Sunday, August 3rd 2025
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Series C (Proper 13C)
Text: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12–14; 2:18–26
Sermon Audio
As we gather… “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” This word “vanity” is threaded throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. One might wonder if Solomon, the author, had depression or was just having a bad day. However, this word vanity might be better translated as breath. Breath is obviously an important part of our survival as humans, and just a few minutes of no oxygen can kill us. The things of this life are the oxygen we need to live, but they’re in and out of our lungs in a matter of seconds. There are so many things in this life that are but a breath: our possessions, our athletic abilities, our good looks, just to name a few examples. They are good things that are blessings when we have them, but pass on just like the gulps of oxygen we take in every minute. Solomon is inviting us to think of things that are eternal. As we take time to worship Christ, we set aside these temporary things and focus on the eternal.
Percy Shelley wrote the poem Ozymandias. Ozymandias is another name for Ramses II, one of the great pharaohs of Egypt. The poem concludes, “And on the pedestal these words appear: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”’” The irony is that there is nothing behind the podium but sand and dust. What was once a sprawling city had been reduced to the desert.
King Solomon writes, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Like King Ramses II, Solomon had it all. Unspeakable riches, hundreds of women, and nearly unlimited power. Yet as he reflects on his life, he laments how everything is a chasing after the wind, and fruitless toil.
“I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”
And so we find that this life has many setbacks and disappointments. Vain toil, to quote the words of Solomon. You study hard and work to get straight A’s, but then the lady with the B+ grade average gets the job and not you. Vain toil. Your husband spends years working long hours at a job he tolerates and saves for retirement. Then he has an untimely death in his late 50s and then you need to figure out what you’re going to do with your golden years. Vain toil.
You put blood, sweat, and tears into maintaining the house in which you raised your children, but when you sell it, the next owners bulldoze it and build a shoddily made McMansion in its place that’s falling to pieces just a decade after it’s built. Vain toil.
Let’s take this closer to home. What happens if Faith were to close its doors? Does it all become vain toil? Hill Country Lutheran in Viroqua is just in its infancy. What happens if it falls flat on its face? Do we become an accomplices in subjecting the Bieri family and the planting team to vain toil?
Paul writes in the book of Romans, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it” Futility, in other words, vain toil! It shouldn’t surprise us that these tragedies, setbacks, and lack of satisfaction abound in this world.
Because of the fall into sin, we live in a world of vain toil. We live in a world where we are not satisfied. We live in a world where tragedies such as tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes demolish communities. Because of the fall into sin, we live in a world of shootings, suicide, and disease. Because of this fall into sin, there is a lack of gratitude which leads to the squandering of riches. 3. Vain toil strives to capture that which slips through our hands.
Paul writes in Romans that creation was subjected to futility. Vain toil. But it is “in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Creation itself waits to be freed from this vanity of vanities, this striving after the wind.
Christ entered our vain, absurd toil by becoming born of the Virgin Mary. He witnessed sorrows and evil. In fact, our Gospel text shows us the vanity of the people of His time who asked Him to help split their inheritance. But through His ministry, He worked to reverse the futility that nature was subjected to because of sin. He defeated the endless futile cycle of building and tearing down through His resurrection on a Sunday, the first day of the week, signifying not just a new week, but a new creation that is freed from the absurdities we face in this life.
We are promised this same resurrection through faith in Him. Solomon writes, “For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God.” This isn’t talking about someone who pleases God because of his works. This is talking about the one who is made pleasing in God’s sight by faith in Him.
There’s no doubt that some of the stuff that happens in Christ’s Church is subject to vain toil at least at face value. Congregations open and close. Leaders move on whether it be to other cities or to their eternal reward. It doesn’t take a prophet to guess we’ll have yet another building maintenance campaign in the future.
But so many of these things do have an eternal impact. As we learn from the poem Ozymandias, civilizations rise and fall. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Think of the irony! For centuries the Church has been reading the book of Ecclesiastes and considering Solomon’s wisdom: nothing lasts, vain toil, a chasing after the wind. His riches may not have lasted, but we still consider his wisdom and knowledge and joy. 2. The Lord grants us wisdom and knowledge and joy to see the things eternal.
Solomon concludes our reading saying, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,” Solomon shares wisdom which tells us to enjoy what the Lord gives us.
Let me use an illustration: my family are not good gardeners, but we have a garden bed about the size of a twin mattress that we’ve been growing this summer. We occasionally pick vegetables and we let the weeds grow. Last night I decided to harvest vegetables and weed the garden.
First, I found that the work was actually kind of enjoyable. There was something satisfying about plucking those weeds and seeing a garden that looked neater. In this life, we find the work that God gives us to do is actually enjoyable. Vicar Bieri, I look forward to having the right amount of fun with you this year.
Second, there was some fruit for my toil. Namely, some cucumbers, peppers, and radishes. Not enough to live off of, but something nonetheless. God wants us to use our talents to help others, especially as that is a chance to witness to others about the hope we have for the life to come. There is fruit to your toil even in this life. Vicar Bieri, no matter the results of this year as it concerns Hill Country Lutheran Church, there are people in these pews who will benefit from your sermons, your Bible studies, and your care. There are people out in Vernon County and La Crosse county who will hear the Gospel from you.
Third, practice makes perfect. Having had this positive experience gardening, I might actually bother weeding again sometime soon. Even if this growing season is almost done, that may have positive impacts for next spring as I form good habits.
As we get in the habit of working hard and helping others, work begets work. Even if a particular project or venture fails, the Holy Spirit can use these habits to make us into better servants of the Lord.
Vicar Bieri, you’re part of a key initiative to make the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod plant churches again. This year is a year of learning. Part of this learning is how to plant a church. As more and more people practice planting churches, we can grow the muscles to share our faith in every situation and think of how the Lord is calling us to step out in faith. The journey matters just as much as the destination.
Finally, it may very well be that the lion’s share of the growing season is done at the Eichers garden, so why bother with the weeds? I’d like to think that it makes a difference for the next season. As I pull out the weeds, there’re not laying down seeds to pester my garden in the spring of 2026.
What we do in this life matters for eternity. When Christ comes again, He will raise us bodily and we will live in a new heaven and a new earth with physical bodies. We will serve the Lord in innocence and blessedness forever. Work itself is not bad. The difference in the life to come is that it will be without the vain toil brought about by sin.
Vicar Bieri, as you pull weeds, please don’t consider it vain toil. Keep in mind the second season when Christ comes again. What you do matters. Paul encourages all believers in 1 Corinthians 15 writing, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
1. Wisdom and knowledge and joy sees vain toil as wise work. THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE AND JOY OF THE LORD TURNS VAIN TOIL INTO WISE WORK.