What is Essential

Based on Mark 12:28-34

    Earlier this week, I was attending a learning event offered by United Way. The topic was on the challenges of high school graduation rates that are lagging, especially for young people of color. In the conversation, someone talked about the opportunity non-profits have as we emerge into this pandemic changed world. He said it is like we have a clean slate, an opportunity to do things differently rather than go back to the way things were before the pandemic, ways that were not helpful. His example was that before the pandemic non-profits tended to work in silos, offering their service without much coordination with other non-profits who offered different services. But when the pandemic hit, the demand to respond in ways that carried people through the pandemic required coordination and collaborating to meet the challenge. The panelist asked, why would we want to go back to the way things were when we have the opportunity to continue to work collectively moving forward?

Mainline churches like ours are in the midst of a long-term crisis and disruption to the way things used to be for the church, that is, in the 1950s-60s, when being a church going Christian was a social and cultural norm. That hasn’t been the case in the United States since the beginning of the 70s. The pandemic really forced change on the church and revealed again how much we have lost over the decades, a loss of resources and energy, and in light of the pandemic the need to re-assess how we “do church” when we couldn’t gather in person. Even as we have been coming back to in person worship for some time, we still feel this sense of crisis, that we can’t go back to the way things used to be. The world is different, and we find ourselves as a church to again focus on what is essential to being church in the 21st century, almost post pandemic world. 

We have been here before. In the 18th century, the Church of England priest John Wesley looked around at the state of the church and the state of society and what he saw was dysfunction and pettiness in the church and a society filled with depravity and needless suffering. The church and society needed reforming as Wesley saw it. He and his collaborators were convinced of the need to get back to the essentials of what Wesley called scriptural Christianity. He wanted to see the church get back to what the church was all about, not in the fifteenth century when the Church of England came into existence when Henry the VIII decided he no longer desired to have the pope tell him whether or not he could get a divorce and marry someone else. Wesley wanted to get back to the essentials demonstrated in the book of Acts, the primitive church. He wanted to be part of a primitive church that was relevant to the society of 18th century industrial revolution Britain, a society in the midst of great crisis and disruption.

Over and over in the course of history we see how social crisis and disruption creates opportunities to start fresh, to no longer maintain a status quo that simply does not work because it doesn’t fit the challenges of the times. Crisis and disruption force us to set aside secondary things and get back to what matters most, the essentials that respond to the core needs of the human experience.

It is here that our time of crisis and disruption connects with what was happening when the gospel of Mark was likely written. It was a time of disruption for Israel, an existential crisis demonstrated by the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. You think it was bad when we couldn’t gather for in person worship. The sacred place where Jews would go to offer sacrifices on high holy days had been destroyed. The status quo was deeply disrupted. Judaism was forced under these circumstances to rethink how to carry on the tradition without a temple. Secondary issues had to be set aside in order to get to what was essential and still be a Jew.

If we keep that sense of crisis in mind when we look at this passage from Mark, it helps us get a better picture of what is being said between the lines that serves as a guide for the people in those days. But it also gives us help as we navigate through this time of crisis and disruption and we find ourselves in need of setting aside secondary things and instead focus on what is essential to still be a Christian.

Before we jump in, let’s look at what has been going on before the scribe asked Jesus this question.

Jesus is at the temple being grilled by the religious leaders: first, the chief priests and elders, then the Pharisees, last the Sadducees. They all take their shots at Jesus. The chief priests and elders, the guardians of the Temple, start off by asking Jesus who he thinks he is. They question his authority. The Pharisees, a group more concerned about how to live a righteous life, ask Jesus a political question about whether it is righteous for a Jew to pay taxes to Caesar, the source of their oppression. The Sadducees, an elitist and overly educated group of people, ask Jesus a theological question about the resurrection, a belief that Sadducees did not hold but Pharisees did believe in. Authority, politics, and theology. Those were the issues raised by these different religious leaders as they confronted Jesus while they were gathered at the Temple, the center of the Jewish tradition.

What I find interesting is that in times of disruption and crisis, leaders, those who are the guardians of the status quo, first respond to the crisis by obsessing over who has authority and other secondary concerns. I think back to the worship wars of the 80s and 90s when there was a strong push to make worship more contemporary, with modern music, drums and guitars, pastors who wore blue jeans, and questioning who had the authority to offer communion and how it should be done. Living through the worship wars, I remember the debates about who had authority to change worship styles or who could offer communion. I remember the loud shouting over the appropriateness of these changes in worship style. What drove the worship wars in the first place was the felt need to connect to a certain generation, namely baby boomers and early Generation Xers like me who were not really interested in traditional forms of church. The thought was if churches could change how they do church that this would draw people back to church and thus restore the power and influence of the church in American society. In the time of crisis, the first move was to argue over authority and the secondary issues of the proper and permissible ways to worship God in the church: ordained or lay leadership, organ or guitar, Fanny Crosby or Amy Grant. The essentials of what it meant to be a Christian in the late 20th century was overlooked. And the disconnect continued. Yes, churches that offered contemporary forms of worship grew and still do to this day while churches that are more traditional like ours continue to decline. But that’s often because people leave more traditional churches for more contemporary churches. The actual number of Christians and overall attendance in worship has been steadily declining for decades. Nothing has really changed. And younger generations are more disconnected than ever. Is it because the essentials have not been tended to and instead energy is directed toward secondary things?

