October 12, 2003
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When
I was looking at these passages from Job, my first thought was to call this
sermon “When God Is Far Away”. I wanted to acknowledge that Job helps us
understand that there are times when the injury is so raw, the hurt so painful,
and the hope so distant that all we want to do is talk with God about it. But it
feels to us as it did to Job that God is out there somewhere, but not close
enough for us to know where God is and we are left in turmoil. This prayer of
confession and pleading speaks to Job’s despair and to our despair, it speaks
to his hope and to our hope. “Almighty God, hear us if you can. Know that
many times we feel forsaken and terrified more than supported and comforted. We
cry out and hear no answers. We suffer and find no relief. We are tempted to
blame you even though we are the ones who cut off communication. We complain in
the midst of plenty and groan over imagined slights. When we feel mocked and
scorned and despised, we turn inward and hurt instead of opening ourselves to
your healing touch. Have mercy on us, and help us in our time of need. Amen”
(Led
by Love. Lavon Bayler. Cleveland: United
Church Press, 1995, p. 146) Job
needs God to hear him as he is yet on the ash heap holding on to his faith and
his integrity. At the same time he is asking the question we ask from time to
time, that is, why would God allow Satan to play with his life this way? We
understand Satan to be the one who tempted Jesus in the wilderness and the
embodiment of evil. In the cartoons and in comedy shows Satan is the one sitting
on the left shoulder of the person trying to make a decision. There Satan is,
dressed in red, and carrying a pitchfork, encouraging the decision maker to do
the wrong thing. The devil, Satan is the unseen force ruling Flip Wilson’s
character Geraldine, who begs to be excused from irresponsible behavior because,
“the devil made me do it”. But
in Job’s day, the character of Satan played another role. The job of Satan
while walking to and fro and back and forth on the earth was to expose people
who were disloyal to God, though we can suspect that Satan may have instigated a
thing or two along the way. The
image that best suits Satan in Job’s story is not that of the evil force
opposite the goodness of God, rather Satan functions like the prosecuting
attorney. The job description says go look for people who have acted against the
will of God, Go to and from upon the earth as a provocateur who wants to see how
much it would take a faithful person to turn against God. Satan’s
job is to find unfaithfulness even where there is none. The problem is that when
trouble cannot be found, Satan decides that it must be because people are so
clever that they are able to hide their real feelings. “Let me go see what I
can stir up. This marriage looks too perfect – let me introduce some
disruption, too many hours at work, not enough time at home, an attractive
person to draw their attention from where it belongs, a little family neglect. “This
church appears to be healthy. Let me introduce some discord. How about they
disagree about some little things – what color to paint the walls, or whether
the new carpet should be some shade of red or blue. These look like good and
faithful people. What if they got into it over who their next pastor will be or
about what kind of music will be offered in worship. They were great, now they
are barely average – let’s see whether they decide to curse God and die, or
whether they will find renewed ways to praise God and find new life. “Job
seems like a good guy. But no one can be that good. If he gets sick enough of
sitting on the ashes, he will have to admit that he is not perfect, and that he
has done something to displease God.” He
must have done something. That is what Job’s friends think as they come to see
him. Three of his buddies have learned of his condition and calamities and they
have come to join him. For a week they just sit with him mourning and crying
with their friend over their losses. They are not put off by his skin condition
because they care about him. They sit for a while, then they start to speak.
Over several chapters of the book of Job, they tell Job what they think the root
of the problem is and what he needs to do about it. They mean well, but as the
saying goes, with friends like these, who needs Satan. Bildad
the Shuhite says that there is obviously some wicked act in Job’s life that is
the cause of all his trouble. Zophar the Naamathite says, “I don’t know what
you did, but it had to be awful for God to punish you like this. Eliphaz the
Temanite whose third speech to Job comes just before our lesson today, reminds
Job that God does not punish the righteous, so Job must have done something to
somebody that was so bad it displeased God. He
says to Job, “what did you do? Did you mistreat your wife and children? Did
you parade them like trophies in public and treat them like trash in private?
You are fairly well off. When people came by seeking your help, the poor, the
hungry and thirsty, the widow and orphans, did you give them some bread and a
drink? Or did you send them away empty? Did you buy all the property you could
get your hands on while others were landless and begging for work? Did you
forget God’s compassion? Did you forget your own? My advise to you my friend
is to start praying now.” We
heard Job’s reply to his friend. “Look Eliphaz, I have not much to say to
you and Zophar and Bildad, but there are some things I want to talk with God
about. My complaint is like a rebellion that cries out, THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! I
have done nothing to deserve any of this. I am innocent of all that you say. But
I want to talk to God about it. I am ready to talk to God. Every
conversation with God is prayer, and Gerald Janzen describes the scene: “The posture is one in which Job extends his
hands in prayer to God. That such a rebellion is an act of loyalty is indicated
by the posture of the hand outstretched toward God in prayer”
(Interpretation
series. Job J. Gerald Janzen. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985, p.165). God
is approachable, Job knows that if he can get to God and make his case before
God, it will be alright. It does not occur to Job that God cannot be talked to
directly. The problem is that God is not in the familiar places. Have you ever
wanted to pray, and it seemed that God just wasn’t there? That’s Job. God is
nowhere to be found. Let’s say he and his friends leave the ash heap to look
for God. They go to the worship place, but they are turned away because Job has
not had a chance to clean up. “You don’t look right, God is not here”.
