The Absurdity of Injustice

Throughout Ecclesiastes, Qohelet seems to be overly sensitive to the difficulties of life. After all, who really is affected that much by life’s incongruities and absurdity? At the same time, one application of the book of Ecclesiastes is to remind us of the sober aspect of life. It is part of life in a fallen world. And then too, we have the hope of Heaven and resurrection. “There is light, beauty up there, that no shadow can touch.” And while we live in the shadows and taste the bitterness of life from time to time, the sweetness that follows will be all the more enjoyable.

In the second part of Chapter Three and in Chapter Eight, Qohelet addresses the absurdity of injustice. Life can be full of arbitrary and unjust rewards and punishments, but these can point us to Grace. It is a sign of God’s grace because it proves that life is not about performance. If being good doesn’t guarantee a smooth life, and being bad a rotten life, then life must not be about performance. There must be a higher principle in play.

This principle operates for the believer to several ends. One, if God governed the world on the basis of performance, everyone everywhere would continually suffer through a miserable life. But we’re so used to Grace, we don’t see our comfortable lives as grace. Another, suffering furthers sanctification, Romans 5:3-5. Third, suffering reflects the fact that the world is still fallen and we are still waiting redemption from this state. If life was continually easy, we might feel we are fine without God, which is the opposite of the truth. Next, suffering draws us ever closer to Jesus. In times of most need, He is the one to whom we flee. And last, we take confidence in the fact that our sins were borne by Christ on the cross. We no longer have to answer for our wrongdoings. Justice for us was served through the world’s greatest injustice – guiltless Jesus bearing the punishment we should receive.