Difference between revisions of "Sermon for March 6th, 2016"

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When John Calvin, in many ways the original Presbyterian, ascended into his pulpit at St. Pierre's cathedral in Geneva, he did not read the scripture passage and then preach a witty, 20-minute, three point sermon with lots of illustrations, jokes and inspirational quotes. He preached in a style that would be foreign to most of us today, known as lectio continua--or continuous reading. He would read a verse or two from the scripture passage, pause to comment on it in detail, then read another verse or two, commenting on those, and he would keep on going, week by week and day by day, until he had worked his way through an entire book of the Bible. And then he would start on the next book immediately following it. I'm going to do something similar today--don't panic, though--with just one chapter, not an entire book.

You know by now that the Book of Job is my favorite book of the Bible. Today's passage, chapter 28, is my favorite passage in the Book of Job. So I want to walk you through it with a fine-tooth comb--I don't want us to miss a thing! So the scripture reading today will be interspersed throughout the sermon (or, really, the other way around). And even though this is unusual for Presbyerians (not so much if you're a Baptist, though), I'm going to ask you to follow allong with the scripture passage in your bulletins or the pew Bibles as we go.

Job 28:1-28. Wisdom in the Book of Job

Today is our final sermon on virtues in the Book of Job. We've talked about Love, Beauty, and Truth, but today we talk about wisdom. I have to confess, I feel just a little bit unqualified on this subject. Most of the times in my life when I have been called "wise" it has been followed by a three letter word that happens to be another name for a donkey.

Despite that fact (or perhaps because of it) the wisdom tradition of ancient cultures, particularly in the Bible, has fascinated me for many years, and is probably the aspect of the Bible I have spent the most time studying, both at Seminary and afterwards. The Book of Job is one of a handful of wisdom books in the Bible, and I believe that today's scripture passage, Chapter 28, forms the core of the author's message.

In just a moment, we're going to jump right into the scripture passage, but first we need to set the scene. Where are we in the book of Job, and who is speaking in this chapter? In the chapters up to this point, we've heard from God and Satan, we've heard from Job's wife. We've heard from Job's three friends, and we've heard a lot from Job himself. In the chapters after this one, Job concludes his argument, then we hear from Elihu, and then we hear again from God. But I don't think the voice we hear in chapter 28 is any of those voices.

I think it's actually the voice of the author himself. The NRSV translation calls this chapter an "interlude." And I think that's about right. The passionate argument between Job and his friends has reached an intense, feverish pitch. And right here, I think the author hits the pause button, does a freeze frame, and steps into the chaos of his own story, directly addressing the audience.

Ok, so that's an odd place to start. What does any of this have to do with Job and his misfortunes? We'll get to that in time. This is actually a classic Middle-eastern Wisdom tradition approach: The wise (those ancients who composed and compiled wisdom literature) looked to nature and the natural world for understanding of how things worked. That's why wisdom literature (including Job) is full of plants, insects, animals, minerals, geographical features, and weather patterns. They were the early precursors of our modern-day biologists, geologists, meteorologists, and physicists. But the key word in those first two verses is "mine." It's a metaphor for a place where things are hidden, things of great value.

How many of you here are students, graduates, or even just fans of the University of Texas at El Paso? Job 28 is your special Bible chapter. It's the longest passage in the Bible about Miners. In this passage, we shift from nature itself--elements like silver, gold, iron, and copper--to the humans who interact with nature. And there's an important aspect of wisdom literature here, too: Wisdom literature, unlike the rest of the Bible, is not about Kings, Princes, Prophets, or important people. Wisdom literature takes as its inspiration the common people and common professions (what we would call blue collar). The miner is remote from people, forgotten by travelers. But there's more to this metaphor: A miner must be dedicated to his task, must seek longer and harder and farther than all others in order to be successful at his task.

Bread (which is common) comes out of the earth, but jewels (which are uncommon) are further down and harder to get. Incidentally, the Hebrew word for Sapphire is סַפִּיר. This is one of those rare English words that comes from Hebrew. In verse 7 and 8, we find a list of animals, again typical for wisdom literature. The point here is that even wise animals--the lion with all its strength, the falcon with its sharp eye-sight, cannot see beneath the earth to what is truly beautiful, truly rare. But the miner can! Back to the miners:

Truly, if anyone in all humanity has the ability to seek out, find, and uncover what is precious and valuable, it is the Miner. And then in verse 12 the author drops his piercing question:

Most people seem to think that the main question in the Book of Job is "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I think there's a bigger question, and it's this: In the face of the bad things that obviously happen to good people (and all people!) how do we respond? Do we grieve? Do we get angry? Do we blame ourselves? Do we blame God? What is the wise response? Or, Where can wisdom be found? Note there are actually two questions in this verse. Often in Hebrew poetry, one line states an idea and the next line states the same idea in a different way. But here, I think the author is actually asking two separate questions: Where can wisdom be found, and WHAT is the place of understanding? More on that later. But first we work our way backwards, through humans and nature, to try to find our answer:

Nothing living on land or in the sea holds the answer. Even the Miner runs out of luck.

The entire first half of the chapter was a set-up, to say whatever thing you think is the most valuable, beautiful, rare thing in all creation--be it gold, silver, diamonds or pearls--wisdom is worth fare more than all that...and (more importantly) it's more rare and difficult to find than all that.

By the way, this word, "Abaddon" only shows up in wisdom literature (Job, Proverbs, Psalms). We often interpret it as another way of saying "Hell" but the concept of a differentiated afterlife (heaven/hell, etc.) is a much later development. Taken literally (as it should be here) it means "place of ruin." Notice the subtle difference here: Nothing living knows where wisdom can be found, but death and ruin have at least heard a rumor of it. One explanation of this could be that true wisdom only comes at the point of death and total ruin, when our experience is finally complete.

What is Wisdom? It's actually hard to define, perhaps impossible. My father used to tell me that wisdom is knowledge rightly applied. And wisdom is often contrasted with knowledge. It has been said (I'm not sure by whom, but that is the case with most wisdom sayings!) that knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. Knowledge is realizing when a street is one-way; wisdom is looking both directions anyhow. Knowledge is knowing what to say; wisdom is knowing when (or even whether) to say it.

Knowledge, in most cultures (ancient and modern) is the realm of the elite few, the educated, the professionals: Professors, pastors, experts. Wisdom, by contrast, is the realm of the common people, the folks. Wisdom comes from your grandmother's kitchen, or from the old men at the barbershop. Knowledge also tends to be external--it comes from books, reports, scientifically collected data. Wisdom, however, tends to come internally, from personal experience, failure, observation, and time.

Sometimes people confuse "understanding" with wisdom. But you can know something, and even understand something, without being wise. That's why they are separate words, seperate concepts, in English as well as the Hebrew in which today's passage was originally written. In Hebrew, wisdom is חָכְמָה (chokmah) and understanding is בִּינָה (binah). Both concepts appear in today's scripture passage.