Give up the “Just World” Theory for Lent

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For our BLC Lenten tradition, join us in giving up hidden beliefs we hold (religious and secular) that aren't serving us. This week: how the Hebrew Bible's Ecclesiastes captures our modern feelings of meaninglessness when we unconsciously believe everyone gets what they deserve.

SPEAKER NOTES

Give up the “just world” theory for Lent

Beginning

A part of my job as a pastor that is really meaningful but can be sobering is that people will share with me the things that just aren’t working in their lives.

Lately I’ve been struck by…

  • how many conversations I’ve had with people who are single looking for a partner, and doing all the right things to try to meet someone, safely taking risks to put themselves out there, even beyond their comfort zone, doing it with integrity, in real life and on the apps, but they’re just still single.
  • And how many conversations I’ve had with people who are underemployed or in a job that feels soul-killing, and it feels like there are no options for them to change that. They are doing all the right things, filling out innumerable applications, making cold calls, taking risks to network, in real life and, again, on the apps (the other kind of apps), but their job situation just remains stuck.
  • And how many conversations I’ve had with people who feel like no matter what they do they have to move or re-budget constantly because there is no affordable housing
  • And how many conversations I’ve had with people - about broken relationships they’ve tried everything to fix but they stay broken - about battles for health or life balance they just can’t seem to win - Or, of course, about the fear and lament that so many of us share: what is happening to our country? To our world?

We are in so many ways asking

  • What’s the point?
  • Will any effort of grit or integrity ever even amount to anything?
  • Should I just give up and forget it all? (Or perhaps you might use a different word that starts with F?)

Does this sound familiar?

And here’s the thing — in the conversations I’m having, it’s not like people are clinging to unrealistic visions of happiness, or have ridiculous standards, or want a perfect-seeming Instagram-ready life, or think they need to make millions —

NO! People want a partner, a decent place to live, a functioning family, a livable wage in the era of student debt, health insurance that actually feels like it insures you for the risks of life — these are not foolish or childish or overly consumeristic circumstances to hope for.

There are instances, don’t get me wrong, where I see people are miserable because their hopes are pinned to some unrealistic vision of happiness or to instant gratification, for sure. We do struggle with that…

But that’s NOT what I have in scope today. I'm thinking about realistic visions of the “good life”, visions I’d be okay with modeling for my children — for meaningful relationships, for meaningful work, for a simple sense of home.

According to many social theorists today, the out-of-reach-ness of these very ordinary, not at all lofty, visions for life in the modern world (no matter how much one “does all the right things”) has become increasingly characteristic of life in Western cultures like America starting somewhere in the 1990s, and it is not fundamentally a problem with individuals — as though suddenly people are less capable than previous generations. It is something that more and more people are experiencing as the norm rather than the exception, indicating problems at the societal level —

  • economies that don’t work for all but only for the few at the top,
  • cultural narratives and systems that exploit and exhaust people by design

So what do we do? Do we succumb to the feeling of the meaninglessness of it all?

My answer today will be no! So be encouraged!

Let me set some context…

  • We are now in Lent, the 40 day season in the church calendar that leads up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when we mark Jesus’ death and resurrection.
  • A long Lenten tradition in many churches is giving up a regular indulgence like chocolate, - as a way to intentionally commit to God for the whole season
  • Playing with that long tradition, BLC’s own tradition the last several years has been: giving up beliefs that don’t seem to be serving us - That’s our intentional commitment to God for this season
  • And this year, we want to give up the hidden beliefs underneath our lives that leave us feeling like our only option is to give up - Hayley and I joked: We want to give up “giving up” - Some of these hidden beliefs we’ll talk about this Lent are religious beliefs - But many are just general Western culture or American beliefs (unexamined assumptions about how life or the world works) - And in their place we want to suggest different, better beliefs

Ecclesiastes

  • To do this we’re going to use the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes as a companion. - One of the Wisdom writings of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. Written sometime between the 5th and 2nd century BCE (like 450 to 150 years before Jesus) - It claims to be the voice of King Solomon from centuries earlier in Hebrew history - which was a very common ancient thing (penning something under a famous historical person’s name) - And, as you’ll see, I think, it is an incredibly modern feeling text, - because it’s basically just the writer pouring out existential dread after existential dread. - The refrain that repeats again and again is: “Meaningless, it’s all meaningless, a chasing after the wind!” - It’s considered a wisdom book not because it's a careful argument for how to live wisely (it definitely isn’t); but because it’s a sort of stream of consciousness poking holes in all conventional wisdom - Along the way the writer does uncover some little gems of wisdom that don’t get holes poked in them, but in general it’s really a book of deconstruction, for deconstruct-ers - A book for our time!

