This has been a difficult week on many levels for your pastors and for some of our church family. Our readings today are just the cure for a hurting soul. The scripture readings for today are about resurrection and being children of God and of light. Today we hear again how God s promise of resurrection is true even in the face of death, yes, even in spite of death. The biblical character Job lost everything; his family, his material goods, even his health, yet despite losing it all, he proclaimed hope. Jesus proclaims life even as he knows he will soon be put to death. Because of Jesus hope and life never die. If you ve continued to receive the daily email devotion that we used for Lent this year, you know that yesterday s reading was on Job. Lars Rood starts out by saying: I ve never had it as bad as Job. And, while that may be true, The experience of suffering is universal. We have experienced pain, tragedy, Persecution, grief, confusion, chaos. It s at these times that we look for answers, We ask questions of God and of those around us. Maybe you d like a refresher on what happened to Job? Well, Job had everything. Job had a family a wife and kids. 1
He had immense wealth in resources- Cattle, sheep, land. One day, it was all gone Everything he had was taken away, Simply vanished just. Gone. No more family. No more goods. No more house. And, what s more, Job s skin became infected and painful. What happens next? Well, Job s friends come to visit. They come to what --- cheer him up? Commiserate with him? Not exactly. Job s friends sit down with him and Want to know what he could have done that Would have made God so angry with him to cause him this suffering. Talk about pouring salt in open wounds! There are several chapters of his friends deriding him For some unknown sins, grievous sins that God must be punishing him for. The temptation to cave and accept his current lot in life as a punishment from God must have been high. Frankly, I m not sure I could have withstood the friends with the grief and pain that Job must have been experiencing. But Job doesn t. Nor does he follow his wife s advice: Job, God is so done with you that that you might as well curse God and die, she says. Now, in fairness to Job s friends and family, 2
they were just following Jewish theology and tradition of the day. Remember, in those days, it had long been accepted that if calamity or disaster befell someone, It was because God was displeased with them, or their parents or their parents before them. But Job is so grounded, has such a good sense of himself that he maintains his innocence in the face of his friends and longstanding tradition and religion. No, he says, I didn t do anything. Everyone, including you, friends, and God have abandoned me. I am being unfairly persecuted. I am angry with you. And, Job says, I demand answers. The verses selected for our reading today fall in the midst of The heat of the discussions and arguments with his friends: 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 thus been destroyed, Then in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see on my side, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. Job wants an audience with God. Job wants God on trial. Job wants God to answer for what has happened to him. You are a just God, Job says, and I want to know why unjust, unimaginable things are happening to me. 3
Job wants his evidence for trial written down in a book and then he decides a book is too vulnerable and impermanent. So he wishes for his evidence to be written on a stone, Something that cannot be destroyed easily. And, Job calls for his Redeemer to help him out. Who is a Redeemer and what could they do for Job? In Hebrew culture a redeemer was a family member or friend that bailed you out of any trouble you got into. Job s redeemer is his go to guy. His redeemer will argue his case to God, Will get him off, released and reincorporated into the community again. Job is confident that God has not forsaken him. Job holds fast to his conviction that one day He shall see God. And here are the things that I think we need to take from this story: God doesn t dismiss Job, his questions or his anger. God doesn t wipe him off the face of the earth for his questions. God doesn t zap him with a lightning bolt for his anger. No. God loves Job enough to come to him in a wonderfully unique and mysterious way. The same way that God loves us. And God tells Job: I am God. You are not. What you ask, Job, is not possible. You cannot control me, nor know my ways. Were you there when I stilled the chaos, When I created every living thing? When you have created a camel from nothing Then come back and talk to me, Job. You want all the answers, the blue prints for everything, Well, Job, those are not yours to have. 4
God also says, Job, you want your Redeemer to free you from suffering, restore your wealth and family based on your life, your doing. What you don t understand is that Standing in righteousness does not depend on what you do. It depends on me. Your redemption, the redemption of the entire world is grounded in love and grace. My love and grace, not anything that you do. You look at life as a reward/consequence equation. That s not how it works. The sufferings you have right now: The loss of wealth, health and family? They are not punishments from me. Suffering is consequence from a broken creation. And all of those things that you accumulated in life Your cattle, home, family They aren t rewards given by me for what you ve done right in your life. The more you have doesn t show that you ve done more right than your neighbors. No. They are signs of abundance and my love for everyone in the wonderful creation that I gave the world. And, trust me, Job; you cannot comprehend how much I love you and everyone else in the world For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son In Jesus God suffered what we do. 5
In Jesus, God wept when a beloved friend died. In Jesus, God was persecuted because God didn t fit the rules humans had made for God. In Jesus, innocent and righteous like Job, God was nailed to a tree and died. In Jesus, God rose again and lives. With Job and all the faithful believers let us know and trust: That our Redeemer lives. Thanks be to God. Amen. 6