October 3, 2021: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Before I start – I am not preaching on the gospel passage today, and it isn’t saying what you may think it is saying. I will post a link to a previous sermon I did on this with today’s sermon, and if you haven’t read or listened to it before, I commend it to you, so that we can put to rest a lot of injustice born of misunderstanding. In other words – it is okay to be divorced. https://christchurchepiscopal.org/what-god-has-joined-together/
So, back to today’s sermon…
“There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job.” Not for nothing, but doesn’t that sound like the opening of an adventure novel or fairy tale? Yeah, well we know it isn’t going to be all rainbows and unicorns for our guy Job, don’t we.
Does anyone else find it sort of redundant to have three weeks of Job, which we will have according to our lectionary, while we trudge through what we hope is the end of this long, long, long time of pandemic? Yeah…thought so. Still, there is a lot about this book that is unique, troubling, and downright weird. As one commentator put it: “For this and the next three Sundays, the Revised Common Lectionary offers four readings from what may be the most mysterious book in the Hebrew Bible: the book of Job. Its language is full of difficult-to-understand words; its outline and structural organization are far from obvious; and an entire section of the book (chapters 24-27) appears to be in a state of disarray.”1
Alrighty then, well – I guess you know that I just HAVE to preach on it then, right? Of course! Why do I envision a pirate sprinting away from people trying to kill him saying “Preach from Job, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.” The thing is though, the story of Job…and also of God and Satan, because it is about them too, has a lot to say to us today.
So, let’s look at what is happening, and I will cover the full story, not just what you hear today, so buckle your seat belts, this might be a bumpy ride. Let’s begin with today’s verses.
God apparently seems to be holding a board meeting with all the other heavenly beings – wait, what? There are other heavenly beings – when Satan wanders into the conference room and says “Whadda doing? Anything fun?” And God says “Hey, where ya been Satan?”
Satan’s like “I have been wracking up flying miles my friend – going all over – the text actually says “to and fro” – yeah, that’s how I imagined Satan would talk “to and fro” – I mean what is he, Tinker Bell?
Then God starts bragging…well, ‘cause its God…saying “Well, while you were wandering around, did ya catch my guy Job – I mean, this guy is the real deal…he’s a shoo in for some angel wings. Seriously.”
And here is where it gets weird…well really, it’s weird all through this opening, right? Anyway, Satan says to God “Want to put your money where your mouth is? I’m tellin’ you – strike that guy down, mess him up good – he’ll turn on ya faster than a bat outta hell! HA! Get it God…bat outta hell!” Satan rolling over in laughter. God, rolling the divine eyes, replies “You’re on. He’s all yours, just don’t whack him, okay? And quit rolling around on the conference table like that – you’re scratching it.”
Okay, as I tend to do, I played a bit with the story, but did you get all that? Satan and God having a casual conversation about, you know, the weather and all, you know – like you do. Then they set a wager of sorts – a dare really – about the faith of Job. See, the thing is, the image of Satan – that Halloween favorite – red with a tail and horns – that isn’t the Satan of the bible. Satan, or Ha Satan, just means the Adversary – more like the heavenly prosecutor. Yeah…later things don’t go well for Satan, but in Job, and for much of the Hebrew bible, Satan still has a nice corner office at Almighty Inc. So, now that we cleared up all that and absorbed the totally bizarre scene, let’s hear the rest of what happened.
Now all Job had ever done was lead a faithful life, a life of prayer, worship, and steadfast devotion to God. And, he was a blessed man indeed, for he had a large family, lots of livestock, servants, and good health. All that was about to change, and here is where our lectionary fails us, because what we heard today is only part of what Satan did. In fact, if you were to just hear this, and then come to church next week and hear Job getting all angry with God, you might think that Satan had a point about this guy. So, in fairness, let’s find out how this really played out.
In the missing verses, Satan got started on Job with a bang. Job’s livestock were killed, his servants were killed, his children and their families were killed. Oh, is THAT all. But does Job curse God? No. He says those immortal words “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
God just did a mic drop.
