Proper 22
Notes
Transcript
People Suffer
People Suffer
I am allergic to some kinds of socks.
A certain something that gets added to certain synthetic materials causes my toes to itch.
And it nearly sends me through the roof.
On the other hand - most mosquito bites don’t make me itch. I think they’ve just worn off.
But these are minor.
I really don’t suffer much.
***
But the truth is - in life - many people suffer.
And they suffer terribly.
In their bodies…
Chronic pain through pinched nerves, arthritis all those diseases and conditions that cause chronic discomfort.
And in their social and family lives.
So in the Bible we have the book of Job.
A story of suffering.
But I’m going to resist the temptation to explain suffering.
Why?
Because I can’t explain suffering.
I can give you some mental steps to go through when thinking about suffering - that might help us in some way or another.
But I think my attempt to give you a logical answer is misguided.
I don’t think that is the message of Job.
So some context:
The Book of Job
The Book of Job
The Book of Job is really quite fascinating. It is not a history - it is a book of wisdom.
We can’t really say it is a history.
Details seem to be deliberately obscure.
We’re not sure what is meant by the land of Uz - its sort of the same as ‘once upon a time in a land far away’.
Job is not clearly a Hebrew.
And the heavenly scenario at the beginning of Job belongs to an idea of heaven that is quite different to what we see later in the Bible.
Consider my Servant Job
Consider my Servant Job
And we begin by picturing a scene in heaven:
8 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.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
The scene in heaven is there to help us to understand the point of the book.
A debate about whether people will serve God - and love God only if God is good to them. But will people serve God and love God even through times of suffering and struggle.
Satan - the accuser - is saying to God - Job is faithful to you now, he is blameless and upright - but what if life didn’t go well for him?
Lift up your walls of protection around him and see what happens.
So - in the story - God lifts up the walls of protection…
And in one day everything is destroyed.
His wealth. His children - whom he loves dearly - everything.
It is horrific.
And we make a great mistake when we say of this book - O it is a history and it is the way God works - sometimes making terrible things happen just to test us.
In the NIV application commentary John Walton writes:
“this book would fit easily into the classification “thought experiment.” - John Walton (Job)
He goes on to say:
“The scene in heaven is not trying to explain why Job or any of us suffer. Job is never told about that scene, nor would he have derived any comfort from it.
As I have taught Job to students over the years, the question frequently arises, “What sort of God is this who uses his faithful ones as pawns in bets with the devil?” - John Walton (Job)
We have become so used to reading newspapers and text books in the 21st century that we forgot how to read stories - and literature - how to interpret a narrative.
In light of what we know about God - about what Jesus has done - how evil has been defeated - we know that this heavenly scene is an imaginary drama - not an historical account of the workings of heaven.
This is not an account of why bad things happen to Good people.
It is a reflection on responding to the bad things that happen.
And in the story we have the example of Job. A faithful servant of God.
Then of his three friends:
Eliphaz the Tenamite
Bildad the Shuhite
and Zophar the Na’amathite
and even Job’s wife.
Job’s wife’s advice - don’t put up with this suffering: Curse God and die.
Job’s 3 friends. Trying to work out why all these bad things happened to Job… they argue that Job must have done something terrible to deserve all that is happening to him and accuse him of all sorts of things.
But Job knows that he is righteous.
And we know that Job is righteous because we learn that in Job 1:1
1 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.
We know that Job is righteous - that God is not punishing him - and we know - in the story - that the suffering he is going through is because the accuser - Satan - is saying to God - Job is not faithful to you. He is just good because he has lots of stuff and he has his health.
So the three friends argue that Job must figure out why he is suffering - God is just - you must have sinned in some way to deserve this…
At the end of their argument Elihu - another friend enters the conversation.
Elihu’s argument is that all this suffering is a warning from God - it is a message that builds character and warns us away from future sin.
When Bad Things Happen
When Bad Things Happen
When we are going through difficult times.
We start to have similar arguments to the ones that
Eliphaz the Tenamite
Bildad the Shuhite
and Zophar the Na’amathite
present.
We have similar arguments to the one that Job’s wife presents: “Curse God and die!”
We even think like Elihu - Suffering builds character let me get through it…
In Theology all of these arguments and debates are called Theodicy.
From the Greek word Theo - meaning God and Diké - meaning righteous.
Theodicy
Theodicy
Much of Theology, our thought about God is Theodicy.
Theodicy:
theodicy. A response to the problem of evil in the world that attempts logically, relevantly and consistently to defend God as simultaneously omnipotent, all-loving and just despite the reality of evil.
Basically:
You say that God is just - but isn’t the suffering of people on earth unjust?
How could a good God allow such suffering?
And we come up with various explanations.
Based on various assumptions and speculations.
Assumptions about what justice is and what it should be.
Assumptions about how the universe works.
And even about what it means for God to be just.
We come up with all the wrong questions -
and from the wrong questions we come up with all the wrong answers.
And we will get pretty stuck with Job if we are looking for answers.
Mostly because we are looking for:
The wrong sort of answer.
We’re looking for an answer that satisfies our understanding.
When the Bible answers our questions on suffering it answers them with a story - an event - an action.
An explanation is what we want - but not what we require.
What we want is understanding.
But what we need is love and compassion.
The reformer - Martin Luther spoke of…
Theologia Crucis
Theologia Gloriae
The reformer Martin Luther wrote of a contradiction between theologia crucis and theologia gloriae. The Theology of the Cross - and the Theology of Glory. The Theology of Glory is the one that appeals to our human minds - but:
Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms theologia crucis, theologia gloriae
In his theologia crucis (theology of the cross) Luther contended that the true and consummate place of God’s self-revelation is in the humility, weakness and suffering love of God displayed on the cross of Christ.
Is there an explanation for Job’s suffering?
My answer is no - Job is simply led into the mystery of God’s majesty:
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on the desert, which is empty of human life,
A Satisfying Answer
It is not a satisfying answer; and maybe its not as comforting as we would want it to be. But God does not give us - or Job - the answers that we want. In Job we are invited to accept that God’s ways are above our ways.
Our reading from Hebrews points to a new way of seeing:
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,
2 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.
3 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,
And again in Hebrews 2:10
10 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.
Suffering
Suffering
The reality of Job - is that suffering is a part of life.
And in knowing that Job is not a story - I think we learn to not take biology - or history - personally. Like God is trying to teach us something.
The arguments of all Job’s friends fall flat.
The best answer is God’s answer…
In two parts - And I’ll borrow from Isaiah for these - One:
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And two, alluded to in Hebrews 2:10
10 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.
A reminder that Christ in his crucifixion - partners with us in our sufferings.
All our suffering and struggle - is re-interpreted - re-framed - through Jesus Christ:
Hebrews 1:3 - the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.
Who goes through our suffering with us.
