The Oppression of Envy: A Homily on Ecclesiastes 4:1-4

This homily benefits greatly from the works of Peter Leithart and Daniel Doriani:

Human life is rife with envy. Envy whispers in our ear about a neighbor who has slightly more than we do—a nicer car, more recognition, a prettier wife, more accomplished children. Envy wants to silence praise for others and grows angry when praise continues.

Enslaved to envy, we rejoice at those who weep, and weep at those who rejoice. We become “insatiable in our outbursts against the happy.” When we don’t achieve our goals, we think, “If I cannot have something, no one is to have anything, no one is to be anything. Let the world perish!”

Envy boils up as hatred. Envy isolates. Envy breeds self-pity and victimization, for envy convinces us that if the world were fair we’d be on top.

The starting point for overcoming envy is to accept a simple truth: God does not envy. This may seem obvious to us today, but it hasn’t always been. Ancient people worshipped envious gods, and they were afraid to become too prosperous or too happy, because that would arouse the gods’ envy. Before long, they knew, the gods would pounce.

Our God, though, doesn’t envy. The Father unreservedly honors the Son who without envy acclaims the Father, and both glorify in their Spirit.

We are reminded that God doesn’t envy in James 1:

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

God is the Good Giver of good gifts. Always. God’s nature is unchanging, of all the lights; only His light does not change. His goodness does not change either.

Sometimes, however, the goodness of God’s gifts is not readily apparent to us. Let’s back up a few verses in James:

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James tells us that we are blessed in our trials as we remain steadfast. But instead of seeing the blessing or persevering in our trials, many times we want to blame God for tempting us.

His tests, though, must be seen in His unchanging good nature—He gives good gifts, not impossible tests.

Such is the case with the temptation of envy. Good gives us all we need to overcome it. We need not succumb to it. Yet we do. We fail to endure our passing desires; we fail to persevere in our love for Good.

The sad truth is that anything can be a source of testing for a sinner. Should then we blame God for making good things? Or for giving to another intelligence? Or the ability to persuade or command attention?

Are not all of these things good gifts from God? Gifts we are told to use and develop? Sadly, we often become angry with God when He has been good to others.

But we still have hope: God’s good gifts do not end with our giving in to envy. God knows our weaknesses, and has provided for these, with a mercy that triumphs over the judgment of our envy.

God can use our failures to lead us to Christ. It was His will not to leave sinners in our darkness. Instead, as we read in Isaiah, he shined a light into the world:

“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:6-7 ESV)

Of course, the light was Jesus. And Jesus, reading again from Isaiah, tells us what His purpose is in coming to us who are captive to our sin:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn; (Isaiah 61:1-2 ESV)

Once we are freed from this captivity in darkness, from being slaves to our sin, in the new light our eyes can see the beauty of Christ and then we freely choose to follow Him. And because our decision rests on His unchanging goodness, we are secure. We are secure as firstfruits of His creation. We have ALL that we need. There is nothing or no one left to envy.

Friends, let us remember that God gives His good gifts because He delights in giving, not to incite our jealousy. We are liberated from envy when we are brought out of darkness into the light and can see His goodness and beauty—and how we share all of this in Christ. Instead of being filled with envy, we can rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We can do this knowing we have the first and greatest of His gifts, His only son, Jesus.