After Jesus had been through this gauntlet, a scribe who had witnessed all of this found in Jesus a wise teacher. He deserved an opportunity to answer a sincere question, a question that cut to the heart of the matter. He asked Jesus what is the most important commandment. With that question, the scribe is taking the conversation to a deeper level. He is pushing aside arguments about authority, politics, and theology and instead wants Jesus to address what is essential to the Jewish tradition.

Jesus goes directly to the Shema, the prayer lifted up by every righteous Jew at sunset and sunrise, taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Then Jesus adds the command found in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The scribe affirms what Jesus says. His response to Jesus that obeying these two commandments is more important than offering the ritual sacrifices is a scripture informed view, which Jesus and the scribe knew, especially Hosea 6:6, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

That verse from Hosea I imagine became an anchor for Jews in Mark’s day when they were living after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. They had no way to offer the sacrifices. What are they to do? Hosea, this scribe and Jesus point out what is essential. It is not the sacrifices, nor for us is the worship style. It is staying in love with God and expressing that love in our neighbor relations. That is what is essential for Jews: to love God and love neighbor. It doesn’t take a temple to do that. It didn’t ultimately matter that the Romans destroyed the Temple and literally erased Jerusalem from the map. That didn’t stop them from loving God and loving their neighbors. Of course, Jesus also takes it to the next level by calling on his followers to also love their enemies, which would be those Romans.

This essential teaching of loving God and neighbor also creates an opportunity to be more inclusive of who can be a part of this tradition. The sacrificial system and the Temple itself prevented Gentiles from being included. Now that this system has been dismantled because of what the Romans did, this disruption opens up a possibility to expand the circle of inclusion. Gentiles can love God and neighbor too.

But here’s the thing: living up to these essential commands to love God and neighbor is really hard sometimes. Maybe loving God isn’t that hard, although our recent exploration of Job gave us opportunities to name those times in our own lives where our relationship with God has been tested. When it comes to loving our neighbors though; that can be hard.

I wonder if when we face times of disruption we tend to first obsess on secondary things because it’s easier than getting at the essential issue. It is easier to argue over authority and power. It is easier to argue over politics. It is easier to argue over theology. It is easier to offer ritual sacrifices, or in our case to show up for worship on Sunday morning. All of that is easier than loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Living a life of love is harder than tending to and fighting about secondary things.

The essential things are not always the easiest things to do. But we must strive to tend to the essentials regardless. For us as Christians our essentials have been named in different ways. John Wesley offered those three simple rules that have been expressed in a modern way as do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. But we really can boil down our essentials into one word: love. It is that simple and that hard.

When the scribe made his response, Jesus said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Where is this kingdom the scribe is not far from? Is it a place, a region of territory under God’s rule? Maybe Jesus means to say that the reign of God is some future reality when Rome and all the other emperors and despots will be brought low and only God will rule the earth. But maybe what Jesus was telling the scribe was also something that Mark’s church needed to hear and that we need to hear today. What if the reign of God is made real when people express love for God and neighbor? The scribe was not far from the kingdom of God because he had named what it takes to realize that kingdom. All that was left for the scribe to do to enter that kingdom was to do the things, to love God and neighbor. To obey these two commands is to live your life under the rule of God, Roman oppression or otherwise. No matter what crisis and disruption, to love God and to love neighbor remains as what is essential. This was true in Jesus’ day, in Mark’s day, in John Wesley’s day and in our day. The crises and disruptions are different throughout history, but the essentials remain the same. I find comfort in that and I find an anchor to hold on to in these storm-tossed times. It may not be easy. But at least it is clear and something that we can do. We can always love. And that is enough to occupy our energy.

Lessons From Job

Based on Job 42:1-6, 10-17

Today we come to the end of the book of Job and hear Job’s response to God’s response. It has been quite a journey for Job. Having lost so much and burdened with unimaginable suffering, Job has had to contend with three friends who tried to reason with him. But as each one made their case that surely Job had done something to deserve all this suffering, Job would argue back, making it clear that he had done nothing wrong. His responses to his friends were filled with angst, bitterness, sometimes with a tinge of despair. He cried out to God, demanding to be heard, to make his case, to even put God on trial.

Finally, God responds to Job’s cries and venting. But God doesn’t answer Job’s “why” questions. Instead, God details how God created everything that exists, and not just creates but sustains creation, from worlds to baby ravens. Rather than answering Job’s question of why God brought all this suffering on him, God reminds Job of who God is, the one who creates and sustains all life, including Job’s. Job still doesn’t know why he had to suffer so much. But it is made clear to Job how awesome, powerful, and providential that God is. God had not abandoned Job, but was there all along, knew everything that had happened to Job, and sustained Job even as he cried out in anger toward God. God’s grace and mercy bathed this whole terrible and traumatic experience of apparently to Job random and unjust suffering.

So, what is Job’s response? He finally has his audience with God. The one who Job was convinced had either made a mistake or who was uncaring, perhaps even cruel, the one who needed to be held accountable for what had been unleashed on Job, he finally has God’s attention. Job now has his chance to tell God face to face what he really thinks of this whole situation. What does Job say?

He starts by summing up his understanding of God’s response. In a short and sweet summary, Job says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Job had gotten the message that God had a hand in making everything that exists in the universe. And further that God’s creative activity was not done randomly, but that God did this in an ordered way, in which everything fits together. And God didn’t just create everything and then sit back and watch how everything works out. No, God’s creativity was done with purpose, the purpose of demonstrating who God is, the one who cares for and provides for all that God has made. That God created anything at all, and maintains all that God has created, was done for the purpose of revealing who God is: creator, sustainer, restorer. That’s what Job got out of God’s response.