Here are some selections for this week… visual

  • From Chapter 2

    13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly,

    just as light is better than darkness.

    14 The wise have eyes in their heads,

    while the fool walks in the darkness;

    but I came to realize

    that the same fate overtakes them both.

    15 Then I said to myself,

    “The fate of the fool will overtake me also.

    What then do I gain by being wise?”

    I said to myself,

    “This too is meaningless.”

    16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;

    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.

    Like the fool, the wise too must die!

    17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

  • From Chapter 7

    15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

    the righteous perishing in their righteousness,

    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

    16 Do not be overrighteous,

    neither be overwise—

    why destroy yourself?

    17 Do not be overwicked,

    and do not be a fool—

    why die before your time?

  • These reflections totally feel at home in the modern world, right? - Why even try to live with integrity? I could do all the right things and things still won’t work out. - Maybe I should just be cut-throat? Be just a little bit wicked? - Maybe I should lower my standards? Be just a little bit foolish? - We’re all going to die anyway. - Maybe it’s all meaningless. - Maybe I should just give up on my values.

  • Kinda crazy that that’s in the Bible, right? - (Do not be overwicked, sure, but do not be overrighteous?!) visual off - There’s a saying in Latin American Liberation theologies: - We don’t just read the Bible, we let the Bible read us.” - I love that: - Sometimes the Bible isn’t instructive in the sense that we should emulate what it says about God and life. - It’s instructive in the sense that we shouldn’t emulate what it says about God and life, because it's holding up a mirror to our projections and brokenness. - Ecclesiastes reads us!

  • I’m interested most in the assumption that leads to this entertaining of “giving up” — - The assumption is that life is so meaningless because it doesn’t follow the rules of: - Put in good, you should get good. Put in bad, you should get bad. - The wise & righteous should be rewarded, and the foolish & wicked should be punished. - People should get what they deserve. - This assumed rule of life is sometimes called the “Just world” theory in the West, - or Karma in the East, - which is also used colloquially in the West all the time

  • There are so many appeals to the "just world” theory in our modern world… both non-religious and religious, both superstitious and materialist visual - As I mentioned before, single people or job-seekers are told “just do all the right things” and it will work out for you! - Sometimes? Sure. But always? As a rule? - We tell ourselves the economy is a meritocracy. Those with the most merit will be the most successful, and those with the least won’t. - But there are SO many more things involved - unearned privilege, access to power, plain old fashioned luck - My generation was told when we were kids “believe in yourself and you can be anything you want to be” - But then I graduated college the year of the Great Recession in 2008, and it turned out I couldn’t - No matter how true I was to myself, there were no guarantees! But there were student loans! - Churches tell people to pray hard and be good and God will bless you, and self-help authors tell people to optimize their lives and they will manifest good into existence, - But it just doesn’t always work out for everyone the same way the “bestselling books” do visual off

  • It’s not that these assumed rules aren’t sometimes true. - (in general, conventional wisdom about putting in good rather than bad, and trusting that will come back to you, is great advice — of course!)

  • And it’s not that it’s bad for us to long for the “just world” theory to be always true - (Of course we long for justice and fairness!)

  • It’s just that reality will never fail to eventually prove the “just world” theory is not always true. - Because reality is not so transactional. Reality is so much more complicated. - The more we unconsciously believe this will always hold true contrary to the reality we actually have, the more we get into dangerous territory - The person who was abused starts to believe they deserved it - They got bad, so they must have put in bad - That’s a recipe for meaninglessness - Good luck and riches is seen as a sign of blessing (they must have put in good) and bad luck and poverty is seen as a sign of punishment (they must have put in bad) - That’s a recipe for meaninglessness - When it comes to belief in God, - The assumption becomes that God is the one guaranteeing or maintaining this “just world” so that anything that happens in life, even the worst tragedies — cancer, natural disasters, war, genocide — must have God’s approval or permission behind it for some mysterious “just world” reason. - If you read all of Ecclesiastes, the author seems to sometimes hold to this picture of God, and I think it’s feeding the author’s meaninglessness crisis. - Again, I don’t think Ecclesiastes models a perfect picture of God for us; I just think it reads us modern people really well. - Now I don’t think anyone in our community here is falling into the most extreme versions of this trap, - but I will suggest that we unthinkingly all the time assume God is a divine guarantor of the “just world” theory - When, after something bad happens, we think, “why God? what have I (or they) done to deserve this?” - Even if we ask it a different way, like, “why universe?” - Still we reveal a hidden belief that there is some rule of life that “people get what they deserve” - And, again, because complicated reality will inevitably conflict with that, this feeds our feelings of: Meaningless! Everything is a chasing of the wind!

