Difference between revisions of "Sermon for March 16th, 2014"

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Job 2:11-13; 4:1-19 5:6-10, 17-19, 27 (Seow)

Today's scripture passage is a long one, so instead of reading it prior to the sermon, I'm going to intersperse the reading with the sermon throughout. The whole thing is printed in your bulletin, so I'd encourage you to follow along as we go. Let us pray:

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

When my wife, Amy, was in Junior High School, right around this time of year her best friend came up to her and casually informed Amy that she was giving her up for Lent. She was serious. I suspect that she heard somewhere that you give things up during Lent, and that it has to be something significant, something meaningful to you. So she decided to give up her friendship with Amy. I have heard this story many times, and even though Amy tells it jokingly, there's also a slight touch of annoyance and resentment in her voice...still...after all those years. Friendship is a delicate thing, and misunderstandings between friends (not to mention misunderstandings about the purpose of Lent!) are not at all uncommon. I'm sure most of you have similar stories of your own.

For this week and the next two, we'll be talking about Job's friends, who come to comfort him after the loss of his children, his posessions, and his health. In most popular re-tellings of the story, the friends are not really freinds at all--they're portrayed as shallow, judgmental hypocrites who come to gloat over Job in his misfortune and blame him for his suffering. I'm just curious...how many of you have heard that version of the story before?

So where does this negative view of Job's friends come from? For one thing, Job himself has some pretty harsh words for his friends in his back and forth dialogues with them. And Job is the hero of the story, right? The book is named after him, after all. The other place I think this comes from is the fact that at the very end of the book, God rebukes the three friends, saying to them, "My wrath is kindled against you...for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." So it seems here like God is siding with Job against the friends, and because of that, we assume we probably should too. And in the process we turn them into caricatures: flat, two-dimensional stereotypes that are easy to dismiss or ignore without actually considering what they have to say.

In a few moments we're going to do just that. But first I want to briefly address the rebuke from God. It's three verses long in the bible, and at the end of those three verses, God forgives them. But they're not the first ones to get rebuked. God rebukes Job before he rebukes the friends, and his rebuke of Job is...four chapters long, and then God forgives him. Let me ask you this: When you were a child, if you got a four-hour-long lecture from your parents, and your siblings got a three-minute-long lecture, who got off worse? And if the punishment fits the crime, who offended worse? Just something to consider.

Alright. Let's delve into the story.

Job 2:11-13

11When the three friends of Job heard of all this misfortune that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite. They agreed to come together to console him and to comfort him. 12When they lifted up their eyes from afar but could not recognize him, they lifted up their voices and wept. They rent, each one his cloak, and sprinkled dust over their heads towards heaven. 13They sat down with him on the ground, seven days and seven nights, but no one said a word to him, for they saw that the suffering was very great.

Let's stop here for a second. I am always struck by that last verse: "They sat down with him on the ground, seven days and seven nights, but no one said a word to him, for they say that the suffering was very great." How many of you have ever dropped everything you were doing to sit with a friend for seven days and nights straight...in silence? A few hours, certainly. Maybe even a day or two at most. But seven entire days, never leaving his side and never speaking a word, just listening? In our assessment of Job's friends, how often we skip over this powerful little verse. If we have not done at least this much, let us not be too quick to judge them.

==Job 3:1-7 3:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded and said: 2If one ventured to speak to you, will you be unable? But who is able to hold back words? 3Behold, you have admonished many, And you have strengthened weak hands. 4Your words have lifted those who stumble, And you have steadied feeble knees. 5But now it has come upon you, and you are unable; it has touched you and you are dismayed. 6Surely your fear is your confidence, Your hope the integrity of your ways.

7Think now, what innocent person perishes, And where have the upright been obliterated? 8As I have seen, those who cultivate trouble And sow misery will reap the same. 9At the breath of God they will perish; At the wind of his fury they will be finished. 10The roar of the 'aryeh-lion, the growl of the sahal-lion, Yea, the fangs of the kepir-lions will be removed. 11The layis-lion perishes for lack of a prey And the cubs of the labi-lion will be scattered. 12Now a word was spirited to me,and my ear received a whiff of it. 13Amid the anxieties from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls upon people, 14Dread befell me, even trembling, Causing the mass of my bones to shudder. 15A wind passed me by, A storm-wind made my flesh prickle. 16One stood still, but I did not recognize its appearance, A form was before my eyes – a lull, then I heard a voice. 17“Can a human be in the right before God, Or can a mortal be pure before his maker?” 18If he puts no trust in his servants, And charges his intermediaries with contrariness, 19Surely, those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is from dirt, may be crushed before the maker. 5:6Surely trouble does not grow out of dirt, Nor does misery sprout from the ground. 7But rather, human beings generate misery, And the offspring of pestilence soar. 8But I, I would seek God, And present my word to God 9Who performs great things that are inscrutable, Wonders that are innumerable. 10Who gives rain on earth, sends water on the fields. 17Behold, how fortunate is the one whom God reproves! So do not reject the discipline of Shaddai. 18For he injures, but he binds, He smites, but his hands heal. 19Amid six adversities he will rescue you; Amid seven, no harm will touch you. 27Behold, this it is what we have searched out; This is what we have heard. But as for you, consider!