Job then takes the first two sentences of God’s response and reacts to them. The first sentence is: “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?” It’s God basically telling Job, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Job admits as much, saying that he did utter things that he didn’t understand. He talked about God without knowing the whole picture. The ways of God are too wonderful, too complex, for Job or any of us to fully comprehend. That is, after all, why God is God. Aspects of God will always be a mystery to us. And Job acknowledges his presumption, of thinking he understood God when he didn’t.

The second sentence God spoke was, “Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.” It was God telling Job, “Now it’s my turn to talk. I have some questions for you, and I want you to answer them.” Then, as we know, God’s barrage of rhetorical questions communicated to Job just how awesome, powerful, and providential God is, that everything in creation has God’s fingerprints on it, that God knows what is going on, and that God acts to provide for all that exists. Job’s response is that he has heard what God was saying. But not only has Job heard God, he now sees God in a different light. His understanding of God, his perspective, has been broadened. He doesn’t only know about God he knows God in a deeper way. Their relationship has been established because God has graciously revealed a bit of Godself to Job so that now Job more clearly sees who God is. And this new understanding, this broader perspective, prompts Job to confess his repentance.

In both of his responses, Job is basically saying that he admits to his prior ignorance. After this experience of God, Job revealed his character by humbling himself. He was willing to admit that he had made a mistake, that he didn’t know everything about God. Having gained a new perspective about God, he had the capacity to repent, to leave behind his old beliefs about God and to embrace a new understanding, not based on what others have told him, but by his own direct experience of God.

Perhaps most of all, Job came to terms with the fact that, at least for now, he isn’t going to get all his questions answered. Why God allowed such suffering to pour down on Job will remain a mystery for him. But even though Job’s questions aren’t going to be answered, he now knows deep in his heart that God cares for him and provides for him. Even when he was crying out against God and railing against God, God still cared for him and sustained him in his grief. God never abandoned him. For whatever reason, whether God was complicit or not, Job knows that God cares about him and about every little part of all of creation.

Now, with this response of humble confession from Job, his confession of a deeper knowing of God, a deeper and stronger relationship with God, then God responds again. God does not respond with words toward Job this time. God does have a few words to say to Job’s friends, however. God was not happy with them. But for Job, God responds by doing what God does, which is restoration. God restores Job’s blessings of material wealth, a big family, and good health. How does God do it?

The restoration of Job doesn’t just fall from the sky or rise up from the ground. It didn’t just magically appear. We are told that Job’s family and friends started coming around. They had a banquet for Job. They consoled him in his suffering. They gave him money and rings, restoring his fortune. Apparently, Job’s relationship with his wife was restored because Job received more sons and daughters. In time, he was able to build back up his livestock. He got his health back, able to live to a ripe old age, another 140 years, and got to see four generations of his offspring. God restored Job’s fortune, not with the wave of God’s magic wand but through Job’s family, his friends, his wife, and his own efforts. With the co-operation of many people, God restored Job. God, working through all those people and through Job himself, made Job better off than he was before his great suffering.

So, what are we to make of Job’s story? What are the lessons? I suppose there are many lessons. It’s a big and complicated book. We have only been exposed to a few snippets over the past few weeks. If you dig down deep into the speeches of Job and his friends, there is a lot of issues that are brought up. All through the book, Job is challenging the standard view of his day about God, justice, the linkage of sinfulness and suffering, and more. The big question of why bad things happen to good people runs throughout the book. But, of course, that’s the “why” question that God doesn’t answer. So, what can we take from this story that we can apply to our lives today? I have thought of three takeaways.

One lesson we can take is that our perspectives are limited in comparison to God’s perspective. I know that sounds obvious, but we sometimes forget obvious things. We forget how broad and deep God’s perspective is. God is everywhere in the universe. God is present and aware of everything that happens, everywhere, every second, from right here to the farthest reaches of the universe. Our minds literally cannot conceive how vast God’s awareness is. I believe that God not only knows everything that is happening all the time everywhere in the whole universe, but that God also knows every possible future happening. In every instant in time there are multiple possibilities of what might happen next. This is very basic but later today you will make choices about how you will spend your afternoon. God knows all the potential choices you might make. That’s just one example of how much God knows. We often speak of how God is all knowing. That means that God knows all that can be known, including all the possible futures that might unfold based on the choices we make or the random events that happen. It just boggles the mind. Because God knows everything that is happening in the universe and everything that might happen in the future, God’s perspective is total and clear, without confusion. This is good news for us. Whatever happens to us, good or bad, and whatever choices we make or others make for us, God knows about it, God knows what might happen next, and God, through the Spirit, is always present and trying to influence each of us to make the best possible choice and respond to what happens to us in the best possible way, so that the best possible outcome manifests itself. What I am trying to say is one of the lessons we learn from the book of Job is that we don’t know the whole picture, or why things happen, or what might happen in the future, but God does know, and God is always at work to influence the best possible outcome in every situation.

