October 25, 2009

Job 42:1-17

“…but now my eye sees you.”

What better way to learn something than from a story? Jesus, I think, alluded to that when he tells his disciples, “Unless you receive the kingdom like a child, you will never enter it (even though it is right here).” Of course Jesus may have been referring to something other than a story, but for now think about what he might have been saying if he WAS talking about children learning and understanding things - important things about God and God’s kingdom - in the context of a story. After all, weren’t most of Jesus’ lessons to his disciples embedded in stories or parables, some of which started with words sort of like, “There was once… ”

In October, our Hebrew Testament readings have been from book of Job, which have been the basis for my messages this month in order that we might better understand the nature of God, as well as the suffering we experience in life. First we considered Job’s attempts to reconcile his suffering and faith. Then we heard Job’s “bitter complaint” to God; followed by God’s response last week, and now finally, today, we witness Job’s restoration. When the story begun, Job knew God; yet by stories end, Job understood much better the true nature of God. He could now say, “…but now my eye sees you.”

Job’s story is a story, which could very well be ours. It starts out, “There was once… a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who (was amazed by) God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1:1) He was a good man, as close to God as anyone could be – and yet all these terrible things happen to him. What’s with that? Good question, but that is not where the lesson is. Although the story seems to be about Job, it is really about God. So, rather than being about the ‘cause and effect’ of suffering – why bad things happen - it is really about ‘how do we reconcile suffering and faith?’ One does not exclude the other. The first lesson of faith is about “receiving the bad with the good.”

If we believe a life of ‘right living’ protects us from suffering or bad things happening to us - we need to get over it. If we believe God blesses the faithful and rewards the righteous with what they deserve – we need to get over it. If we believe God reigns down pain and suffering on those out of sync with God, on the sinful and the faithless – we need to get over it. Because, I think, the story of Job, right from the very beginning, paints a quite different picture of God.

A week later, we heard Job complaining bitterly because he could not find God anywhere. He thought that if he found God, he could plead his case and a just God would set his ‘friends’ straight, letting them know Job was a righteous man. Despite what his friends said, he hadn’t done anything wrong – and God would prove him right. Despite what they said, he wasn’t going to confess to sins that weren’t his. God would hear him out if only he could find God. Maybe we have been there ourselves – alone?

In our own lives, when caught up in some terrible ordeal or situation beyond our control and God doesn’t answer, when praying and nothing noticeable happens, when finding our self at the end of our rope, and God seems “off somewhere” unwilling or unable to rescue us – what then? There is good reason to complain bitterly– right there along side Job. There is good reason to challenge God - to demand answers. Like Job, frustration and bitterness set in and we want to know “where’s the justice in this!” If God was only here, hearing our case and considering the evidence, things would be different then - God WOULD have to rule in our favor. We have been there, haven’t we?

When God is needed most, God IS NOT there for Job! It isn’t the suffering that bothers Job, but the feeling that God seems distant and unknown. He longs for God’s presence. He needs, so much, God’s compassion and justice. That is why he is so upset. In the devastating darkness of his despair, Job cries out, “Where are you, God!”

Then last week, God responded, though not as Job expected. God appears but really never responded to Job’s complaint. God asks Job, “Who are you to doubt me, and everything I have done (concerning creation)?” Then Job learns something. He realizes that neither he nor his friends have really understood the world, or anything for that matter – including God, and so he has no grounds for complaint against God. He was wrong thinking that God’s justice would prove him right. And most importantly, his friends were wrong: the innocent do suffer for a long time even when they don’t deserve it; Job’s suffering is not because of anything his family did; and Job’s maintaining his innocence and refusing to admit something he hasn’t done is not a “greater sin.”

Today, at the end of this story, Job’s life is restored. Everything is back like it was – well almost. Some things are even better. Job has learned a lesson. He acknowledges God’s “purpose” and sovereignty, although he still does not understand them. He admits his ignorance. Job’s faith “in God” is replaced by his experience of God as evidenced by his saying, “…but now my eye sees you.” Job, who is (and always has been) godly, “repents” not by turning away from God “in sin,” but in turning toward God “in awe.”

Any understanding of suffering tied to the idea of retribution or ‘payback’ - that a person’s suffering is because they have sinned - is proven wrong by the story of Job. Likewise it would be wrong for us to think the restoration of Job's fortunes and relationships is the result of his “passing” some test or his words of repentance and humility. Job’s restoration is simply because it is God’s pleasure to do so, period. God's reasons for giving things to Job are as unexplained as the reasons they were taken away. God does not explain suffering, but God does not explain blessing either. Both are twin mysteries, we will never know or understand.