So let me suggest giving up this hidden belief…

Personal Story

You may know I helped start this church about 12 years ago; it’s very dear to me; it’s not just a job; it’s health as a community and as a donation-run organization is very important to me. I sometimes lose sleep over that.

I remember years ago having an incredibly peaceful moment in prayer when it felt like God said to me something that on the surface does not at all sound peace-bringing,

“Vince, I can’t guarantee anything about the health or sustainability of this church.”

I know that sounds weird. You would think a peaceful moment in prayer would be feeling like God did guarantee the health and sustainability of this church. But let me explain...

The power of that experience for me was feeling like God was being honest with me, treating me like an adult. NOT overpromising and underdelivering. NOT being a salesman.

I felt like so much of the resources and training that I’d been exposed to as a young pastor were sales-ey, overpromising and underdelivering: you read a book that gives this air-tight argument about how to run a church and why you’ll experience all the success you’ve ever wanted, and then you try to put it in practice, and it just doesn’t happen like the book said.

And oh does the “just world” theory threaten me then — either I deserve my lack of “success” because I’m doing it wrong (which keeps me on the never-ending treadmill), or this is all just meaningless!

It is in the midst of that, that I feel God say to me: “Vince, I’m not like those books or resources or trainings; I’m not going to lie to you about some magical 3-step model; I’m going to be honest with you that I can’t guarantee anything, because life is so much more complicated than that... But I will never leave you nor forsake you, and, no matter what happens to the health and sustainability of this church, I love you and I’m proud of you and what you’ve built. I’m working for its benefit. And no success or lack of it, according to whatever measures, will ever change that.”

Just what I needed!

This was such an important experience for me that separated God from the “just world” theory.

That’s what I want for everyone in this church - for God to be separated from the “just world” theory.

If I want to find God in my life, I should NOT be looking for a guarantor of “people getting what they deserve for their good or bad inputs”. There is no such God! (I’m chasing after the wind looking for that God!)

If I want to find God in my life, I look for that deep voice of love and honesty and faithful presence — that feels like it is both within me and beyond me, that is never overpromising, yet always hopeful.

This is a different location and role for the divine than what our default hidden belief in the “just world” theory suggest to us.

But, from my read, this different location and role for the divine is what Jesus believed about God.

Jesus

Consider with me when the disciples ask Jesus: teach us to pray…

What does Jesus respond with? The “Our Father” or “Lord’s Prayer”. visual

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name… 

- If you have trouble with “Father”, that’s totally understandable, play around with "mother" or “loving parent” instead — Jesus’ point is that the most holy, most set-apart, most hallowed, divine characteristic is “parental love”, not “imperial rule” as the Romans of his time believed… God is the patient, consistent presence of a parent, not a controlling executive guaranteeing some imagined rule of life.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven… 

- Why would Jesus encourage praying for God’s will to be done unless Jesus’ presumption was that God’s will is NOT always done? The world is NOT always just. We must participate in bringing that about, not throw our hands up in the air when it’s not the case.

Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors 

- Sometimes this is translated sin or trespasses, but the most strict translation is debts; it’s economic, and you know what, I like that — then it’s tied to our ask for daily bread — one getting their daily bread, their needs met, is not about people getting what they deserve, but about enacting an economy of forgiveness.

Lead us (PAUSE) not into temptation, but deliver us from evil 

- God doesn’t overpromise with a sales pitch about how temptation or evil or unfairness won’t affect us if we are good or wise — even with Jesus! No, God is honest, and promises to respond to our prayers to lead us, to guide us, no matter what. visual

Ending

I started talking about those of us who are single and longing for a partner, who are underemployed, underinsured, underhoused, stuck, scared…

Like I felt from God, I don’t want to lie to you and try to sell you some magic quick fix for your exhaustion or despair, and I don't think God does either, but what I can say is that your circumstance is NOT proof of you deserving bad or proof of God's abandonment or disinterest or neglect or proof that life is meaningless or that God doesn't exist.

It is the “just world" theory that would have you conclude those things, not our actual reality.

God will never leave your nor forsake you, and is, in this very moment, working to bring about goodness, beauty, and justice for you. Yes, even justice! Just because God can't guarantee a “just world” doesn't mean God isn't working tirelessly, powerfully for justice!

That’s all or nothing thinking we don’t have to accept.

Like I said, of course we should long for justice! That’s at the core of Jesus’ vision: a cosmic justice for all, the resurrection of the dead, every tear wiped from every eye.

But we should long to participate in it! Not look for it to be magically guaranteed for us.

Life is just way more complicated than that, than put in good, get good, put in bad, get bad. Thank God we have a God who sees this, and is not deterred. Amen?

Prayer

Ecclesiastes, Matthew, LukeVincent BrackettLent 2025Comment