Here’s a second takeaway. Even in times of great loss and suffering, God is with us. When we are faced with the reality that there is so much of our life that we cannot control, that life happens to us, that situations are inflicted on us, nevertheless, God sustains us. That’s maybe the biggest lesson Job learned and it’s a lesson that we can hold on to. It is this lesson that keeps our chins up, that empowers us to keep moving forward instead of collapsing into despair or bitterness, or become frozen in fear. To claim this lesson that no matter what God is with us and sustains us, provides for us what we need moment by moment, this is what helps us be resilient when life gets hard. With God, we can get through anything. That is good news.

Finally, a lesson we can take from Job is that healing and restoration can come to us when we stop trying to figure things out and instead submit to the mysteries of life. We have to make peace with the fact that there are a lot of things that happen to us that we will never understand why it happened. We will not know the reasons for everything that happens in this life. Why did he die and not me? Why am I suffering from muscular dystrophy? Why do children suffer with cancer? Why would a white man, a U.S. citizen, feel so threatened by Jews that he feels the need to get a semi-automatic rifle and go in and shoot a bunch of people gathered in a synagogue? There are a lot of questions that we will not get answered. And even if we did, how does that help? The pain remains. The suffering, the brokenness, the sorrow and grief, none of that goes away when “why” questions are answered. God doesn’t go away either. God is still in relationship with us, still providing for us, sustaining life. For that we can be grateful. We can be grateful for those people in our lives who can be with us like God is with us…no matter what. In times of suffering, loss, tragedy and grief, we don’t need answers. We need friends. If you are suffering today, please know that you are not alone. God is with you. And hopefully you have friends who will stand with you. Do you know someone who is suffering? How can you let them know that you are there for them and will stick with them no matter what?

Holding the Tension

Based on Job 38:1-7

You have heard this story before. A famous person, a superstar athlete, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, gets pulled over by the police for some moving violation. As the officer explains what the driver did wrong and starts writing up a ticket the driver says, “Hey, don’t you know who I am?” They say that with the implication that the law doesn’t really apply to them, or they deserve a break. It’s a power move to avoid being held accountable for their actions. I doubt if such a move works that often. But it doesn’t hurt to try I suppose.

I thought about these situations when a person with power tries to avoid answering for their actions when reading God’s response to Job’s long and anguished demand to be heard. Job wants God to answer for Godself, to be held accountable for the unjust suffering that Job has endured. As I read God’s response, I could almost hear God basically saying to Job, “Don’t you know who I am!?” God doesn’t try to justify what happened to Job. Instead, God goes on about how powerful and full of understanding God is in comparison to Job. God doesn’t deserve to be held accountable by anyone, especially Job. Who does Job think he is? Doesn’t he know who God is? At least, that’s an impression I got when reading through the passage we have before us today.

Then, look at how God’s response starts, when God says, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” In other words, God tells Job, “You don’t know what you are talking about.” It reminds me of what Job said to his wife after she said the only two sentences she gets in the whole book. She said, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job responds by saying, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak.” In other words, “You don’t know what you are talking about.” This time it’s Job who is being called a fool. Turnabout is fair play I suppose.

But let’s look closer at God’s response. As we pay attention to the questions God asks, how God frames God’s response, we may see that God’s intent was not to humiliate Job or make some power move to avoid being held accountable. As I see it, what God is attempting to do is to help Job get a bigger picture of who God is. God is stressing the truth that God relates intimately to all creation. You may remember last week, Job was feeling abandoned by everyone. His three friends were no help. They didn’t understand or sympathize, but accused Job of hiding something. Surely he was being punished for something. His friends were not consolers, but accusers. He was calling out to God but there was no response. He was alone in his suffering and misery. He was wondering, “God, where are you?” Well, God finally responds. And in these questions that God peppers Job with, God asks, “Job, where were you? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”

I’m not going to re-read the questions God asks. We only heard a few verses of chapter 38. If you go back and look at the whole chapter, and on through chapter 39, you will see how God’s response to Job delves into great detail about parts of creation, and how creation works, implying that God is behind it all and caring for it all, from preventing the ocean from overwhelming the dry land to feeding the birds. It was God who laid the foundation of the earth. It was God who determined how big the foundation would be. It was God who sunk the bases of the foundation into whatever is underneath the earth. Remember, we are going off the belief held in those days that the earth was a flat table. It is God that tells the clouds to rain. It is God that causes lightning bolts to fly. It is God who puts wisdom into the mind. It is God that provides food for lions and ravens.

Through all these rhetorical questions, God is making the point over and over that God intimately knows every aspect of creation. God had a hand in its making. God is present and active in every part of creation. When Job was asking his question, “Where are you, God?” God’s response is, “Everywhere!” But God isn’t just everywhere, observing everything. God is intimately engaged in everything that happens in creation, even when we don’t sense God’s presence or see God’s activity. Just because we don’t sense God’s presence doesn’t mean God isn’t there. And God is influencing every situation. God is not a passive observer but an active participant in the ongoing processes of creation throughout the entire world, indeed, the whole cosmos. This is not a power trip, of God saying, “Don’t you know who I am!?” Instead, this is a detailed account from God of how intimately engaged God is with every aspect of the creation, even to the detail of measuring the foundation, opening the clouds so rain comes down, and making sure baby ravens are fed. 