In Job’s attempt to reconcile suffering and faith, an important lesson is learned that would benefit all of us. Having learned a new thing about God, Job could now say, “…but now my eye sees you.” He discovered it is God’s pleasure to do whatever God pleases – especially when it means being present to comfort us during times of crisis and grief – even when that presence is not always clear or deserved. In Archibald MacLeish’s J.B.: A Play in Verse (based on the story of Job) J.B.’s wife says to her husband, "You wanted justice, didn't you? There isn't any...there is only love."

Perhaps that is the lesson to be learned about God in the story of Job. It is God’s pleasure to love us - that we might say, “Now, my eye sees you.” A good lesson indeed.

October 11, 2009

Job 23:1-17; Mark 10:17-31

“O That I Knew…”

Last week we heard Job ask the question, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” teaching us that even for the godly, life can include the bad with the good. We learned that Job’s story is our story as we realized his struggle to reconcile his suffering and faith might very well be ours. As his story points out, those faithful to God are not exempt from suffering or from struggling with their faith. Today, we hear Job’s “bitter complaint” to God as he cannot find God anywhere. Eventually God will respond, a little at least, and not as Job might expect - but that is later, as will be Job’s restoration at the end of the story. But those lessons are for another day.

In the chapters between last weeks and today’s reading, Job’s three friends are absolutely no help at all. ‘Eli’ says that if Job is innocent his suffering will soon end. Wrong. ‘Bill’ says Job’s suffering and misfortune must be because his family was sinful. Wrong. And ‘Zo’ says Job is even a worse sinner because he refuses to admit it. Wrong. They all three say that if he wants relief from his suffering he needs to repent of his sins, but Job is adamant that he hasn't sinned. Even though he is suffering terribly, he has not done anything wrong. Despite all the things that have happened to destroy his life, he is still a good man.

His friends are just as sure. He must have done something really bad to be suffering so much. Their understanding of suffering is tied to the idea of retribution – that if a person sins they are going to suffer the consequences. So their line of reasoning is that Job must have sinned to be suffering so much. Job ignores their advice and instead calls on God to prove him right, saying “I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.” He is not seeking restoration or redress for the wrongs he has suffered at this point, but for his name to be cleared of the unfounded accusations his friends have made against him. Job clings to his integrity, unwilling to confess to sins he knows he has never committed. God will hear him; God will make things right.

But Job cannot find God, anywhere. No matter where he looks, God is nowhere to be found. Experiencing the silence of God, Job cries out and finds no answer.  In our own lives, when caught up in some terrible ordeal or situations beyond our control and hearing no word or answer from God, when praying and nothing visible happens; when finding one’s self at the end of our rope, and God seems “off somewhere” unwilling or unable to rescue us – what then? It is at times like those we find ourselves in good company – right there beside Job.

It is in situations like that, where God is nowhere to be found, a person’s attitude can change – and God is challenged. We demand answers. Frustration and bitterness toward what has happened leads to hostility. Job thought if only he could plead his case before God, he would receive justice. He is sure that if he appeals to reason, God WILL rule in his favor. So with his evidence in hand, Job goes looking for God, wanting to be heard. We have been on similar journeys, haven’t we?

If only he knew where to find God. Job longs for God presence. It is as if he is saying, “What I wouldn’t give to know where to find God.” Ironically Job has already given everything to end up where he is (his family, his wealth, his health). Job is ready for his day in court. But no matter where he goes, God is not there. Job’s God does not seem to be anything like the God of Psalm 139, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” If I take the wings of the morning and settle in the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast.” For Job, the opposite is true, God is nowhere to be found.

Job is nervous. He is terrified. He is alone. What upsets Job the most is not the loss of his fortune, or his physical pain, or even the loss of his hopes and dreams which were found in his family, but that God is absent. When God is needed most, God is not there! At the heart of his complaint is neither his suffering or that God would allow such a thing, but that very moment, God feels so distant and so far removed as to be unknowable. Job longs for a sense of God’s presence, for God’s awareness of his troubles, for God’s compassion and justice. That is what drives Job’s complaint.

He gives voice to the bitter complaints and fears we all might feel, even today. Deeply depressed, Job feels surrounded by darkness. He is fully aware of where his friends stand and yet Job is still convinced he doesn’t deserve what is happening to him. His integrity doesn’t allow him to repent, which his friends say he must do. Instead, he is determined more than ever to find an audience with God, totally confident that God WILL listen to him – if only he knew where to find God.

Job is convinced that God knows how he has lived his life. He is confident God is fully aware of the kind of person he is, a righteous man - a good man - and that being the case, he, Job, will ultimately be justified and emerge blameless. However, he is also thinking that before any of that happens, God may have a whole lot more in store for him – and that scares him. Job is fearful of what could happen when he does find God and is in God’s presence. He is beginning to dread when that happens, even though he keeps on searching.

