“The Meaning of Life”
November 9, 2025
“The Meaning of Life”
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:1-11, 18-23, 8:15; 12:13-14
St. Paul AME Church, Manchester, KY
David A. Shirey
A story is told about a late first century Rabbi named Akiva. One day as he was out walking, meditating on Scripture, he was so absorbed in prayer and contemplation that he took a wrong turn and found himself at the gate of a Roman fortress. A Roman centurion yelled out to him from atop the wall, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
Rabbi Akiva paused and shouted back, “How much do you get paid to ask me these questions?”
The centurion said, “Two drachma per week!”
Whereupon Rabbi Akiva shouted back, “I’ll pay you double if you stand outside my house and ask me those two questions every morning!”
“Who am I?” and “What am I doing here?” Those are the foundational questions of life. The first is a question of our IDENTITY and the second is a question concerning our PURPOSE. If you can figure out those two things, you’re on your way to discerning the Meaning of Life, which is what the author of Ecclesiastes (traditionally thought of as Solomon) was doing. He wrote, “I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.” (Eccl 1:12, 13). Hear that? Who am I? Why am I here?
People have been pondering the meaning of life for ages. And there have been oodles of answers given. I googled the words “meaning of life” and in .63 seconds the search turned up 97,100,000 results, all of which I studied for this sermon – Not! But it goes to show you there’s a lot of interest in knowing who we are and why we’re here. LIFE magazine published an issue back in December of 1988 that featured on its cover the question: Why Are We Here? The Meaning Of Life. They asked a whole bunch of people to respond. “Scientists and theologians, authors and artists, celebrities and everyday sages on the street” including The Dalai Lama, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, Willie Nelson, Muhammad Ali, a NYC cab driver, an 11-year-old cancer patient, a Supreme Court justice. The answers ran the gamut, but by and large the responses, and I dare say the 1.3 billion responses Google turned up, can be categorized into four groupings.
Some say life has no meaning. In philosophical circles, it’s called nihilism from the Latin word for nothing (nihil). In a word, life is meaningless. Composer John Cage responded to the Life magazine survey with four words: “No why. Just here.” Decades ago the rock band Kansas had a hit song titled “Dust in the Wind” with the chorus All we are is dust in the wind. But they were just echoing Solomon who first gave voice to that sentiment when he wrote, “Vanity of vanities, All is vanity... I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind” (Eccl 1:2, 14). The meaning of life? There is none. We’re here. We’re gone. That’s it. Dust in the wind (blow on hand). Nihilism.
An ages-old response to nihilism is hedonism from the Greek word for
pleasure (ἡδονή, hēdonē). Hey, if life is meaningless, we’re here and then we’re gone, we might as well enjoy the ride, brief as it is. So, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (Those are Solomon’s words in 8:15) “Paaaarty!” (Those were my words in college!) Solomon experimented with ‘the pleasure principle’ and wrote, “I said to myself, ‘Let’s go for it – experiment with pleasure, have a good time!’ But there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke. What do I think of the fun-filled life? Insane! Insane!” (Ecc 2:1-3, The Message) And he’s right. Living by the motto “If it feels good, do it” just doesn’t do it. Sometimes it feels good, but it doesn’t last, leaving us right back where we started, seeking for something, anything to fill and fulfill us. It’s not a called “a passing fancy” for nothing.
So Solomon traded hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure, for materialism, the accumulation of things. Malcolm Forbes, millionaire founder of Forbes magazine said decades ago, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Really? When I was in college, I got a summer job on the grounds crew at the Danville, IL, Country Club golf course. One day, I was leaning on my rake off to the side of the green at #3 waiting for a foursome to putt out. After they finished the hole and were making their way off the green, one of the guys, his name was Jack, said to his playing partner, "I'm looking for something and by God before I die I'm gonna find it!" I remember he said that and I remember the look on his face when he said it: gaunt is the word I'd use. Not even his lime green golf shirt could brighten a certain hollowness in his face. My parents used to say "Jack's done well for himself.” And they were right. He was well-off, well-fed, well-housed, well-educated, well-heeled, well-connected but well, he still had a gnawing sense deep down inside that something was missing. For all he had, Jack didn’t have something that matters the most. Solomon wrote: “I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks (He was a real estate mogul)... I had great possessions of herds and flocks and gathered for myself silver and gold” (a wealthy businessman) (Ecclesiastes 2:4-8). But for Solomon all that stuff didn’t make for a good life. His words: “Oh, how I prospered. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:9-11). Someone said, “I’ve spent my whole life climbing the ladder of success only to realize . But now I’ve reached the top and see I leaned the ladder against the wrong wall.”[1] Materialism.
