sermon for July 17, 2016

The Readings:

Job 14:7-15; 19:23-27

 "For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.  Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. But mortals die, and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they?  As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,  so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep. O that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!  If mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should come.  You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.

Job 19:23-27

"O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book!  O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!  For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;  and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,  whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me

The Message:

This is our third week with the book of Job.  I am going to start with the same introduction as the last 2 weeks. Everything we know about God does not come from the book of Job.  The history of God’s communication with the world is ultimately a story of love, care, forgiveness and grace, one fully told through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. When we hear God’s actions in Job that are uncomfortable or appear to be extremely unfair or cruel, we have to look again, understand the context, purpose and history of the story or even put those things aside and remember our God is the one who loves us, forgives us, invites us to live better lives and promises us eternal life.    

Today, we see Job’s expectation that the loving but mysterious God we know will appear. We see Job challenge certain traditions and once again insist that he has not sinned.  Most importantly, we see how Job communicates with God, what he assumes and what he believes. Job gets extremely close to but never crosses that unknown line that separates complaining, protesting and questioning God from cursing God and losing faith.  Even with having no idea why these great, unjust sufferings fell on him, Job trusts that God hears, God sees, God answers, God is ultimately in control and God will appear.  

In chapter 14, Job challenges the tradition that like trees and nature, people can regrow from ruin.  He takes issue with the famous analogy between the regeneration of trees and plants and human life.  This does not bring Job any comfort.  He does not want to hear any suggestion that suffering is gift to make you stronger, a necessity to prepare you for something else or of “pie in the sky when you die” (the story that people in power have often told slaves, poor folks, and others to encourage them to remain in those oppressed, abused, unequal and God condemned roles under the promise of great things in the next life).

Job will not suffer quietly in this life while waiting for reward in the next.  Job expresses uncertainty at what happens to people after death, where humans go after they die and how long they stay there. In the Old Testament there were at least 5 or 6 different views or understandings about what actually happens after death.   The range of expressed beliefs went from nothing to heaven and hell, from the true end of eternal sleep to the division of the righteous to eternal life and bad to eternal suffering.  Only after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the promise of resurrection and eternal life made clear to God’s people.  Jesus assures us that because he rose, we too will arise, that God’s love for us does not stop at death.  In his life and teaching, death and resurrection, Jesus answers the confusion and uncertainty of what happens after death.  Job did not have the benefit of knowing this would come to be and he demanded his explanation and restoration here and now anyway.   

After this part of the conversation, Job’s “friends” become less diplomatic and more aggressive in their beliefs.  Sure and certain in their incorrect belief that evil is always punished and good quickly rewarded, Job’s resistance to admitting he had sinned needed to be overcome if he had any hope to survive.  In chapter 18 Bidal warns Job that the continued insistence that he has done no wrong will result destroy the memory of Job.  If Job does not admit his wrongs and repent, he will be forgotten by history.  In response Job states I know that my Redeemer lives. There is uncertainty about what Job means here.  We are familiar with this statement through the great hymn of the same name, and in our proclamation of the risen Christ as our redeemer. In Job, the context indicates that he is talking about some next of kin, some unknown relationship of his who will clear his name after he is gone.  

Job’s words, challenges and actions have been seen in different ways since the book first appeared. In our bible study last week, we looked at interpretations and understandings of Job throughout history, from the Talmud and early Jewish commentary through Elie Wiesel and a post Holocaust understanding.  There was a good 1000 plus year stretch from Pope Gregory the Great in the 6^th century through Luther and the reformation in the 16th where Job simply foreshadowed Jesus.  Both endured the loss of everything. Job lost all he had.  Jesus had all the power in the world but it is lost by taking on flesh and human life and being obedient to God’s will.  Both meet underserved suffering. All Jesus does is confront sin, proclaim God’s love for all people and help those in need and all Job does is be faithful and a good steward of his wealth. 

Perhaps the most striking similarity between Job and Jesus is their prayer. Of course, Jesus teaches us to pray with the Lord’s prayer, which we will look at for 4 weeks in August, the beautiful, neat orderly petitions that in a few words summarize faith, trust, joy and scripture. Jesus does not say this prayer in his last hours before his betrayal though, at that time, Jesus prayer is more like Job,   Luke 22 : 39 -46  (and the other Gospels report similar prayer) Jesus withdrew from his disciples, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

Like Jesus, Job is intense in his honesty, anger and anxiety before God. Both go to God for help and answers.  Both keep talking because they know God is listening and they need help to keep faithful. In comparison, Job’s three friends never seem to pray or really seek God’s guidance. Strengthened by the incorrect belief that they are wise and right, they simply have no need for thought, prayer or change.    

Many of us heard a woman pray like Job and Jesus recently. There was video taken by Diamond Renoylds, in the minutes after her boyfriend Philandro Castile’s was shot and killed by a police officer.  The video is a mess.  She is trying to figure out what happened, explain things and calm her 4 year old daughter, communicate with the police, show the world what was going on live, mourn and pray.  Throughout her prayer, there are instructions from the police, confusion, crying and the officer who shot Philadro cursing a lot as he also tries to figure out what just happened.

In words that could easily come from the book of Job, she says : No. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend is gone. Please don’t tell me he’s gone. Please Jesus no. Please no. Please no don’t let him be gone Lord. He don’t deserve this. Please. He’s a good man, he works for St. Paul Public school. He doesn’t have no records of anything. He’s never been in jail, anything. He’s not a gang member, anything. you cover him Lord. That you allow him to still be here with us Lord. Still with me Lord. Please Lord wrap your arms around him. Please Lord make sure that he’s OK, that he’s breathing Lord. Please Lord you know our rights Lord, you know we are innocent people Lord. We are innocent people. We are innocent people. We are innocent.

Today, Diamond continues to seek and share prayer for herself and others, to communicate with God even though Philandro is dead and we do not know why. That is why we cannot ignore the book of Job. We have as much trouble understanding why this happened during a quiet traffic stop on a Minnesota street or why all those police officers were killed in Dallas during a mostly peaceful protest as we do with Job.   If we wonder like Job, we also invited to pray like Job. We cannot be like Job’s friends and try to figure it out on our own then pretend it’s God’s word or get so caught up in being right, we forget to be prayerful, helpful, faithful, loving or honest. We must remember that God is with us in suffering and let that shape our words and actions.