God 1, Satan 0, Job -1000
“Now, the halftime air was sweet perfume…While sergeants played a marching tune…” Okay, not really, but it really only is half-time ‘cause Satan was not done playing. And for Job, there was a whole lot more than music dying all around him. What else could Satan do? Glad you asked.
And now for the rest of today’s saga on the Job Channel… Satan inflicts the poor guy with painful and itchy boils. Think about how it might feel to have poison ivy itching you on every single part of your body – and there is no calamine lotion or cortisone anywhere! Yikes! Then he sits on a heap of ashes trying to ease the pain with a piece of broken pottery he uses to scratch himself. His wife urges him to reject this God he loves, and you can’t blame her – they were her children too and her husband is in unbearable pain. So, okay then…this must be when Job curses God, when Satan wins the bet. Well, no.
God 2, Satan 0, Job – well, never mind.
Now the text doesn’t say that Satan made the following part of the story happen, but when you hear it, one might think Satan was behind the scenes somewhere. Job’s friends hear about his situation and they did exactly what is needed – they went to visit with him, and to sit with him to offer their support. But apparently, it became more than they could bear. They had to try to explain it, and in doing that, they end up doing the unthinkable. As one commentator said “what if you lost everything and then someone told you it was your fault?” Yup – that about sums it up. After Job, in his misery, begins to curse the day he was born, his friends tell Job he must have done something to offend God and it is his own fault this happened, that he needs to repent or suffer forever. Worse, one of them actually suggests that maybe Job deserves even more punishment from God! Wow…I mean, they started out with such promise, and then totally blew it.
I mean, with friends like these, who needs Satan? Thankfully Job tells them to get lost.
So, the rest of the book of Job is a back and forth dialog between Job and God, and Job and his well-meaning, but totally not helping friends. When his friends say he must deserve this for some sort of sin, Job defends himself. When Job complains to God about his plight, and the plight of humanity, God rebukes him (nice, right?). Then God gives Job more children, livestock, servants, and so on – God’s divine “my bad.”
Now, why on earth would we want to have this book in our canon? Isn’t it a bit theologically off – not to mention depressing? I mean, it is where folks get the whole nonsense about “God only gives you what you can handle” when if we read this – apparently God allows far more than that to happen.
Well, we read it because it has a lot to teach us, lessons we need as we begin to finally emerge from this long desert journey of pandemic. Lessons we need as we consider what our lives in Christ mean.
First, we need to address our tendency at times to think of our relationship with God as transactional. By that I mean – if I am good, and I pray, and I worship – well, all will be right as rain. We thank God, and we should, for the blessings all around us – creation, our children, our very breath of life. This is a good thing, and it is what we are called to do. Yet while human life on this earthly plain can be a journey of discovery, joy, wonder, and gratitude…it is also a journey of pain, worry, fear, and grief. That is what it means to be human. God knew that, but chose to be one of us – chose to be the Incarnate One, because it was that important to God that we know one very important thing – that God loves us – every single one of us – just as we are.
Jesus walked on this earth to teach us about this love, to command us to love one another. He died as a measure of just how much God loves us.
Knowing this, do we really think our God would intentionally inflict pain on any of us? Of course not. There was a time, including when this book was written, when humans understood the ups and downs of life as being caused by divine beings interfering in humanity’s day to day lives, but we know better now.
So, where is God in our lives then if not responding to our petitions like Bruce Almighty? Well – everywhere! God is an ever present reality – God rejoices with us in celebrations, and weeps alongside us in our pain. God gives us strength to meet the days ahead, and peace to ease our troubled minds and hearts. So let us look on this text as what it is – a metaphorical story offering lessons for us today.
And one of those lessons is that evil does exist in the world. We only need to see how dark the world can be sometimes – where some put their own selfish desires above the health and welfare of others – where people hate and abuse those who look, think, vote, love, speak, or pray differently – where greed keeps the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer – where women and children are trafficked for sex – where immigrants and refugees are not welcomed – where those who are addicted, depressed, or lonely are forgotten – where war is an ever present reality. Evil does exist – even in our own hearts.
Yet as God’s children, as followers of Jesus Christ, we come together here to worship and to be reminded not only of who we are and how much we are loved, but especially that there is no darkness that his light will not destroy, that love, God’s love, will always defeat hate, and that life will always overcome death. That is the truth of our faith – that is the power of Christ’s resurrection!