When he closed his eyes and lifted his hands, when he made himself available to
God, he heard nothing. He
says, “I have some things to say. All my hopes for my children lay in a heap
of rubble and mud. My wife is so distraught that she has lost all faith in you.
Job holds onto the belief that God will deal fairly with him and that once they
talk, the slate will be wiped clean and Job will be able to start his life
again. God we need to come to an understanding so I can begin to heal and go on.
Where are you?” Can
you feel what Job is feeling? A good life has been forced down a nasty,
difficult road. The twists are sharp, the turns are scary. Companions on the
journey blame God or blame you. You need to figure out what is happening and how
to make things right again. “God, I need to talk to you, but you seem to be
nowhere. This dark night of the soul is so foggy.
If you are in front of me, I can’t tell. Are you behind me? I have no
idea. If I look to my right, the side where I always find you, you, there is
nothing. It just feels like chaos and doom are everywhere. God where are you? Job
believes that God is approachable and that God will give him a fair hearing, if
he can just get to where God is. He has been faithful to the commandments of
God. He has studied the scriptures regularly. He understands that God can do as
God pleases, but surely God does not have to hide from him. He is confused and
afraid. He wants to talk, but the apparent absence of God is too much. Maybe it
would all be better if he just went away. “If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick
darkness would cover my face”
(v.17). A different translator interprets these words of Job to be more hope
filled that the ones I just read. Another way to read them is this:
“It is God who makes me fainthearted, the Almighty who fills me with
fear, yet I am not reduced to silence by the darkness or by the mystery which
hides him… “Read this way, it is not a cry of resignation from Job but rather an
expression of Job’s continued faithfulness to his belief in a gracious God and
to his belief in his own innocence”
(Texts
for Preaching – Year B. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press. 1995,
p.543). As
we go on this journey with Job, he will teach us that if we are going to live a
full life, things are going to happen that will test our faith. Remember Job was
written during the time of the exile when Israel had lost everything and much of
their collective life was on an ash heap. The easy thing to do when all is lost,
is to say what was the point, renounce the faith, and say to God, never mind the
covenant we made, we will just go our own way now. But
Job does not say that, and he helps us not to say it either. What he does say is
that he knows what is happening is an unexpected test from God. And he knows he
will pass the test. Job’s confidence is seen in verse 10 of our reading: “when he has tested me, I shall come out like
gold.” Job knows that he
is in the fire being refined, and that what is not relevant to his relationship
with God is being burned away so that what is left will be essential for him to
live as a man of faith and integrity. It
may be that Job feels like the victim of a capricious prank on the part of God.
Or it may be that God trusts Job and God trusts us to hold on to our faith when
it is being shaken by all the stuff that blows in our lives. I believe the
latter. And I wonder if the apostle Paul was thinking of Job when he wrote to
the Corinthians: “No testing has overtaken you that is not common
to everyone. God is faithful, and will not let you be tested beyond your
strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you
might be able to endure it” (I
Corinthians 10.13). In
his dilemma, Job had his friends and his faith to comfort him. We have available
to us friends, faith, and one more means of support and endurance.
“In Jesus Christ, God joined humankind in
its suffering, both deserved and undeserved. The cross of Jesus Christ is that
point in time and space where, more than any other, God identified with human
suffering and experienced it to its fullest extent. Thus Job performs the
enormous service of raising questions which he cannot answer and of pointing
beyond himself to One who can”
(Texts
for Preaching, p.544). The
reading from Hebrews reminds us that Jesus Christ is our high priest, the one
who acts for God and for us. Thomas Long reminds us that
“if the priest faces toward God
on behalf of humanity, the priest also faces toward humanity on behalf of God.
The priest represents God’s holy presence among the people. What does the
church see when it looks into the face of the high priest? It sees the face of
Jesus, the reflection of God’s glory (Hebrews 1.3). It sees a God who stoops
down from the holy heights to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. It sees a
God to whom it can pray freely, confident that we will receive mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need” (4.16)
(Interpretation
series. Hebrews. Thomas Long. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1997). Jesus
Christ, the High Priest has lived our lives. He knows what we go through and he
knows every bit of what it means to be human from birth to death, except he was
without the sinfulness, the broken relations and separation from God that we
have known. Because
he lived and died, because he was raised from death, we are here to declare that
God is not no where, but that God is now
here. God was present with
Job in his ordeal, keeping him alive and hopeful and faithful. God through the
living breathing word, of scripture and is present through Jesus Christ, and is
present in the faithful lives of people everywhere Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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