Holy Week Reflection: Ecclesiastes and the Cross

As we enter into Holy Week, I wanted to call your attention to one of the strangest books of the Bible: Ecclesiastes.

The book is a lament of the seeming futility of earthly life written by King Solomon. As you read the text, try to imagine Solomon nearing the end of his days, wondering what it was all for.  He purports to bring his vast wisdom to the task of evaluating the ultimate value of worldly things.

Today I wanted to review a couple key passages and ask:

What light can Ecclesiastes shed on Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross?

Introduction:  Ecclesiastes 1:12-14 

“I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”

The book opens up with a sort of mission statement.  Solomon writes that his intent is to capture the wisdom of “things under the sun”.  In other words, his evaluation of earthly life. 

His conclusion, in advance, is that everything is “vanity”, “futile”, “pointless”, or “in vain”.

Pleasure and Accomplishment: Ecclesiastes 2:1-19 

The first thing Solomon reviews are the pleasures and accomplishments of his life:

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.

I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”  I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—(my heart still guiding me with wisdom)—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.  I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.  I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.  I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.  I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.  Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

[SKIPPING TO 18-19]
I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 

So Solomon testifies to having indulged in wine, women, music, gardens, and accomplishments.  But he found the pleasures fleeting.  And the accomplishments… he looks at his impending death and realizes that everything he’s made will soon fall into someone else’s hands.  His legacy could easily fall into ruin.

It leaves him feeling empty.


Wisdom and Learning: Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

Having hit a dead end in the pursuit of pleasure and accomplishments, Solomon turns his attention to wisdom and knowledge.  Could meaning be found through the advancement of the mind?

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly.  I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.

And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!

So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

But what does he conclude about wisdom?  He sees that the foolish and the wise end up the same way; dead.  And then their memory fades until it’s like they never existed.  So what's the point?

Our Desires vs What We Can Get:  Ecclesiastes 3:9-13

Skipping ahead to chapter three, Solomon reflects on the great disparity between what our heart desires and what we can have in this world:

“What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.”

Note that he says God has put eternity into our hearts.  What does that mean? 

Well, what the human heart hungers for is existence, goodness, truth, beauty, and love.  This isn’t like our hunger for food, which is eventually satiated.  No, we never get tired of those transcendent goods.  Our hearts hunger for the infinite and the everlasting.

The problem, Solomon notes, is that the infinite and eternal isn’t on offer in the world.  The best we can hope for is to eat, drink, and enjoy ourselves while we can.

Consider what Saint Augustin said about it:

“Our hearts are made for you, O Lord.  And they are restless until they rest in you.” – Confessions, Chapter 1.

Envying the Dead:  Ecclesiastes 6:3-6

Lastly, Solomon wonders if life is worth living at all:

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

 For he comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness his name is covered.  Moreover, he has not seen the sun or known anything, yet he finds rest rather than he.  Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?

He compares the status of a successful man to that of a stillborn child - who has it better?  He determines the winner is the stillborn kid.  Why? Because at least the dead child never had to experience the troubles and  futility of life. 

In other words, he concludes that if this world is all we have… we’re better off dead.


The Solution: Romans 5:3-8

Now we’re going to move over to Paul’s letter to the Romans, wherein the Apostle points us to the solution to this problem of existential absurdity:

"Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."

So how does Christ – and what He did for us on Good Friday – solve the problem?  Three ways:

First, the core problem Solomon was confronting was human mortality.  Christ’s sacrifice on Good Friday makes it possible for us to receive eternal life.  This means the horizon of our lives stretch far beyond death.  And the significance of our actions reach into eternity.

Second, being joined into Christ by baptism, our daily toil can be offered to God alongside the sacrifice of Christ.  Our work done under the sun is no longer just endlessly scraping for food, water, shelter, and medicine.  Our actions can become offerings given to God which please Him. 

Lastly, the infinite hunger of our hearts can now be filled.  What is on offer is real, satisfying joy which comes from the Holy Spirit and doesn’t depend on our circumstances.  We know it exists because we’ve seen it in the lives of the saints.

Thus, the cross stands as the great solution to the problem of Ecclesiastes.