Boy, that is NOT how you want a book of the Bible to start. You want it to start with some sort of actualized message about how great everything is, about how you're a treat, and how you're doing a good job so don't worry about it. And yet, the story of the book of Ecclesiastes tells you that all is vanity. Everything is vanity, it's all chasing after the wind.
Now, that sounds glum, but give it a second, because you may well realize that this is one of the more self-evident truths about the scriptures. How many times have you found yourself running from pillar to post, chasing hither and thon, trying to make sure that you have everything figured out, and making sure that everything is exactly where you want it to be, when all of a sudden, you find yourself at the end of the day, the lights have gone out, it's dark outside, you have been chasing about all day, you're thoroughly exhausted, and you have nothing to show for it. Nothing at all. It shouldn't be that way, of course. It shouldnt' be that way where you are exhausted, burned out, and you don't feel like you've accomplished anything, but there you frequently are. You get to the end of the day, every day, feeling like you're totally run down, the house is still a mess, the kids are still cranky, and you only just barely managed to get by.
You know, the Good News Bible, though not the favorite of everyone, still has the best illustrations of a Biblical topic. That is, we see in those illustrations the simplicity of a concept. And one of the ones I still remember is of a man chasing after the wind from Ecclesiastes. In simple line drawings, it shows the total futility of pursuit of something you can't nail down. And that's the real thrust of the reading that we had from Ecclesiastes - that we spend our lives trying to chase the wind, trying to pin down something that is by its nature fleeting. Hammering down the wind is massively impossible. You can use it, but you can't keep it, can't secure it. It's going to go wherever it's going to go.
Now, most of what we busy ourselves with is chasing the wind. That is, it's fleeting. It's vanity. It drifts away, and you can't secure it. But we think we can, that's why we chase it. The majority of what we're hunting is the physical stuff of this world that is impossible to pin down, impossible to secure. The illusion is that you can secure it, but in practical terms, you can't. It's always going to be chasing after the wind.
All the money, all the possessions, all that noise ends up being clutter that we think we can secure, but this is the realm that theives break in and steal, and moth and rust destroy. The thing about the way the world works is that it is all running down, winding down, and whirling towards destruction. All the physical stuff of this world is collapsing and falling apart, eventually. That is, the things, the stuff of the earth, and the entire universe, is running down and falling apart. There will come a time when the universe cools to nothing, and then that's it. All the things you have ever owned will be dust and ashes, or will be sucked into a black hole, or will just cool to nothing whatsoever. It's all running out, and it's not just that everything you ever earned will go to someone else eventually, as the Preacher opined, but that it will go to nobody. It will just turn to dust eventually.
Boy, that's depressing. It's the theme for the first chapter of a great book called 'the skeptical approach to religion,' which tells you that given that nothing you have ever done is ever going to
matter long term, how do you possibly get through the day? I'm over-simplifying, of course, but that's the nature of our long term existence, which is to say that if you sit down and really think about the purpose behind your life, it will amount to nothing but pursuit of the wind. Just flailing around.
But what Jesus tells us is something truly exciting. Something that is of massive importance that can't be overstated. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that the things that we think of as permanent actually aren't. They're not forever things. The man who accumulates the grain into his barn, who tells himself 'self, you're doing fine, eat drink and be merry,' must realize that he is running out of time, and all the stuff he viewed as permanent is fleeting. What is it that matters, after all?
The man at the beginning of the Gospel reading is calling on Jesus, saying to him 'Jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.' Sure. And like most of us, when money gets into the picture, even family goes out of it. Family can wear down and break down when faced with money, which we prioritize as being more important even than those whom we love. We'd rather lose brothers and sisters than inheritances.
But Jesus reminds us that the money that we prize so much, it's all just chasing the wind. Life is not what you buy, and what you have. Focus on those two commandments of Christ - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Everything else can and will sort itself out. For those two things, unlike all our stuff, are forever, and they never go away. If you truly believe what the Bible says about human beings, you will know that everything else in creation eventually goes away, it disappears, but people are all forever people. Including us. AND including the people that you don't like all that much.
That's the difference between the vanity promised in Ecclesiastes and the fulfilling life that he talks about at the end. If you're running after the things of this world, then it will be exactly like chasing after the wind. You're never going to pin it down, it's always going away. The reading from Ecclesiastes ends with this most excellent passage "For to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy." Yes indeed. And as you have noticed, life itself isnt' different between the Christian and the non-Christian, so what is different? What ends up being different is the grounding of the faith, the base for the life that carries on. If your life, as Jesus says, is based on the accumulation of possessions, then it's all vanity and chasing after the wind. But if it's based around love for God first, and love for each other second, then each decision, each interaction each moment you spend with other human beings becomes of phenomenal importance, because those are the forever decisions that matter. The cheeseburger is of momentary pleasure, but the server who gave it to you, who you may never see again until Paradise, is forever. Of the two things, which one do we normally feel is more important, vs which one actually is?
Ultimately, part of what we perhaps unfortunately need to consider is the people we see are forever people. That's the big lesson of Christianity, and understanding that means that your life doesn't consist of chasing the wind. If the prioirities shift away from the things, the stuff of life, the monuments that are naturally moving towards destruction, and towards the people, then everything we do, every encounter we have with people, carries more weight and punch because those interactions, no matter how small, are of eternal consequence. You can't look at anyone and say that they don't matter, that they aren't important, that the way you treat them is irrelevant, because as Jesus says:
"Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." (Matthew 25:40)
That's a double edged sword. If we refuse to treat each other well, then we are neglecting our divine calling as human beings, rejecting the good works which Jesus has prepared in advance for us to do. But if we take that seriously, if we realign our priorities, then we notice that all the things of this world, the things we busy ourselves with, the things that the nations run after, all that is chasing after the wind. Our priority is love for God, and love for each other.
And if we're not doing that perfectly, which, if we are honest, we aren't, then the scriptures still have some good news for us. Some good news that tells us that God knows better than we do what is important. Think of the moment where he was standing on top of an high mountain, and Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their splendor. And Satan said to Jesus 'I will give you all this if you just bow down and worship me.' And Jesus responds by telling Satan to get away, for all the kingdoms of the world are less important, less durable, than God, and his people. Jesus came, shed his blood, and died to give you eternity, to make you into something that lasts longer than the stable earth, the great salt sea, around the old eternal rocks. He came to make you, you child of dust, into something that lasts longer than the pyramids, than the monuments that are designed to stand forever, which are all falling apart and going away. Heaven and earth may pass away, but his words will never pass away. Take comfort in that, in the knowledge that his words of grace, of compassion, of love even for the wayward sinner are eternal. He does not lose focus on what is important, on what is eternal, and he does not lose focus on you.
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