Reflections with Andy - Ecclesiastes 2: 1-11 – Living Only for Yourself

Today, the teacher, in hopes of finding meaning, denies himself no pleasure. Instead of meaning, it remains only vanity.

In this Friday reflection on Ecclesiastes 2:1–11 — offered on Mother’s Day weekend, with a pastoral acknowledgment that the day lands differently for everyone — the Teacher’s second experiment in the search for meaning is examined: pleasure. Having tried wisdom and found it vexing, Solomon goes the other direction entirely, becoming history’s most extravagant hedonist — houses, vineyards, gardens, silver, gold, concubines, everything his eyes desired, nothing withheld. And the verdict is the same: vanity, a chasing after wind, nothing to be gained. The reflection connects this to a very contemporary reality: we live in an age of unprecedented access and instant gratification, and we may be among the most meaning-starved generations in history. Having everything you want doesn’t fill the hole — it proves the hole is still there. The mind is fallen, and so are our desires. Just because something feels good doesn’t mean it satisfies. A life worth living cannot be built on getting what you want, and Solomon is learning that the hard way so we don’t have to.

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Good morning! Hope you’re doing well on this Friday. And happy Mother’s Day weekend. If your mom is still living, I hope you get the chance to call her, see her, tell her what she means to you. If your mom is gone — mine is — Mother’s Day carries a different weight. You just find yourself missing her, especially on a day like this. For those of us in that place, I think the best we can do is stop and give thanks to God for what our mothers taught us and how they loved us. I’ll touch on this Sunday.

I’ve always said Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are the two hardest Sundays to preach. Because I genuinely don’t know what you’re carrying when you walk through the door. I can’t project my experience onto yours. Some of you have beautiful relationships with your mothers. Some of you have complicated ones. Some of you carry deep grief. And some of you would give anything to be a mother and aren’t able to, for whatever reason — and that deserves to be acknowledged too. So wherever you find yourself today: if something about this day brings you joy, stop and thank God for it. If something about it brings sadness, stop and ask God to soothe it. I’m praying for all of you.

Now — Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. Yesterday the Teacher tried wisdom and found it vexing and miserable. Today, he goes the other direction entirely. He decides to try pleasure:

“I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.’ But again, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, ‘It is mad,’ and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’ I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine — my mind still guiding me with wisdom — and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals 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 also had 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 of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. 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 spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

Yesterday he tried the life of the mind. Today he tries the life of the senses. If wisdom left him vexed, maybe pleasure will fill the gap. So he goes full hedonist — if it feels good, do it. Each man doing what is right in his own eyes, like the book of Judges. He builds, plants, gathers, acquires. Houses, vineyards, gardens, pools, servants, silver, gold, singers, concubines. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure.

I always think of Coleridge when I read this section — In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree.That’s the Teacher right here. Building his pleasure dome. Taking everything his eyes wanted. Denying himself nothing.

And then: all was vanity and a chasing after wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

I was listening to a book this week — The Barn by Mike Thompson — and he tells the story of someone from the Delta who was driven to succeed because of the sacrifices their parents made. They went out into the world and accomplished everything — career, houses, money, status, all of it. And then sat down at the end of it and thought: was this all it was for? That’s Solomon. I’ve denied myself no pleasure. I’m completely miserable.

And I think that’s the word for the moment we’re living in. We have access to more than any generation in human history. You can get almost anything you want, quickly, easily, with a few taps on your phone. There has never been more available to us. And I’m not sure we’ve ever been more unhappy, more adrift, more without meaning.

Yesterday we talked about how the fallen mind can’t think its way to truth. Today the same thing applies to desire. Just because something feels good doesn’t mean it’s good. Just because you want something doesn’t mean getting it will satisfy you. We live in an age of instant gratification, and we are proving Solomon’s point in real time — you can have everything you want and still come up completely empty.

Living for yourself, for your wants and your stuff and your pleasure, will give you moments of laughter. Moments of enjoyment. But it will not give you meaning. It cannot. There is nothing to be gained under the sun — not from that road.

So be careful. I have to be careful too. Self-indulgence is seductive precisely because it offers so much and delivers so little. A life worth living cannot be built on getting what you want. We’re going to keep watching the Teacher learn this the hard way — and hopefully we can learn from him without having to repeat all his experiments ourselves.

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. We’ll pick back up Monday with chapter 2, verse 12. See you then!