But there is something unsatisfying about God’s response to Job. Job was wondering where God was because he wanted God to answer the question of “why.” Job wanted to know from God, “Why am I suffering like this? What did I do to deserve this? Why are you doing this to me, God?” In God’s response, God does not answer Job’s “why” questions. In fact, God does what Jesus often did when people asked him a question. He responded by asking them a question. So annoying! What’s with the questions, just give me the answer! Here, God doesn’t answer Job’s questions. God does not justify God’s actions that contributed to Job’s intense suffering. God doesn’t say, “The reason why you are suffering so much is because I wanted to show Satan how pious and holy you are. At least I didn’t allow Satan to kill you.” God does not share with Job the conversation God and Satan had. The reason for Job’s suffering remains a mystery for Job, an unanswered question.

But God does make it clear that God is not only intimately present to all of creation, but also provides for creation, actively engaged in all the processes of creation, from the making of worlds to the feeding of birds. Nothing is too big or too small for God’s intimate attention. And that includes Job. God knows intimately what Job has experienced. God has sustained Job all this time that Job was railing against God and crying out in lament. God made space and gave Job the capacity to express his anger and despair. God heard every word. And God kept giving Job the breath and the voice and the brainpower he needed to keep speaking those words of anger and despair toward God. God enabled Job to cry out to God. God never made Job shut up. God never took away Job’s voice. And that is grace.

Job’s lament is justifiable. The indescribable loss and suffering he had to endure is beyond our experience, and for that we can be grateful. Gratitude is what God is trying to remind Job of as God offers the long-awaited response. When considering the vastness of God’s creative work, and how God is present and active in all of it, even in our own lives, is something to be grateful for. Sometimes, life is simply brutal. Although not at the same level as Job, we experience times of devastating loss. We are confronted with a terrible illness that sends us to the hospital, and perhaps even prompts us to consider the real possibility of our own death. There are times in our personal life, our family, and in our community and nation, where lament is called for. Our whole nation entered into a time of lament after the attacks on 9/11. But in our collective grief over all that was lost that September day, not only the loss of life but the loss of our sense of security, there was also much that prompted gratitude. People lined up to give blood. Outpourings of support for the emergency workers in New York City gave them a bit of relief. We saw so much of the best of our common humanity in the days and months after. God was in the midst of all of that, prompting, influencing, making possible, all the individual acts of kindness, support, and healing. What we experienced then, Job was being encouraged to do by God, which was to hold together the tension of lament and gratitude; naming the hurt, crying out with sorrow, even rage, but also being grateful: for community, for life, for the rising of the sun and the calming grace of a full moon, the brilliant show of a lightening filled sky, the sparrows flitting around the bird feeder, the bees getting heavy with pollen from the sunflowers, all made possible by God’s hand. The holding together of lament and gratitude: there is wisdom in that.

Rather than brush Job off as a foolish man, God not only responds to Job but responds in a way that helps Job gain understanding and wisdom about God and how God relates intimately with all of creation, tending and caring for every bit of it, even in times of great loss. God is not absent. God is intimately present. That’s what God is telling Job, without answering Job’s question of “why.” When it came to answering Job’s question, “Why did I have to suffer for no good reason?” God does not answer the question. The mystery of why bad things happen to good people, of why God allows evil and suffering to happen, remains an unsolved mystery. The ancient mystery of theodicy, if God is all powerful and all loving, then why is there evil, is an unsolved mystery in the book of Job. God shifts the focus away from “why” questions and instead focuses on God’s intimate knowledge, loving care, and constant presence in all of creation. God shifts the focus away from the question of “why” and instead moves us to wonder, awe, gratitude, and praise.

How does Job respond to God’s response? That’s for next week’s sermon. What is your response? What do you lament today? What are you grateful for? Let’s take a moment and have a conversation with God. We know that God is with us. So, in the quiet of your heart, speak to God what you lament today. And then speak to God what you are grateful for today…

When God is Silent

Based on Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Do you all remember the repeated scenario in Peanuts where Charlie Brown and Lucy are outside with a football? Lucy always promises Charlie Brown, “I won’t pull the ball away.” And Charlie Brown trusts her. He runs up to kick the ball and, at the last second, Lucy pulls the ball away anyhow, and Charlie Brown spins through the air and lands on his back side. Every time. And we all know what will happen. We almost want to yell at the newspaper or the TV screen for Lucy to cut it out. Don’t you wish that just once someone would see what was going on and tell Lucy to stop doing that? But there’s never anyone else around. It’s just Charlie Brown and Lucy. There is no one to intervene. Lucy goes off laughing and Charlie Brown says, “Rats!” Poor Charlie Brown is alone in his experience of injustice. It’s not fair, what Lucy does to Charlie Brown. And there’s no one around to make sure that Charlie Brown gets his fair shot at kicking that ball. Charlie Brown is alone.

Those who suffer with intimate partner violence often feel alone. How many people suffer in an abusive relationship and are afraid to speak out or do not who to reach out to? They are afraid to speak out because of what their abusive partner might do to them. Or there is fear about what others might think. The one being abused may not know who to talk to. If they tell someone who knows them, what if it gets back to their partner? The thought of airing one’s personal life to a stranger also doesn’t feel right. There is fear about living on one’s own. Where will they go? What about their kids? The manipulation that abusers can use to keep their partner in the relationship can be strong. The abused feel trapped and alone. They don’t know who to tell or what to do.

By the way, there is help. If you are experiencing intimate partner abuse or suspect that someone may be, I encourage you to visit www.familysafetyandhealing.org if you can access a computer that your abuser cannot get to. Or call 614-224-4663. No one who is abused has to suffer alone.

