Eternity in the Human Heart

I feel almost guilty picking up just one verse out of such rich texts and using it as a springboard for what Neil and I will say. Ecclesiastes 3 is perhaps the best-known chapter of that enigmatic book, and the beginning of this chapter has been immortalized by the Byrds (among others) singing, “To everything – turn, turn, turn …” I wish that we could reflect on what the editor of Ecclesiastes is saying by quoting this extended message from Qoholeth (“the teacher”), but we just don’t have time. 

 

Similarly, Romans 2 is part of a remarkable argument in which Paul develops the insight that God has come to all people throughout the world, bringing grace and truth to set us free from the power of sin. Probing that argument also must wait for some other day. Today we focus just on this one verse from Ecclesiastes: “God has set eternity in the human heart.” 

 

Eternity in their Hearts 

What does Ecclesiastes mean by this phrase, “Eternity in their hearts”? We live in time, moment by moment. The natural world around us moves through the seasons of the year and the seasons of our lives, past, present, and future. “Eternity” is a concept almost beyond our imagination. Eternity is where God is. Eternity is what God lives in. A basic Jewish prayer refers to God as “Melech ha olam” – the king of Eternity (or king of the universe, or eternal king). 

 

The NRSV takes this phrase, “eternity in their hearts”, to mean God “has put a sense of past and future into their minds”. This is an effort to find a meaning that fits the outlook of Qoholeth in the rest of the book, but it runs against the sense of the words. Most other translations keep the idea of “eternity in their hearts”. 

 

It’s a difficult verse: “He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Here’s what I think it means. God has placed something of God’s own self in every human heart and every human culture, but we are not able to see God clearly or understand what God is doing in our world. 

 

That second step is where the gospel comes in. We know something of God, but God remains hidden from us. Then Jesus comes, preaching the Gospel of God’s Reign. Jesus comes, showing what God looks like. Jesus comes, opening our eyes to God’s presence already with us. 

 

Don Richardson 

Don Richardson was a Canadian missionary who went to West Papua, part of Indonesia in 1962. At that time, it was called Dutch New Guinea. He and his wife and their seven-month old baby went to a group of people known as the Sawi and began to learn their language. This was a first contact situation: Neither group knew anything about the other when they began their relationship. 

 

The Sawi lived in the jungle, separated from other people by their geographical isolation and by the fierceness of their culture. They especially valued people who could appear to be your friend, but then at the crucial moment could turn and betray you. So when Don and Carol told them the stories of Jesus, they laughed at Jesus. They thought that Judas was the hero and Jesus was just a fool. 

 

So difficult did the Richardsons' life become in the jungle village that they decided to pull out and leave. The villagers were engaged in constant fights with a neighbouring village. Life was hard and dangerous. And worst of all, they thought Judas was the hero of the story. 

 

Then Don and Carol told them that they were leaving. The villagers were upset. They valued these outsiders and wanted them to stay. The Richardsons said they could not stay in such constant fighting and warfare. Finally, the villagers called a meeting with their fiercest enemies from the neighbouring village. Someone from one village picked up his son and ran to his enemies. He gave them his son and ran back to his side, while his son was taken in to his enemies. Richardson asked what had happened, and they told him. 

 

The boy was a peace child, they said. As long as the child lived, the two villages would be at peace. “But what if someone betrays him?” “That person would be cursed. No one dare betray the peace child.” 

 

Even in their culture, “eternity” – a revelation of God’s presence was already there. Don and Carol told them that Jesus was the peace child, and the people saw the truth. Judas was no longer the hero; Jesus was. They turned to Christ in remarkable numbers and embraced the fuller revelation of God in Christ. 

 

Transition 

This is an extreme example, but it is not as unusual as you might think. In his book, Eternity in their Hearts, Richardson tells many more such stories. God never waits for the missionaries to show up, because God is a missionary God. Wherever people are, God is there, reaching out to them to heal our brokenness and bring us back to God. 

 

I think Richardson is right – that God has placed bits of the gospel in every culture – and so I assume that First Nations cultures also show evidence of the gospel, present in their culture long before White settlers came to North America. God has always been here, and we can learn about God from those who lived here before we did, even as we tell them the stories of Jesus. 

 

Neil, can you pick up from this point and give us some idea of how God was already here before the explicit preaching of the gospel?

 

At this point, Neil and Edith von Gunten, our guests for the morning, took over with the teaching of the tipi, from the Ojibwe First Nations people. I cannot replicate their presentation; I don't know enough. But they made the point effectively, showing how their hosts had taught them about God and God's relationship with us as they lived among First Nations in Canada. 

 

Steinbach Mennonite Church 

5 September 2021