Difference between revisions of "Sermon for March 8th, 2015"

Revision as of 14:21, 7 March 2015

Mark 1:12-13 (NRSV)

12And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Job 40:15-24 (INL)

15Behold! Behemoth! My creation (like you)—he grazes like cattle. 
16Behold! There is strength in his loins, power in his stomach. 
17His stump hangs like cedar; sinewed stones interlock. 
18His bones? Tunnels of bronze.
His limbs? Bars of iron.
19Foremost of God's marvels! Monarch of dry lands!
20Indeed the mountains bring him tribute; all the wild beasts rejoice. 
21He lounges beneath the brambles, lies among stalks of the marsh. 
22The shade trees cover him in shadow; willows of the wadi surround him. 
23When the river breaks forth, no fear in his face;
Though Jordan comes against him; his confidence remains. 
24Can you capture Behemoth with hooks? 
Can you pierce his nose with a snare?

Job: The Monsters and the Critics - Behemoth

Last week our family was driving home from somewhere, and we had two vehicles. My son, Grady, asked if he could ride with me. It had been a long day, I was tired, and I knew my son well. So I said, you can ride with me, but only on one condition: You can't ask any questions for the whole trip. It was only a five minute trip home, but apparently if you want to drive a ten-year-old boy crazy, that's the way to do it. He would start to say something, then stop himself before it turned into a question, then try to rephrase it as a statement, and then finally give up in frustration. The silence lasted about five seconds before the whole process repeated itself again. Two minutes in and I thought his head was about to explode. So many questions in the wide world, and so few answers.

Job--the central character in the Book of Job--spends about 35 chapters (the vast majority of the book) asking questions. Unlike Grady's questions, Job's are not driven by curiosity, but rather personal tragedy--the loss of fortune, his property, his children, his health. Over and over again, he asks God the questions, "Why?" and "Why me?" and "What have I done to deserve this?" and "Where were you when I was suffering?" and "Where are you now?"

Job's friends try to answer his questions. Their answers are good answers. They are good friends, as I pointed out in last year's sermon series on Job. The problem is that Job's questions were never directed at them, and so their answers cannot satisfy him. His questions were directed at God.

Finally in chapter 38, God shows up, just as Job had requested. Only, God doesn't answer any of Job's questions. Instead, he starts to ask his own questions of Job. Job had asked God "Where were you when I was suffering?" and now God asks Job "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" God doesn't stop there, however. He asks Job 61 questions before stopping, and waiting for Job's response. So what does Job do? He asks God another question. And then God asks him 27 more questions. It's almost comical.

God never does answer any of Job's questions, and of course Job is incapable of answering God's questions. It's like eventually they just come to a stalemate, an unspoken agreement not to ask each other any more questions. This is probably a bit disappointing for those who have read all the way through 42 chapters of Job hoping to get a good answer to the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" It's good to remember that in life there are no easy, simple answers to the most difficult questions...not even in the Bible. What we find instead is a God who, while he doesn't always do what we want him to, does show up and does engage with us. Often he turns our questions back on us like a mirror, and helps us to see ourselves, and our world differently. Sometimes he helps us see, in hindsight, that we were asking the wrong questions all along.

One of God's questions bring us to our first monster: Behemoth. In Job 40:15-23, God describes this formidable, awe-inspiring creature, and then in verse 24 essentially asks the question, "Can he be captured or tamed?"

Behemoth has fascinated readers of the Bible for centuries, so the first thing I'd like to do is walk us through a little history of interpretation.

1. Behemoth as composite monster with Leviathan
   • Illuminated Byzantine Manuscripts
2. Behemoth as Mythical Land Beast
   • Book of Enoch
   • Devil Steed (Liber Floridus)
   • Saint Steed (Asinou Church)
   • Political Satire (Wm. Blake Image)
3. Behemoth as actual creature
   • Elephant (Calvin)
   • Hippopatomus (Modern Interpreters, NRSV)
   • Dinosaur (Creation "Science Museum)