Difference between revisions of "Sermon for March 11th, 2018"

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Job 38:1-7, 34-41

Where Were You?

For thirty-five out of forty-two chapters in the book of Job, God is either the subject of conversation or its target. During those thirty-five chapters, God listens silently while Job questions, complains, and attacks God, trying to make sense of his suffering. Finally, in today's text, God responds. Compared to the words of Job (24 of those 35 chapters), God's response is mercifully short (just 2 chapters). And so, in my sermon today, I am going to attempt to follow God's example. Mercifully short.

Let's jump right in. "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?"

Many people interpret this as God putting Job in his place: "Who are you to question me? Can you do all the things I can do? Sit down and shut up, you puny mortal!"

I find this interpretation a bit harsh, especially given what we, as readers know from reading the first two chapters: That all of Job's suffering, the loss of his children, his property, his health, were all instigated, approved, and carried out under God's supervision and authority, in order to settle a cosmic bet with Satan about whether or not Job would "curse God" if he lost these things.

Incidentally, and for what it's worth, God lost that bet a long time ago, probably somewhere around chapter 7, and several times thereafter, when Job's famous patience ran out. But I don't think God was ever really that interested in winning the bet. No, I think that from the beginning, God's interest was simply in Job, for better or for worse, in his wealth or in his poverty, in his happiness or his despair.

Regardless of the source of any of these things, God knows Job. God loves Job. And so God knows that Job's loss and his pain are real, and his angry, impatient, heartbroken words flow from that experience.

Given all of these things, I think it's possible to read God's words in a different light, with a different tone. God may be putting Job in his place, but if so I think he does it gently, not in anger, condecension or judgment.

It's easy to read God's words to Job, "Where were *you* when I laid the foundation of the earth?" with the implied answer: "Nowhere because you aren't God.

But elsewhere in the Bible, in Ephesians 1:4, we read that God "chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love." Holy and blameless. That's what God calls Job in chapter 1. Read in this light, there is a different implied answer to God's question:

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? You were with me, already, all the way back then, because I chose you and knew you and called you by name all those aeons ago. You may have forgotten, but I haven't. Let me show you..."

And then, I believe, God takes Job on an amazying mystical journey--kind of like in Charles Dickens' novel, A Christmas Carol, when the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future take Ebeneezer Scrooge on a wild journey outside of himself to see things that his limited sight would not otherwise allow him to see and understand.

God shows Job the wonders of creation, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy," of the clouds that bring forth nourishing water as well as terrifying, destructive lightning, of the powerful lion when it provides food for its young, as well as the mournful raven, when it cannot provide food for its young. There is a balance to this creation, one that celebrates joy and beauty and splendor, but also one that does not deny or shy away from violence, tragedy, and suffering.

Nowhere in this divine vision are the answers or justice Job is looking for...and yet, through it all is wisdom. The kind of wisdom that can only come experiencing the good as well as the bad, strength as well as weakness, joy as well as pain, beauty and simplicity, life and death, order and chaos, and how all of these things interact and weave together to form this amazing world we inhabit for a short while.

I wonder, if somewhere in the midst of all that, Job got a glimpse of his beloved, departed children, also with God from before the foundation of the earth.

Our commitment to SERVICE

Last week, Job reminded God of all the things he had done for others--(insert job's quote here). Basically, Job is saying, "look at all the things I did for other people." In today's passage, God returns the favor, essentially saying, "Look, *everything* I have done is for you and for everyone."