Qoheleth: A Journey from Gluttony to Joy.
Hespeler, 19 March, 2017 © Scott
McAndless
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, 22-26,
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Luke 18:18-30
“What do mortals get from all the toil and
strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain,
and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also
is vanity.” This is the rather bleak view of life that seems to lie behind
much of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.
Traditionally
the book was said to have been written by none other the great King Solomon
himself, but most scholars who have studied it have concluded that the book
never actually claims to have been written by Solomon, though it
might have been dedicated to him. Instead, the book seems to have been written
by somebody named Qoheleth, but even that doesn’t come across in our English
Bibles because the name, “Qoheleth,” usually gets translated, wrongly, as
teacher or preacher, and so the name actually only appears in a footnote in
your pew Bible.
On one level
it doesn’t matter who wrote the book, of course, but on another it kind of
does. I mean, it doesn’t matter what the person’s name was, but it matters what
kind of person he was. (I am going to assume that Qoheleth was a man but his
gender is not really what matters either.) It especially matters what kind of a
person he was for a book like Ecclesiastes because this book seems to come out
of the very personal struggles of the writer more than almost any other book in
the Bible.
What, then, do
we know about Qoheleth as a person? He leaves a number of clues in his work.
The first thing we can say about him is that he is a man with some experience
of pain. “For all their days are full of
pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest.”
These are the words of someone who knows what he is talking about when he’s
talking about pain.
I suspect
that, at some point in his life – at some key point in his development –
Qoheleth experienced some very real, frightening and overwhelming pain. I don’t
know what kind of pain. It might have been physical, but my guess is that it
was emotional trauma that he went through, which can often leave even longer
lasting scars.
Now pain is,
as Qoheleth says, a part of life. None of us goes through life without
experiencing some trauma and all of it is painful and damaging. But there are
some people for whom the trauma hits at a moment when they are simply not prepared
to deal with it, maybe because of their age or their developmental stage. I
believe that that is what happened to Qoheleth and that it left some deep and
permanent scars.
You see, there
is a certain personality type that tends to arise in that circumstance – the
personality type represented by Qoheleth. Certainly Qoheleth behaves in the way
that people of that personality type typically do. The common response of a
person who has been overwhelmed in early life by pain is to hide from any
further pain. It seems the obvious thing to do. You have been hurt once and
deeply so you decide that you really want to avoid any future pain no matter
what you have to do.
How did
Qoheleth do that? How did he try to block out the pain? Well, he tells us,
doesn’t he: “I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure;
enjoy yourself. ...I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine... I
made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made
myself gardens and parks... I bought male and female slaves... I got singers,
both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.” From
this description it seems clear that Qoheleth is seeking to distract himself
from his pain with an excess of, well, everything.
To put this in
traditional Christian language, Qoheleth is distracting himself with gluttony.
You may have heard of gluttony, it is one of the church’s official seven deadly
sins, but you may have thought of it as only having to do with people who overindulge
on food. But the meaning of the word is much larger than that.
God has given
us so many good gifts in this world – things like food, drink, sexuality, dance
and so many more. There is nothing wrong (and everything right) with enjoying
these gifts in appropriate ways and in reasonable measure; the glutton is the
one who goes overboard in indulgence in anything or perhaps in everything – so
much so that it becomes harmful to themselves or to others. But please do not
fall into the traditional stereotype of gluttony to think that it is always
about overeating. Do not assume, for example, that people who are overweight
always have this personality type. Nevertheless, this type exists and you
probably know people who fit into it.
The most
common underlying cause of pathological gluttony is the avoidance of pain. That
part of the struggle is what I hear Qoheleth talking about in our reading this
morning from the Book of Ecclesiastes. And I don’t want to be too hard on
people who are like Qoheleth. In general, they are terrific people to be
around. They are always fun and usually very funny. Humour is, alongside overindulgence,
one of the things they use to distract from pain. Indeed, I would suggest that
some of the greatest comedians of all times fit into this type of personality: Curley
Howard, John Candy, John Belushi, Chris Farley, John Pinette.
There are all
kinds of wonderful things about this personality type, therefore, but there is
also a dark side underneath the jovial surface. In fact, all of those comedians
I just named to you were not only extremely funny but also died tragically in
ways related to their tendency to overindulge. Therefore, if this personality
type describes you or somebody that you love, there is likely some work that
needs to be done – work that God needs to do in a person’s life – in order that
there might be wholeness and healing.