But many do anyway. They feel trapped and don’t know where to turn. They may even cry out to God for help. They may cry out for justice, or deliverance. But the cries go unheard. There is no discernable response from God. The abuse continues. To be alone in your suffering and not able to turn to anyone who can make things right, or not knowing who you can turn to, that’s a recipe for despair. For too many people in our community, this is their reality.

Job was alone in his suffering. At least, that’s how he perceived it. Sure, he had his three friends. But they were no consolation. They kept arguing with him that he must have done something very sinful to get the suffering he has. They question Job’s honesty. They are not supportive and understanding. But God is with Job. God is everywhere, right? But if God was there, there didn’t seem to be any evidence. Job says he looks in every direction but can’t find God. He can’t sense God’s presence. His friends are no support. God is silent and appears to be absent. Job feels alone.

There’s no doubt that Job believes in God. Job was incredibly righteous and pious. He knew that God was a just judge. He made every effort to assure that neither he nor anyone in his family would receive God’s wrath. If we go back and look at the beginning of Job’s story, we read of how when Job’s kids had their drinking parties, Job would offer burnt offerings for each of his kids the day after on the oft chance that in their partying they many have done something that would have prompted God to punish them. Because God punishes the wicked. This is central to Job’s belief about God, that God is a righteous judge who punishes the unrighteous. God is just. God punishes those who sin. Job is convinced that if he could just state his case before God that God would immediately acquit him from whatever was causing his great suffering. This has to be a big mistake. Job just wants his day in court. But he can’t have his day in court because the judge is absent. The One who can easily fix this situation, clear up the misunderstanding, make things right, give Job justice, is missing, hiding, unreachable. And there is nothing Job can do about it. The One who can give him justice is nowhere to be seen. There is no one that Job can turn to.

What do you do when you experience injustice but the one who can give you justice is absent? Such a tough position to be in. You just feel impotent. It hurts. You want to cry out, “It’s not fair!” Whether on the school playground, in a street protest, or an argument between a parent and child, we hear the cry, “That ain’t right! It’s not fair! No justice, no peace!” How many of have told a child who said, “It’s not fair,” and you said back, “Life’s not fair.” That’s a true statement. Life isn’t always fair. Justice is not always served. We have a justice system that strives to be impartial and fair. But the system is made up of people. And we all have blind spots, unperceived prejudices, that skew judgment. All the necessary information to make the right judgment is not always received. It is a tough situation to try to make a right judgment when not all the facts are known or can be known. When there is no corroborating evidence, if it is a “he said, she said” situation, judgments have to be made and they may not always be the right or just decision. Sometimes our justice system produces a miscarriage of justice. What do you do when the justice system has failed you? Where do you turn?

You can say to yourself that God knows what happened and someday you will get your justice. You can have faith that God will make things right. But when will God make things right? Will it be in this life? Or will you have to wait until Judgement Day? Nobody knows. You can become bitter when you don’t get justice. You can despair about ever getting justice. You may wish to tear the justice system down. You may lose your faith in God. Or you can choose to remain hopeful. You can choose to be resilient, to say to yourself that yes, you have suffered an injustice, and it hurts. But your value is so much greater than any injustice or indignity you must endure. You are still a beloved child of God, no matter what. No one can take that away from you. You are loved. You are worthy of life. By God’s grace you can endure even if you suffer a great injustice, and the justice system fails you.

As for Job, all he wants to do is disappear into the darkness. He just wants to fade away. At one point in his back and forth with his friends, he says he wished he had never been born. But, since he isn’t fading away, he chooses to keep arguing. He argues with his friends, and he argues with God. He is not going to just accept it. He will not let God off the hook. Job is convinced that he is innocent. He knows there is no way he deserves this amount of suffering. He believes that God is just. There has to be some big mistake. He will not allow God to just blow him off. Job will persist, demand, that God give him a hearing. Job even determines to put God on trial for what he sees as a travesty of justice.

Do you remember the story that Jesus told of the persistent widow? Jesus tells the story of an old woman who demanded justice from the judge. But he would not listen to her plea. He didn’t want to be bothered with her. But she didn’t give up. She kept coming to the judge again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until the judge says to himself, “I can’t take it anymore! I’m going to give this widow justice before she wears me out with her constantly coming to me.” It took a lot of persistence for her to receive her justice. Sometimes persistence is necessary to get justice. Job has the same mindset. He will persist, demanding justice from God, even if it seemed like he was shouting into the wind. Job refused to give up on God, even though God seemed absent, missing, perhaps even hiding. Job may feel alone, but he was not going to give up proclaiming his innocence, even if no one was listening, not even God.

How little Job knew that it was God who allowed this suffering to happen to Job. Job wasn’t suffering because he had sinned. He was suffering because God wanted to prove Satan wrong. Again, I mentioned this last week. God said the suffering inflicted on Job was without reason. It was unnecessary. God said so. And yet, God gave permission for Satan to inflict Job with that unnecessary suffering. God, the righteous and just God, is complicit in Job’s unjust and unnecessary suffering. Job did nothing to deserve this suffering. In fact, it was Job’s piety that got God bragging about him to Satan that started the argument. God could have handled Satan’s accusations about Job’s faith without allowing Job to suffer like he did.

What are we to do with this? Does it not seem that God is complicit in Job’s unjust suffering? That is a hard and unsettling question. It is a question that I don’t want to think about. I don’t know about you, but it is hard for me to contemplate the possibility that God would be complicit in unjust suffering as God appears to be in Job’s situation, just to prove Satan wrong.

