Trinity Episcopal Church
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Proper 22, October 8, 2006
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Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26:1-12
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 1:1; 2:1-10)
Letting God Be God
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop
“The helicopters kept making circles in the air so that the cameramen could keep showing the dairy farms and country roads, the bonnets and wide-brimmed straw hats, the horse-drawn buggies and the one-room schoolhouse framed in yellow police tape. Soon the facts started going in circles as police recited a litany about 600 rounds of ammunition, a shotgun, a semiautomatic pistol, a stun gun, explosives and, later, the killer's sick collection of chains, clamps, hardware and sexual aids. Witnesses said Charles Carl Roberts IV was angry with God, angry with himself, haunted by guilt, fed up with life and driven by a hellish grudge. Then journalists began asking questions that went in circles, the questions that nag clergy as well as state troopers. Why? Why the Amish? How could God let this happen? How can justice be done now that the killer is dead?”
These words by Terry Mattingly, syndicated religion columnist summarize the scene that took place near Lancaster, Pennsylvania last week. Times when unexplainable, unfathomable tragedies like this occur tend to call us up short. They make us wonder why terrible, bad things happen.
It has always amazed me how the lectionary – a regular three-year pattern of reading Biblical texts that was established centuries ago – happens to produce a text that seems absolutely perfect for a given situation today. In view of the shocking events of the past ten days or so in which five Amish girls were killed-execution style-in Pennsylvania, a school girl was killed in Colorado, a principal was killed in Wisconsin, and, closer to home, a twelve year-old girl was wounded in a drive-by shooting here in the John Street area of Hattiesburg, it seems weirdly providential that today we begin to read from the Old Testament book of Job.
The story of Job is among the most famous in the Old and New Testaments, and it is considered to be among the most difficult, if not the most difficult book in the Bible.[1] All at the same time the Book of Job appears as an invocation to righteousness, as a cynical outlook on the idea of righteousness, and as a response to the problem of evil in the world. Some scholars suggest the book is a satire against more puritanical upholding of religion.
We all know the basic story line. Job, living in the land of “Uz,” was a man of great virtue and piety. He was wealthy and had many cattle and slaves. He had seven sons and three daughters and was held in high esteem among all people, on both sides of the Euphrates.
Job was averse from injustice, idolatry, fraud, and adultery. He avoided evil thoughts, and dangerous looks, was compassionate to the poor, a father to the orphan, a protector to the widow, a guide to the blind, and a supporter to the lame. Job was a right fine man!
God permitted Satan to put the virtue of Job to the test, at first by giving Satan power over Job’s property, and later allowing Satan to inflict injury to his person. Job’s possessions, his homes, and eventually even all of his children were destroyed by disasters mediated by Satan. Job was beside himself with these calamities, but he never blamed God or accused God for his misfortunes. Even after God permitted Satan to attack Job’s person by inflicting something like leprosy, Job said to his wife, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” I wonder if Coach Jeff Bower said something like that to the Eagles after last Tuesday’s loss to Tulsa!?
As we will read later in this book, four of Job’s friends came to Job to console him. Three of these friends basically tell him, “Wow, Job, you must have done something really terrible to deserve all of this! How did you screw up so badly? God must really be mad at you!”
After several rounds of debate between Job and his friends, a divine voice, parenthetically described as coming from a “cloud” or “whirlwind”, the Lord describes, in evocative and lyrical language, what the experience of being responsible for the world is like, and asks if Job has ever had the experiences that He (God) has had.
God’s answer underscores that Job shares the world with numerous powerful and remarkable creatures, creatures with lives and needs of their own, whom God must provide for; some of these creatures hunger in ways that can only be satisfied by taking the lives of others. Does Job even have any experience of the world he lives in? Does he understand what it means to be responsible for such a world? Job admits that he does not, and asks God for forgiveness.
In the end God condemns Job’s friends for their insistence on speaking wrongly of God’s motives and methods. The fourth friend, named Elihu, is not condemned, for it is Elihu who maintains that God is sovereign over all, and above all, very merciful. Elihu condemns the approach taken by Job’s other three friends, and further argues that Job himself misrepresents God’s righteousness by discrediting God’s loving character.