In many ways,
I think that Qoheleth’s book, the book that we call Ecclesiastes, recounts that
man’s personal journey towards wholeness with God’s help. And I believe that he
found wholeness at least in certain key places in his life. One indication of
that is the passage that we read together responsively. It is the best known
passage in the entire book and rightly so. It lays out a profound truth that is
often very hard for people of Qoheleth’s personality type to hold on to: “For everything there is a season, and a
time for every matter under heaven.”
You see, for people of this
personality type, the strong tendency is to think that every time is a time to
laugh, to dance, to gather, to love or to speak. There is, in other words, no
time available to stop indulging in the gifts of life because, when you stop, you
let the pain in and the last thing that a Qoheleth wants is to allow the pain to
be felt. That is why this part of Qoheleth’s book is so important. In it we see
the evidence that he did eventually find the balance that is a sign of
wholeness for people of this personality type. The main task of such people is
not to abandon the laughter, dancing and celebration that makes them such
wonderful people to be around. The task is to make, alongside all of that, a
time to deal with the pain of life in a healthful way.
People of this
type do often try to improve and complete themselves through things like
encouragement and positive thinking and reinforcement. This can be quite
helpful for other types of personalities, but it has limited benefits for people
like Qoheleth. They will not find the healing they need until they develop the
capacity to grieve and mourn and to process the pain that they have suffered in
their past and that may still be part of their present life as much as they try
to ignore it. The simple fact that Qoheleth can allow himself the time to weep,
to mourn, to die and to lose is an indication that he is on the road to
becoming all that God created him to be.
There is one
other task that a Qoheleth often has to work through, but it is not something
that is easily seen in the Book of Ecclesiastes. There is one character in the
New Testament, however, who seems to fit into this personality type. He is not
named but is simply introduced as a rich young ruler who comes to Jesus to ask
him how he can be a part of the kingdom of God. We are not told enough about
him to observe his lifestyle but he is described as being extremely wealthy and
so I don’t think that it is a stretch to imagine him living an extremely indulgent
life.
Whatever
exactly is going on in his life, Jesus seems to be able to evaluate the man
instantly and to see what he needs most to reach his full potential as a human
being. That is why Jesus says to him, “Sell all that you own and distribute
the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow
me.” This is the most difficult but also the most redeeming thing that a
Qoheleth can do. An abundance of wealth and possessions that provide the means
to distract you with continual over-the-top consumption will only serve to keep
you from dealing with the things that you need to deal with. Jesus is right
that transformation will begin when you begin to get rid of all your stuff.
The young
ruler who came to Jesus was unwilling to take that step. He left upset and
angry. The price was just too high. But if only he had been willing to take
that risk, I think that Jesus knew that amazing discipleship would have
followed.
The greatest
historical example of the potential of taking such a step is a man named
Francisco who lived in Italy seven centuries ago. He was a very wealthy man who
lived all his early life just like Qoheleth – a life of constant revelry,
overconsumption and laughter. But one day he met a leper and heard the voice of
Jesus challenging him to do the same thing that he had challenged the rich young
ruler to do. Unlike the ruler, however, Francisco heeded that call and
literally gave everything away. And with that act he started a movement that
had a profound impact on the history of the world – an impact felt to this very
day. Never underestimate what a redeemed Qoheleth can do – a redeemed Qoheleth
like Francisco or, as we know him to day, Francis of Assisi.
The particular
gift of a redeemed Qoheleth is joy. So long as they are tied to their
diversions and hiding from their pain, the best that they can offer is humour
and levity (which is fun, of course, but it has its limits). But when they have
gotten in touch with their pain and let go of their dependence on consumption,
a powerful joy can be released that transcends the power of even the darkest
times of life to destroy us. This was the remarkable thing that everyone
noticed about Francis of Assisi. Such powerful joy can set so many free.
I am so very
thankful for all of the Qoheleths that I have known. They have made me laugh.
They have taught me so much about enjoying life and all of God’s gifts. God
loves them. And God doesn’t want to take away the things that make them who
they are – especially not their enjoyment of life. God wants to make their joy
complete, wants to help them to face their pain and free them from the power it
has over them. If you are a Qoheleth, I pray that you would allow God to do
that work in you. If you know a Qoheleth, you are blessed. Stand alongside him
or her as they make that journey to discovering all that they were meant to be.
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