What kind of god is this? How can a righteous god who is just be complicit in unjust suffering? Job may be trying to put God on trial and isn’t getting a hearing. But those of us who are reading and reflecting on what is happening to Job, what has been inflicted on Job, puts us in that position where we may want to put God on trial as well. I wonder what Job would have done if he ever found out that his suffering was inflicted on him just so God could win an argument with Satan. From what we know of Job, I doubt if he would have just shrugged his shoulders. He would have been demanding an answer. He would have been calling on God to defend himself. He would want to know why God thought that it was ok to take away all his wealth, kill his servants, and all his children, and then inflict him with a painful skin disease, just to prove a point. Job would ask, “Is that fair?” But the One who Job wants to pose that question…is silent.

No Matter What

Based on Job 1:1; 2:1-10

Over the next few weeks, we will be dipping in and out of the book of Job. This book is one of the better known and appreciated books in the Bible. Considered one of the wisdom books, Job has been a source for reflection on the big questions of life, especially the question of suffering. Specifically, why do innocent people suffer? The book raises questions about justice and about whether a big family, wealth and health are proofs of being blessed by God. The book even raises questions about God’s character. How God is portrayed in Job in some ways leaves us feeling a bit uneasy. When it comes to the book of Job, a lot of questions can be asked but definitive answers are hard to come by. This book has a way of prompting us to a deeper reflection on the mystery of God, of evil, of suffering, of justice, of the human experience.

The book of Job has a straightforward layout. The beginning and the end of the book is a story about a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz, which is in the territory of the Edomites, located southwest of Israel. Job is not an Israelite. That in itself sets the stage for this book to be dealing with the broader human experience, not limited to Israel’s relationship with God. The main part of Job are poetic dialogues that go back and forth between Job and his three friends. Then, near the end, a fourth person shows up out of nowhere to put in his two cents. Finally, God speaks. Scholars suggest that the poetic dialogues were inserted into the middle of the story of Job and written by other people so that the book of Job has two or even more authors. How ever it came to be, it is before us. Let’s dig in.

As I said, Job deals with several aspects related to the human experience. Two of the main issues has to do with suffering and the motivation to be devoted to God. In other words, why should we worship God when we suffer profound tragedy and loss? These two issues are combined in this opening story. As the book of Job begins, we read of two episodes in which God and Satan talk to each other, then Satan harms Job in a shocking and devastating way, having received permission from God to do so, and Job responds to the suffering. We only had read for us the second episode. Let’s get a quick review of the first one.

In the first episode, we have God mingling with other beings in the heavenly court. Satan comes along and he and God have a conversation, in which God brags about how no one on earth is more pious and loyal than Job. But Satan doesn’t buy it. Now this is a good time to notice who Satan is in this story. Whether we want to label this being as the devil or not, let’s be clear what role this being plays in this story. The word “satan” means accuser or adversary. We shouldn’t necessarily understand Satan here as the lord of evil or God’s enemy. Perhaps you have been in a meeting where there is a discussion about how to respond to some issue. An idea is presented and people are getting behind it. But you or someone else has some questions or want to test this idea. So, you say, “Playing the devil’s advocate, I wonder…” The devil’s advocate isn’t your enemy. They just want to test the assumptions, go a bit deeper, raise doubts. That’s how we should understand the role that Satan is playing in this story of Job. He hears God bragging about how pious Job is and Satan is not convinced. He doesn’t believe Job’s piety is as sincere as God thinks it is. He is suspicious and wants to have the opportunity to prove to God that Job isn’t all that. God takes the bait. Rather than blowing Satan off, God gives Satan permission to take away all that Job has, to remove his prosperity and kill his servants and children just to prove that Job’s piety is not dependent on all of his blessings. Now, this in itself raises questions about God. Why would God allow all those people, including Job’s children, to be killed just to prove a point with Satan? I’m going to flat out ask it: is this a god that anyone would want to be devoted and loyal to, who would allow such loss of life to win an argument? You could say that if God had not given permission to Satan to go cause all that suffering then we wouldn’t have a story. But this is what the book of Job does. When you stop and think about what is happening, some deep and somewhat disturbing questions rise to the surface.

At any rate, the second episode is a continuation of the first. God and Satan have another conversation. God brags about Job again and, in fact, says that his allowing Satan to cause all that suffering was for no reason. God admits that it was unnecessary suffering. But Satan, the accuser, still is not convinced. He believes that if Job lost his good health and was struck with a miserable disease that his piety toward God would evaporate. God gives Satan permission to harm Job however he wants to, just not to take his life. Which makes sense. Job needs to remain alive so that God and Satan can observe how he responds to this unnecessary suffering. And Satan does a number on Job. He inflicts on Job a skin disease. That is the worst of all. To be inflicted with a skin disease not only is physically painful but everyone can see your disease and most people will not want to be near you. To have a skin disease, like leprosy or what Job has, pushes you to the margins. No one wants to be near you. A skin disease makes you socially isolated. In those days, it’s the worst disease you can have. If there was any disease that would test someone’s faith in God, this would be it.

In both conversations between God and Satan, Satan questions Job’s motives for being so devoted to God. He basically says to God, “Of course Job is pious and devoted to you. Look at all his blessings. He is prosperous, healthy and has a large family. Take all that away and see how much devotion Job gives you then.” Satan thinks that Job’s relationship with God is transactional. Satan thinks that Job’s relationship with God is like this: if I demonstrate to God my piety and devotion, then God will assure my blessing of a large family and a life of prosperity. Everyone knows that God blesses the righteous and punishes the unrighteous. So, if I want a blessed life, then I need to be devoted to God. That is a transactional relationship. You demonstrate devotion to God and in return God pours down blessings on you. That’s the kind of relationship with God that Satan believed Job had. Take away the blessings and see what happens.

