesiastes and in particular in chapters 8–10. I hope you see then that what we explore this morning isn’t just academic philosophy. We’re talking about how you view your life and how those around you view theirs. If we are to live rightly as children of God we must learn how to think properly of the days and engage them accordingly. Likewise, if we are to live rightly as ambassadors and missionaries of the Kingdom then we must learn how to engage our neighbors in their beliefs while offering them a better way forward. You see, as human beings we can hold either to one of two alternative visions of life: either cheerful nihilism or a vision of the world in which in the beginning was the Word. Ecclesiastes 8–10 shows us how Experience and reason lead to a pessimistic outlook on our days where ultimately our actions don’t matter. Faith, however, leads us to see each day as a gift to be enjoyed and turned to worship. 1. Nothing Really Matters, Anyone Can See 8:10–17, 9:1–6, 11–18; 10:5–11, 16–20 The majority of our passage wrestles with the first way to look at life, one in which nothing really matters. The Teacher offers four reasons why, then, anyone can see this is the case. First, because Nothing really matters because there is an absence of justice in the world. We’ve talked about this a number of different weeks throughout the book; it’s a reoccurring theme for the Teacher and that is simply because of how much injustice reigns in this world. P.C. Edwards 3 Ecclesiastes 8:10, “In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did those things. This too is futile,” (Ecclesiastes 8:10). The Teacher’s point here is that the wicked often escape justice in this life. They do evil things and die naturally as anyone else. Moreover, the fact that there is often no consequence for wickedness only encourages further wickedness. If you know that there will be no repercussions for your actions, then why not do whatever you want? Verse 14, “There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile,” (Ecclesiastes 8:14). The righteous are treated as if wicked and the wicked treated as if righteous. In other words, the proverbial wisdom that righteousness is rewarded and wickedness is punished simply does not ring true in experience. The Teacher believes in his heart that sin will be eventually punished and the righteous rewarded, but he doesn’t see this happening. And so he’s left to conclude, well then what we do ultimately doesn’t matter. Second, he concludes Nothing really matters because all of us eventually end up dead. He says, Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. Everything is the same for everyone: There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath, (Ecclesiastes 9:1-2). His point is that even though God is sovereign over all humanity, that doesn’t seem to mean much of anything. As Craig Bartholomew observes, “The righteous may be in God’s hands, but P.C. Edwards 4 it is uncertain whether this means that God’s love or hate lies ahead for them,” (Craig Bartholomew).1 It seems, instead, that all are headed for the same fate – death. It doesn’t seem to matter then how you live your life as your prosperity and blessing is completely out of your hands. Some righteous persons will suffer, but some will prosper. Some wicked persons will suffer, but some will prosper. There doesn’t seem to be any clear formula to follow. And you know what, regardless we all end up dead and forgotten. Who cares if you were bad in this life and had a bad reputation, people will forget it once you’re dead. Who cares if you were good in this life, people will forget all the good you did once you’re gone. Nothing seems to really matter. This leads the Teacher then to the third reason nothing seems to really matter, that being simply Nothing really matters because of the uncertainty of life itself.2 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.