October 1: The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves. –Ecclesiastes 10:4-7 

One of the most impressive sights in the world for me is when someone is able to remain non-anxious in a contentious situation. Solomon calls this wisdom. “If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.” A young person who is training to be king or in the king’s privy council (that’s the original audience of the book) must learn to maintain a non-anxious presence when someone over him (“the ruler”) gets angry. Back in chapter 8, Solomon says not to be too quick to leave the situation either.

Many times we are tempted to rebel or plot against those in authority when we see just a little folly in them. That’s not wise, but here Solomon suggests that even a loud, angry attack can by allayed with a non-reactive calmness. Self-control and calm maturity, maintaining who you are while understanding that everyone has vulnerabilities, is not just practical; it is true power.

The last part of chapter 9 and the first part of chapter 10 in Ecclesiastes tells us that wisdom is superior, but not bullet-proof. Even if you do it all correctly, flies still sometimes pollute the ointment. This also applies to life’s role reversals that are not the way it’s supposed to be: “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.”

Like the quiet, wise man in chapter 9 who saved the city by what he said, but was still despised and eventually forgotten by many, so we see that wise men and women are not always promoted to positions of authority. In fact, Solomon says that this is “an evil” suffered by people under the sun. That is to say, it is vapor. He doesn’t explain how it happens, but that it is evil. Wisdom and wise people simply do not always rule in communities after the fall. That is not to say that rulers of any stripe don’t have PR people to make them seem wise, but true wisdom knows that we should not think everyone who appears wise is indeed wise.

My experience has been that people suppose they could do better than whoever is in authority over them. They may delight in telling others about this. Solomon, though, says that a wise person is not wise according to what he or she says to and about those in power, but rather according to what he or she does not say. Jesus demonstrates amazingly what it is to be a subject under foolish rulers. At times Jesus condemned Pharisees and scribes as hypocrites who sought glory from men rather than God and neglected the weighty matters of the Torah they claimed to revere. At other times, His silence before the rulers’ anger was deafening.

Even at the crucial moment, Jesus wisely submitted in weakness and humility; He remained calm. The fools were upended. Although wisdom is vulnerable and does not guarantee a win, and although the roles of the wise and fools are sometimes reversed, like Jesus, we can respond with calmness, and joyfully accept whatever consequences come. That’s wisdom.

Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.–Ecclesiastes 9:13-16

Words matter. Words give life and words kill. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can break my heart. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits (Proverbs 18:21). The tongue is often presented in scripture as the indicator of who is righteous and who is evil. Solomon’s wisdom literature has a great deal to say about words and how they are used.

In the little story copied above, we are not told exactly how the poor man saved the city, but the point of the passage is that quiet wisdom is better than might—better than shouting, better than weapons, but does not always win in life here under the sun. Apparently, the poor man spoke and the proper people heard him so that “by his wisdom delivered the city.” But not everyone thought so. In fact, some “despised” his wisdom “and his words [were] not heard.”

It’s a central feature of the Bible’s wisdom literature that wisdom involves knowing when to speak and how to speak in a community. The community can thrive where there is wise speech or be destroyed by just one foolish talker. How much of the Apostle Paul’s letters have to do with foolish talk, slander, and backbiting!

This community emphasis is much of what follows in this fourth and final section of Ecclesiastes. Wisdom is not merely a technical skill. Just because you can make the WIFI work or weld a muffler does not mean that you are wise. This , however, does not mean that human wisdom is without practical value, since it involves words spoken to others, and, thus, is inherently relational. That’s practical. Still, it must be acknowledged that wisdom is not some secret key that magically puts people in control, or even guarantees how wise words will be received.

A majority of the people may not appreciate wisdom. In the story above, “no one remembered that poor man.” He offered them life and salvation, but they were fools and despised him before forgetting him. Nevertheless, Solomon says, “I say that wisdom is better than might.” Just because it doesn’t always “work,” doesn’t mean there is a better alternative. Possession, power, and privilege aren’t the goals of the wise.

In other words, though you may get it right by wisdom, as the first verse of the next chapter in Ecclesiastes says, “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” In this vaporous life, there’s always the possibility of a fly in the ointment so that even true wisdom is vulnerable to just a little folly. “One sinner destroys much good.” A single, foolish act can do much damage to an otherwise wise man and tear a community to shreds.

Jesus as the wisdom and power of God turns this on its head, thankfully. Where our wisdom is liable to failure, His never fails. Where we tend to look to power for power, He showed how true power comes from weakness (that it may come from God!). And where “one sinner destroys much good,” with Jesus, one good man redeemed many sinners. And that’s the gospel.

Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.

But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is [a miserable business] in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 9:1-6 

Last week I saw a satirical graphic of a famous illustration of John Calvin with the caption: “Calvinism: Some Lives Matter.” Of course, that’s a caricature invented by those who’ve never read Calvin, because if they had, they’d know he didn’t think that at all. Still, it caught my attention. Then, within the same hour, I read the passage above, which seems to lean toward “No lives matter.” After all, Solomon says that there is no distinction between “the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, the clean and the unclean, him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.” “As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is [a miserable business] in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all.” While this is a basis for understanding our need to trust in God, it is not just a little bit disconcerting!

But here’s the truth of it: the future is uncontrollable and even unknowable. Everyone dies. It is universally experienced. That’s what Solomon is saying; therefore, this is a call to faith. And it is a call largely absent in the present era. Some of the most popular churches are built on their proclamation that prosperity is a sign of God’s favor, and we have the power to make that happen (or at least make God make it happen). Solomon is saying that the wise learn that we have no such powers and our level of prosperity, including the number of our days, does not tell us anything about what God thinks of us!

Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.” In other words, you can’t discern God’s love or hatred from the outward circumstances of one’s life. Doesn’t everybody die? Experience cannot decide: health or sickness, wealth or poverty, life or death.

“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.” The Apostle Paul agrees in Ephesians 5: “…[make] the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The advantage the living have is that they know they are going to die. It is wisdom to know that; it is vaporous to try to live as though it isn’t true.

And Jesus, the wisdom of God, shines like the sun on this subject. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” He knows that death is coming for everyone, therefore, believe in the only one who will bring life after death. Stop wasting the few days you have striving for an advantage that you can never have. Everyone dies; some live forever. That’s wisdom, and that’s the gospel.

Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.