I wonder how common it is for people to understand their relationship with God as transactional? Maybe we look to the purveyors of the prosperity gospel, that idea that you don’t have material blessings because you have not asked God in faith. We see those prosperity gospel preachers with their fine suits and private jet planes promising that you can be blessed like this as well if you just had enough faith. Millions of people literally buy in to that thinking.

But digging a little deeper, I think there are a lot of people who have this idea that being devoted to God somehow protects you from needless suffering and loss, and then experience profound disappointment or even lose their faith in God when that protection isn’t there. I still remember one of my boys, when he was young, saying to me one morning that he didn’t believe in God anymore because he had prayed for God to do something and it didn’t happen. That’s an understandable faith for someone who is eight years old. But I know a lot of people who were taught that God is all powerful and all loving. So why did God take my daughter? Why does God allow widespread famine? The number of people who abandoned belief in God all together in Europe as a consequence of the Holocaust was massive. That question of why there is evil if God is all powerful and all loving is a question that has plagued humanity for thousands of years, a problem that the book of Job addresses in different ways. But the point I am making here is that for many people they understand their relationship with God to be a transactional one. I will be devoted to you and in return you will bless me.

There is this monastery in Conyers, Georgia, not far from Atlanta that I went to every fall when I was in seminary. The monastery was founded by Catholics who came home from World War II. As the story goes, all these monks were fighting in the war and made a bargain with God. They said, “God, if you get me out of this war alive, I promise to become a monk.” Now, I don’t know if that’s true. But that does sound transactional, doesn’t it? You do this for me, and I’ll do this for you. You know, I wonder if for all of us from time to time our motivation to be devoted to God could be characterized as transactional. I think there is something about the relationship between God and humanity in which this motivation pops up. In fact, it may be the most common motivation for being devoted to God. Satan, in his testing of God’s belief in Job, had this in mind.

Job’s responses to his tragic suffering demonstrates that his motivation for being devoted to God is not transactional. At the end of the first episode, as he grieves the loss of his herds of animals, the deaths of all his servants and all his children, he is mourning in deep sorrow as we can imagine. And he says, “Naked did I come into this world and naked I will depart. God gives and takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And later, when he is sitting on the ash heap, scraping his sores with the shard of a broken pot, his wife suggests to him that he should just curse God and die. And Job calls her a foolish woman. Not his best self. And he says, “Should we accept good things from God and not the bad things God sends us?” Good or bad, receiving blessings or sufferings, Job remains devoted to God. No matter what. He proves Satan wrong that his devotion to God is not based on a transaction. God does not have to bless him and can even allow him great and, as God said, unreasonable catastrophe, and it will not change his unswerving loyalty and devotion to the God who allows such suffering and death just to prove a point with Satan. Amazing. Some might say even a bit pitiful. Honestly, does a god that allows a bunch of people to be killed, including all your children, and then be struck with a painful skin disease, just to prove Satan wrong…is such a god worthy of unwavering devotion? Some may wonder if Job’s dedication to this god is a bit misplaced.

As the story has developed so far, we are satisfied that Job’s motivation for being devoted to God has nothing to do with what he gets out of the relationship. Good or bad, he is with God. But what is Job’s motivation? We don’t know. We know what it isn’t, but we don’t know what it is. Job isn’t even an Israelite. This isn’t the god of his ancestors. So, what is it? Is it out of fear of what might happen to him if he cursed God? How worse could it be? That’s basically the point his wife was making. So, fear can’t be a motivation. Tradition I don’t think would be the reason since he isn’t even an Israelite. Why this unwavering devotion? The answer is not obvious.

As we ponder what might be Job’s motivation for remaining devoted to God no matter what happens, we are invited to ponder for ourselves what our motivation might be. Let’s say we want to affirm Job’s position and conclude that devotion to God should not be based on a transaction. Our motivation to be devoted to God is not based on the promise of blessings in this life or protection from unjust and unreasonable suffering, meaningless suffering. We have determined to be faithful to God no matter what. So, what is our motivation? Why have we decided to follow Jesus? If we say it is because we don’t want to go to hell and instead want to go to heaven, that sounds a little transactional to me. Would we follow Jesus even if our salvation wasn’t guaranteed? I wonder.

Maybe your motivation is because this is how you were raised. It is the faith of your family. Or it is the faith of your community. What I mean is, this church is like a family to you. This is your community. It is here that you find support in the hard times and people who celebrate with you in the good times. Maybe your motivation is because of the community that comes from being a devoted disciple of Jesus and a lover of God. There is a sense of greater purpose, of belonging to something bigger than yourself, connection with a community that has existed for 2,000 years and that includes the whole world.

It is this global community of faith that we acknowledge and celebrate today. World Communion Sunday, which occurs every year on the first Sunday of October, is an annual opportunity for churches around the world to participate in Holy Communion. Especially today, as we receive communion together. Let us be mindful that Christians all around the world are receiving communion with us. And as we receive this morning as one global community of people who are devoted to God, let this be our motivation, to claim this global community of Jesus followers as our own, no matter what.