So much for the pursuit of pleasure and the accumulation of things. Others have said that to find the meaning of life “you must look within.” It’s what I call self-help spirituality: the purpose of life is self-actualization. It’s all about you. Is it really all about me? Reminds me of country music singer Toby Keith’s song years ago with the refrain:
“I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I,
Wanna talk about #1 oh me, oh my.
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see.”
It’s a great parody of self-centeredness. As I heard it put, “There is nothing so empty as people who are full of themselves.” If you go to a bookstore, one of the most populous sections is Self-Help. You’ll find titles from floor to ceiling that will wax eloquently on ‘discovering the secrets of the inner self’ and so on and so forth, but it never ceases to amaze me how much ink can be spent on so many pages that end up saying absolutely nothing I can understand. One contributor to the Life magazine article said, “Our purpose is to consciously, deliberately evolve toward a wiser, more liberated and luminous state of being; to return to Eden, make friends with the snake and set up our computers among the wild apple trees.” (Tom Robbins). Come again? On second thought, don’t. Solomon didn’t even go there in his pursuit of the meaning of life. He skipped the self-actualization/ ‘look within’ gurus. And it’s just as well.
Nihilism. Hedonism. Materialism. Self-Actualization (Me-ism). All four are ages-old, but ultimately unsatisfying answers to the questions of our identity, our purpose, and the meaning of life.
But then there’s the answer Rabbi Akiva…and Rabbi Jesus taught and lived, namely, that life’s purpose is to receive and reciprocate God’s love.
Who are you? You’re a precious child of God. Created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26, 27). Beloved in God’s sight (Matthew 3:17).
What are you doing here? Your purpose is to love God and love neighbor. The Great Commandment. And to “till and keep the earth” (Genesis 2:15). The Great Vocation.
The nihilist says, “All we are is dust in the wind” but the Good Book says we are all created by God and enlivened by the wind of the Holy Spirit.
The hedonist says “Eat, drink, and merry” but Mary’s son taught that the deepest pleasure is being a blessing to others.
The materialist says, “The more I have, the happier I’ll be,” but a follower of Jesus knows the more I empty myself, the more filled and fulfilled I’ll be.
The self-actualization gurus say, “Look within,” but all you get with navel-gazing is a stiff neck. Don't look within. Look up to God and out to neighbors near and far.
The meaning of life? Receiving and reciprocating the love of God and doing it together with faithful others. When you stop and think about it, everything in this book (Bible) and everything we’ve heard preached, taught and written about its contents across the centuries is commentary on those words. Rabbis Akiva and Jesus and wise men and women across the ages have discovered that, including Alexander Campbell Read, Jr., the head elder of the very first church Jennie and I served 40+ years ago in Carthage, TN. We knew him as Mr. Bill. I'll never forget our last Sunday with that congregation, sitting down next to that dear man, each of us with paper platters groaning under the weight of fried chicken, Polly’s home-made dumplings, garden-grown green beans cooked with fatback, Frances Sue’s squash casserole (scrumptious!), fresh-baked biscuits and a slice of Miss Billie Ruth's homemade chocolate cake (and that was just the first time through the line). As I was about to dig in (the blessing had already been said), Mr. Bill reached out and put his hand over mine. Then, with his other hand, he panned the entire sanctuary in a long, sweeping motion: the pulpit, the communion table, the baptistery, the piano, the little fellowship room where we had done Bible Study, joined hands in prayer and drank countless cups of coffee. With his hand he swept past the entire congregation of men, women and kids I'd come to love so dearly in my years there. Then he looked at me and said, "David Shirey, it don't get any better than this!"
I know church goes sour sometimes. I know people get stung sometimes by the church bees: get burned or bruised or bored or are badgered or become bewildered. I know some Christians are just plain stinkers. But that is the exception to the rule! As a rule, life together in Christ in a congregation of people who know the Meaning of Life gives cause day in and day out for rejoicing and thanksgiving. Hear me when I say it doesn’t matter if there are x people, three hundred and x, or x thousand in a congregation, where two or three or x are gathered who know the Meaning of Life – that each and every human being is a precious child of God created in God’s image, that we’re all here to receive and reciprocate God’s love in Christ now and forever and do our part to take care of this world God has made – well, St. Paul, it don’t get any better than this.
Let all who have seen, tasted, discovered the Meaning of Life, what Maya Angelou called “the life that is Life” say AMEN.
[1] “You may get to the very top of the ladder, and then find it has not been leaning against the right wall.” Attributed to Allen Raine in 1915, pseudonym of a popular Welsh novelist named Anne Adaliza Evans.