Job is confident about his relationship with God on the one hand, and yet on the other hand, he is very much aware of the mystery and what he might not know about God. Like us, he seems sure of his faith, but then again... “O That I Knew…”

The story of Job affirms that it is okay to rail and complain against God, to say precisely how we feel, and we can be confident that God will hear and understand – even though it makes us nervous and anxious because of God’s great power (and what God can do). Job says, “If only I could vanish in darkness.” (17) And in his misery, he keeps looking for God. The good news for us today is that in our darkness, God can be found – an uncomprehensible God to be sure – and yet a God of great compassion and love. In Archibald MacLeish’s J.B.: A Play in Verse (based on the story of Job) J.B.’s wife says to her husband, "You wanted justice, didn't you? There isn't any...there is only love."

 

October 4, 2009

Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Mark 10:2-16

“There Was Once…”

In the gospel of Mark today, Jesus is asked (by the Pharisees) a question of law. It’s a tough question – a question about divorce – to test him. “Is it lawful…” But Jesus turns their question about divorce into a lesson about God. What God has done, human beings like us cannot undo or change.

And when his disciples grumbled about the children people were bringing to him for a blessing, he turned that into a lesson about God as well. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” God's kingdom is for all who come, seeking to be blessed by God. The kingdom – God present in their lives – is theirs. It is a gift. And because of God’s radical hospitality – everyone is received, all are honored. God welcomes us all.

Jesus tells his disciples, “Unless you receive the kingdom like a child, you will never enter it (even though it is right here).” Imagine the looks on their faces and the thoughts running through their minds when “he took the children up into his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.” Do you suppose seeing that, they too gathered in close around him, to be held in his arms (if only in their minds) to receive his blessing?

There is nothing in Mark that would suggest Jesus told the children a story that day. Yet I can imagine Jesus doing that very thing, especially with all those children gathered around him. And I can imagine that if he did have a story for them (with another lesson about God), he probably began with words something like, “There was once… ”

The book of Job starts out that way, “There was once… ” 

“There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who (was amazed by) God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1:1)

Now if anyone could be close to God it probably would have to be someone like Job, right? Someone who has never done anything wrong, someone who has always been good, someone who has always was in awe of God, amazed at what God can do, someone who has never hated anyone.

Job’s story is offered as a thoughtful/ethical/theological exchange of ideas, and in this story we are invited to see our world and ourselves in conversation with the various characters. It is a story that, on the surface, seems to be about the ‘cause and effect’ of suffering – why does suffering take place and who is responsible for what is happening. When things go wrong in our lives, it is only natural to want to know why. Maybe if we knew why, we could deal with it easier or maybe we could keep it from happening again. Yet think about Job’s question of his friends when he says, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?”

This is what the story of Job is really about - how do we reconcile suffering and faith? Job’s wife asks later in chapter 2, “"Do you still persist in your integrity?" After all this, do you still believe what you did, do you still honor God?

The story of Job very definitely raises questions about the traditional theology of his day, a theology based on the practice of piety and the belief of divine retribution. In other words, the story of Job reveals that a life of ‘right living’ does not protect us from suffering or bad things happening to us. Job not only speaks to the thinking of his day, but to a dominant understanding of evangelical Christianity today — namely the so-called "prosperity gospel" - which can be misleading when it comes to an understanding of the real nature of God.

The idea of God blessing the faithful, rewarding the righteous with what they deserve, and reigning down pain and suffering on those out of sync with God is rejected outright by Job. It is rejected in his life – in the struggles of a genuinely "blameless and upright" man – and in his response – to both his wife and to his situation. “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” Job asks.

Of course, the answer is we shall – as part of life – receive both the good AND the bad. Job's question helps in our understanding because it anticipates and sort of sets up his struggle with suffering and faith, and his attempt to maintain faith in the midst of a struggle to which we also are invited. The important thing to note here is that these struggles result from a genuine and life-giving relationship with God. They are not signs of our sinfulness or faithlessness, period. And the story of Job bears that out.

“There was once… a man named Job. ” Over the next several weeks we will struggle with Job as he attempts to reconcile his suffering and faith. And in doing so, I hope we can all gain a better understanding of the suffering we experience in life, as well as a better understanding of God. During that time, we will hear Job’s “bitter complaint” to God; hear a little bit of God’s response and finally witness Job’s restoration. Job’s story is our story, or at least it could be.

Perhaps for us, the lesson today (and the good news) is: “What is impossible for us to earn, IS possible for God to give – a relationship and our being close to God.”