Something New

Passage: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11; 2:1-11

In the opening scene of the Twilight Zone episode, “A Nice Place to Visit”, a petty crook named Rocky is shot by police.  He comes to in the presence of a genial, well-dressed man who introduces himself as Rocky’s guide.  Although suspicious, Rocky follows the man through a series of new surroundings: a luxurious penthouse suite; a fancy restaurant; a casino full of games Rocky wins and beautiful women who never leave his side.  It’s all his.  Rocky concludes that he has died and gone to heaven.  He can’t believe his good fortune.  But after a month of getting everything he wants, the novelty wears off.  Rocky is completely bored.  He goes to his guide, and says, “"If I gotta stay here another day, I'm gonna go nuts! I don't belong in Heaven, see? I want to go to the other place."  His guide laughs and says, “"Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea that you were in heaven? This is the other place!!"

The Book of Ecclesiastes is the musings of “the teacher” (thought by many to be King Solomon), a man of unsurpassed wisdom and insight.  Great, we say, give us the secret of life, oh wise one.  What does he start with?  Meaningless; meaningless; everything is meaningless!  During his lifetime, this teacher claims to have had access to everything the world has to offer.  He experiences everything we devote our lives to chasing after.  And he concludes, “Meh.”  The teacher writes, “I’ve tasted all the prosperity and pleasure of this world.  And I just long for something new.  There’s nothing new under the sun.”  

He expresses the pain of living in a world in which all things, no matter how good, come to an end.  And in the end, the best thing the world’s pain and pleasure can do for is is exactly the same thing: whet our appetites for something new. Another place.  The good stuff of this life goes bad when we expect it to make this place heaven.  Burdened with those expectations, every good thing has the potential to become miserable.

The teacher longs for something new.  Something unexpected that breaks the rules and hints at a new reality.  

The descendants of the teacher see this very thing, centuries later.  A man comes to earth who bends the rules of reality.  He heals sick people.  He feeds thousands.  He turns water into wine.  He raises the dead.  When this broken world tries to bury the new and retain the old, this new one rises from the grave.  Jesus Christ is the new thing that ushers in a new reality.  At the center of the new reality is the promise of renewal and eternal life.  Jesus invites everyone to join his new reality.  Life in his new reality is life free of the fear of time running out and bodies wearing out.  The promise of renewal and eternal life brings with it the possibility of living for something beyond the now.  The good things of this life can be enjoyed without the added pressure of having to make life worth living.  There’s something more, and something better – something new – still to come.