"Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is Meaningless!"

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YEAR OF THE BIBLE Qs&As and PASTOR'S REFLECTION

Here's the question and answer from Thursday:
Who shares a common destiny, according to Ecclesiastes 9?
Ecclesiastes 9:2 2 All share a common destiny-- the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.


And from Friday:
What is urged first of all? (I Timothy 2)
1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

And here's the question of the day:
What is the Teacher’s conclusion at the end of Ecclesiastes? (Ecclesiastes 12)

And here's the reflection of the day:
Chapter 12 is quite the finish for the Teacher.

The chapter crescendos to a loud "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!" (verse 8), which is ironically where we started: Ecclesiastes 1:2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

What exactly does he mean? Surely there's more to this book than the pronouncement that all of life is meaningless--why would it be included in the canon if this was the case?!

Scholars suggest that death is the key to Ecclesiastes. In the end, death conquers all. No matter how heroic our struggle against it may be, in the end, we will all die. This is a fundamental truth that the Teacher pounds into our minds over and over again. No amount of wisdom or courage can help us to escape death.

True wisdom, the Teacher is telling us, "lies in the living of these days, before the sickle cuts its wide swath" (William P. Brown, Interpretation, Ecclesiastes, p 115). Hence the admonition to "be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-- this is the gift of God" (Ecc 3.12-13). To the teacher, this is the stuff of life--what Baloo from "The Jungle Book" would call the "bare necessities."

Knowing then what lies ahead, the Teacher advocates a "carpe diem" kind of lifestyle because death is always lingering around the corner.

Now we, as Christians, know that Jesus conquered death in his resurrection. Death--the end of this life--is but the beginning of eternity. Christians are sometimes rightly accused of living with their head in the clouds--perhaps being a bit too heaven-focused. The Teacher seems to know that humans are put on earth with a "duty:" to "Fear God and keep his commandments" (Ecc. 12.13). The Teacher sees things starkly in black and white, and in his opinion, humans are here to carry out their duty.

Apart from God--apart from fulfilling our "duty"--indeed life IS "meaningless."

But WITH God, there is meaning and purpose and fulfillment--which is an optimist's version of Ecclesiastes' message!