Finally, God restores Job to health, gives him double the riches he had before Satan tormented him (including 10 new children), and Job lives a holy life and experiences a happy death.
Although Job was likely written sometime between 300 and 700 BCE, the questions it raises about the ways God works (or doesn’t work) in our world are timeless. Questions like[2]
Human beings have wrestled with these tough questions for centuries. These are questions that can never be really answered with certainty. And that is because human beings do not have the perspective of God. And so we debate and argue about the great mystery that is God just like Job’s friends who gave him their thoughts on God’s role in his misery.
According to William Falk, who wrote an article for The Week Magazine, Americans answer to four Gods. Citing data from a Gallup poll done for Baylor University, Americans were asked to describe how they conceive of the deity.
“The most popular God, backed by 32 percent, is an ‘authoritarian’ father figure who takes a very hands-on approach to his domain. This is a God who rewards the faithful with good fortune, and smites the sinful with tsunamis, terrorist attacks, and dread diseases. Another 23 percent envision God as essentially "benevolent" – a loving spirit who provides help and guidance when asked. For 16 percent, God presides over the universe like a taciturn judge, letting events unfold without interference, tallying up sins and virtue, and rendering a verdict when people die. Finally, 24 percent see God as a mysterious prime mover who engineered the Big Bang and evolution, wrote E = mc 2 and all those other nifty cosmic laws, then backed off to watch how it would all come out.”
So where do you see God at work in the world today? How do you see God working in your life? These are not rhetorical questions, but serious ones. Falk points out that these differing conceptions of God are
ultimately more important to people's political and social views than their party registration or church affiliations. Those who live with a stern, vengeful God looking over their shoulders are far more likely to want the government to promote "Christian values," to outlaw abortion and gay marriage, to execute criminals, and to wage war in Iraq. For this influential and adamant third of the population, domestic politics is a holy war, and those who disagree here and abroad are, well, damned. Such absolute certainty, no doubt, has its rewards. But it's one major reason why intelligent and civil dialogue in this country has become so difficult, and so rare.
As we will see in a few weeks, the voice of Job’s fourth visitor, Elihu, speaks about God in ways that Job never argues with.
Elihu reminds Job that Job’s problem was that he felt he was in control of his life and all that affected him. Job felt that as long as he played by the rules, God owed him a peaceful life.
Elihu reminds Job – and you and me – that God can not be manipulated. He reminds us that God is greater than human beings, and not easily categorized. God is independent of humankind, yet God cares very much for us.
Elihu tells us that God reaches out to save us from our own selfish interests.
Elihu tells us that God is the source of justice. And we would be wrong to think that the killer of those Amish children is beyond justice because he is now dead. That is because our view of justice is too narrow and too defined in human terms.
In the end, the Book of Job tells us that God is God and we are not. And what we need to do is to have faith in that, and trust that God really does care for us.
Anne Lamott is a single divorced mom.[3] She and the child’s father split up when she was pregnant. The child, named Sam, did not know his father. But when Sam was about seven he began to ask about his Dad. She decided to try to find the father, but she was not successful. Each night when Sam went to bed he prayed for his father. And Anne – like Job – began to complain to God. But her complaints went unanswered. If there was a God Business Bureau she would have filed a formal complaint, because it seemed she was getting nowhere. Finally, she decided to try something else. She began to practice “radical hope.” She decided that God was hearing their prayers and was working on the problem. She began to let God be God. She had no evidence that God was doing anything, but her faith told her that that’s what she needed to do. As it turns out Anne eventually found Sam’s father. And now Sam and his Dad see each other regularly.
It took faith to just keep on believing, and it takes belief to have faith. The Book of Job helps us see that faith in God – even when God seems mysteriously silent, or confusing, or just plain wrong – God can take us to places where we can meet God and see God’s way. Faith can take us not to a dead end, but to a divine fork in the road.
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There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
1 Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.
4 I do not sit with the worthless,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] General information on the Book of Job was adapted from the Wikipedia accessed 5 October 2006 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Job.
[2] Questions adapted from Roger Kahn. CRI/Voice Institute. Accessed 5 October 2006 at http://www.crivoice.org/books/job.html.
[3]Timothy Merrill. “The Bad Business Bureau.” Homiletics 18(5):49, 2006.
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Copyright © 2006, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
14 September 2006
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