When everything seems meaningless...

 

Remember your Creator
    in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
    and the years approach when you will say,
    “I find no pleasure in them”—
² before the sun and the light
    and the moon and the stars grow dark,
    and the clouds return after the rain;
³ when the keepers of the house tremble,
    and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
    and those looking through the windows grow dim;
⁴ when the doors to the street are closed
    and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
    but all their songs grow faint;
⁵ when people are afraid of heights
    and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
    and the grasshopper drags itself along
    and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
    and mourners go about the streets.

⁶ Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
    and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
    and the wheel broken at the well,
⁷ and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.   “Everything is meaningless!”

⁹ Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. ¹⁰ The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. ¹² Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

¹³ Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.     Ecclesiastes 12

It’s not often (in fact, so far it’s never!) that I have printed out a whole long passage rather than just a verse or two. But Ecclesiastes 12 cried out to be an exception to my self-imposed rule. I would encourage you not just to skim through it but to read it through thoughtfully and slowly (and preferably out loud). For quite apart from anything else, these verses are a very haunting piece of poetry.

The basic theme of Ecclesiastes as a whole is the essential meaninglessness of life – apart from God. (That theme is repeated here in verse 8.) And the fact is that the God element doesn’t get much of a look-in. It’s a very sobering book, and nowhere more so than in this final chapter; for, putting it bluntly, it’s about the approach of death in old age, and about death itself. It is shot through with images of weakness, sadness and regret.

Addressed in the first instance to the young (verse 1), the writer piles up various images of what lies before all of us, and what is bound to be gloomy if not lightened by the light of “your creator”. We’re all heading for decay, folks!

Some commentators like to interpret the images of verses 1-5 as some sort of code. Verse 2 applies (they say) to fading eyesight and recurring depression; verse 3 to arms and legs and (yes, of course!) crumbling teeth; verse 4 to an inability any longer to get out and about, and to loss of hearing; verse 5 to being slow or unsteady on your feet and nervous about possible dangers, to grey hair (the almond blossom), to the loss of sexual energy.

Well, possibly.

But that seems a bit forced to me, and personally I prefer TS Eliot’s description (from his poem The Waste Land) of these verses as simply “a heap of broken images”. The writer is aiming to grab our attention by making us use our imaginations and puzzle things out.

Whatever, the second part of verse 5 makes very clear what he has in mind – the time when “people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets”. Yes, it’s the reality of death he is talking about.

Verses 6-7 move from images of slow, gradual decay to the suddenness and finality of death. Precious, beautiful and useful things simply cease to function: a silver cord – “severed”; a golden bowl – “broken”, a pitcher  - “shattered”; the wheel that operates the well – “broken”.

And so we are reminded that we should never take a day of life – or even a minute – for granted. CS Lewis wrote somewhere that we tend to think of death as being like a gramophone record (remember them?) gradually slowing down till it comes to a gentle halt: but no, he says, it’s more like someone throwing a shoe at the record-player in mid-flow: zeeuch! (After all, it’s not only the old who die…)

Verses 9-12 have good news for us: this kind of gloomy picture needn’t hold us in its grip – for wisdom is available.

There is a “teacher” (verses 9-10) who has gone to the trouble of making wisdom known to us. We as Christians can hardly avoid seeing this, ultimately, as a picture of God himself, the inspirer of scripture. He is also the “shepherd” of verse 11, and presumably the wise people with their “goads” are the prophets, teachers and preachers whose role is to make known the word of God and to prod us (lovingly, of course!) to walk in the ways of God.

The challenge to us, then is: how seriously do we take God’s word? He is our teacher, and, of course “the Lord is our shepherd”. So take his words to heart! – and take note of the solemn warning of verse 12a (which is echoed again right at the end of the Bible: Revelation 22:18). Books are a great thing – but (verse 12b) you can have too many of them, especially if they claim to add new light to the light God has already given.

And so we come to “the conclusion of the matter” (verses 13-14). Now the writer reminds us of two fundamental truths.

First, the basic business of life is to “fear God and keep his commandments” (verse 13).

From Jesus we know what the writer of Ecclesiastes perhaps didn’t – that this isn’t just a matter of grim duty, but a daily walk of joy, peace and hope. According to Jesus in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. Yes, gloomy Ecclesiastes is true – but it’s only a tiny part of the truth!

And then verse 14, the other fundamental truth: “God will bring every deed into judgment”.

In fact, life is anything but meaningless – for one day we will be called to account for what we have done with it, whether “good” or “evil”.

Once again, there is a great truth which we know but which the writer of Ecclesiastes couldn’t: that on the cross Jesus made atonement for our sins and thus lifted from us the threat of God’s punishment. And so death – gloomy, dark and sombre though it is – has lost its sting.

Yes, death is an enemy, and it’s foolish to pretend otherwise. But Christ is risen! – and by God’s grace we too are already risen with him.

Lord God, help me to appreciate both the miracle of life and the certainty and seriousness of death. So grant, please, that I may live for Christ’s glory, and that I may die in his peace. Amen.