We also need this story of Job to remind us of how to minister to others in their time of need. His friends had it right at first – they offer the most important help of all – a ministry of presence. They show up! They come to Job in his distress. And they sit with him. They don’t try to fix it or explain it. They just sit with him. The greatest gift one can give to another is an offering of love and presence.
But we sometimes allow our own discomfort at another’s pain to get the best of us…and we try to fix the unfixable, or worse, we blame the victim. In this case, his friends believe he has sinned against God.
Yet what really is God’s response to us when we err, when we fall away, when we sin? God calls us home, welcoming us with open arms, and forgiving us in our repentance. We are not having difficult times because we deserve it. We are not meant for anything but love. God doesn’t test us, nor are our human hardships the result of divine wrath. Jesus didn’t die on a cross to show us how to suffer, but to free us to live as we are called to live – loving God, loving one another, loving ourselves.
Folks, we must address this toxic theology – this God gives and takes away, God did this to punish you, suffer for Jesus suffered. We must, because sadly it has been used to keep women in abusive relationships, and to justify the oppression of people of color and LGBTQ+ people.
We also should learn another lesson from this story about how not to respond to those who are suffering. I kid you not, a young man in one of my seminary classes tried to say about this story that it was good story for Job because in the end God gave him new children and riches. Seriously? Needless to say those of us who had experienced the death of someone we love counseled him to never, ever, use this text or that type of theology in his pastoral care work.
Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that even while life goes on, even while we may have another spouse, or another child, or other siblings – those never replace the ones we lost. Nothing can ever fix that part of our hearts. Yes, we heal, and the acute pain of the fresh wound in our hearts becomes easier to bear, but the scar tissue that formed to protect us remains and we are never the same again.
There is also something in this text that is a good example for us. Job takes his case right to the top! Job finally has had it and lets God know he wants an answer – why God, why did this happen? Now God responds back, rather snarkily I might add, but perhaps it is God’s own sense of complicity in this metaphorical story that brings out the grumpy side of the Almighty. Yet God does listen to Job.
Here’s the thing…when we are in pain, God is definitely ready to hear us too. And, it is okay – in fact it is even healthy – for ourselves and for our faith – to get angry with God when we need to. Despite God’s cranky response to Job, God really can take a punch and is ready to receive our anger born of pain. Our God is not so weak that we must walk around like we are on egg shells – but more like a loving parent – God is ready to let us get out our pain, even if in ways that hurts God’s very heart. And no, God will not respond with snark, but with love.
As our Presiding Bishop likes to say, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.”
And so, as we have walked this COVID desert journey, we have also had our moments of grief, of despair, of feeling lost, lonely, or straining for hope. We may have felt like the proverbial Job, sitting upon the ash heap and wondering “What next God?” as we pleaded for an end to our pain and isolation. We may have cried out in despair and anger at God.
And God wept.
God wept for us, and weeps for us still.
God walked alongside us and gave us strength to meet the days ahead.
And by God’s grace that gave us the courage to continue on, we are nearing the promised land of an end to this pandemic.
This story of Job, Satan, and God is a metaphor for the plain reality of human life on this earth. From the moment we are born, wonderful things will happen for us, and awful things too. Evil exists and will tug at our hearts, trying to draw us in. We will sometimes feel angry, lost, afraid, or alone.
Yet by our faith, we are strengthened.
By our love for one another here and in the world, we are restored.
And by the body and blood of Jesus, we are renewed and given courage to journey on.
This is what we believe.
This is what we know.
This is who we are.
And so, as we now enter our Stewardship Season, let us remember all the blessings of our lives, of what is truly important, and of this place we call our parish home – where we grow in our knowledge of the all-inclusive love of God, that we, with ever thankful hearts, may respond to it all with our praise, our thanksgiving, our ministry to others, and our love for the one who loves us beyond measure.
Amen.
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1 https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-2/commentary-on-job-11-21-10-5
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
October 3, 2021
The Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
1st Reading – Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
2nd Reading – Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Gospel – Mark 10:2-16
