Sermon for March 23rd, 2025

Job 16:1-16

Today's scripture passage is not particularly long (at least not compared to other chapters of Job) but it is pretty dense, so I'm going to incorporate the reading into the sermon itself. I'm actually going to go through the passage line by line, explaining and commenting along the way--so this would be a great day to follow along in your pew bibles as we go. As we prepare to hear God's word and God's message to us today, let us pray...

The Book of Job: Innocent, Part III

In just a moment, we'll jump right into verse 1, but before we do that, I want to set the stage. Today's passage is about perceptions--specifically perceptions of guilt and innocence (which is our theme throughout the season of Lent).

Lee Atwater, who was a political strategist during the 1980s and 90s, made famous the saying "perception IS reality." What he meant was that voters in a political campaign are just as likely to act on what they perceive to be true (what seems true to them, or what aligns with their inherent biases and worldviews) than on what is, in fact, demonstrably true. And in this way, our perceptions (true or not) have the ability to shape and even change reality, to create and destroy careers, to influence elections, public policy, and the lives of those who are the object of the perceptions.

Perception is reality. While I understand the concept, I'm not sure I would agree that it's a good thing. And sometimes, those perceptions can backfire.

I'm reminded of the story about Mildred and Frank: Mildred was the town gossip and self-appointed police of town morality. She loved to stick her nose into other people's business, and while most did not appreciate her efforts, they feared her enough to maintain their silence. Frank, on the other hand, was a relatively quiet person. He mostly kept to himself, until one day Mildred saw his truck parked outside of the town's only bar, and so she began to accuse Frank of being a drunkard. She told Frank (and several others) that anyone seeing his truck parked outside that bar would know exactly what he was doing there! Frank didn't say anything; he didn't explain, defend, or deny. He just turned and walked away. Later that evening, Frank quietly drove his old pickup truck up to the front of Mildred's house. Then he got out and walked home. He left his old pickup truck parked in front of Mildred's house all night.

In today's scripture passage our protagonist, Job, is innocent, but everyone around him--his friends, his community, perhaps even God--perceive him to be guilty of something (although no one is quite sure what). This has been weighing heavily on Job, and in verse one, he launches once more into his desperate poetry:

1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the grave is ready for me.

In the original Hebrew this verse is just six words long--three short, staccato statements: Broken-spirit. Extinct days. Grave...mine. And in verse two, Job points to the reason for his distress:

2 Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.

When I was growing up, we had a saying (I'm not sure if it still has currency): "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me." Job is complaining about mockers, in Hebrew הֲ֭תֻלִים (ha-tulim), those who insult or use words derisively. But if you're tempted to think that Job is whining, remember that he's already lost just about everything--his wealth, his property, his family, and his body is covered with painful sores. The only thing Job really has left is his reputation--the one thing that words ARE most likely to harm. When he says "my eye dwells on their provocation" he is probably saying he doesn't see or can't figure out what is provoking them--what have ever I done to you? Then in verse three, he makes a request:

3 “Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there who will give surety for me?

If it's not immediately clear who Job is talking to here, the "yourself" is singular, not plural. He's not talking to his friends anymore, he's asking for a pledge, a guarantee of support, from the only person who "should" know that he's innocent--God.

4 Since you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.

The "you" here is God, and "their" could either be Job's friends or his wider community. I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news for them, but Job effectively lets them off the hook, by saying it's God's fault (not theirs) that they don't understand him. Ancient middle eastern wisdom tradition taught that only God could open or close the mind to understanding. In the second half of the verse, the NRSV says "therefore you WILL not let them triumph," but other translations read, surely you must not, or should not, let them triumph, and I think that makes more sense. This is Job's request, his prayer, continued in verse five:

5 Those who denounce friends for reward--the eyes of their children will fail.

That sounds harsh, but the Hebrew here is pretty ambiguous (by the way, the most common footnote in translations of the Book of Job is "meaning of Hebrew uncertain" and for good reason). "Denounce for reward" is the NRSV's attempt to translate the word לְ֭חֵלֶק (le-heleq), which could mean flattery, smooth talk, inheritance, part, or portion. And the second half of the verse, like the previous verse, is probably a request. So something like "Those who try to smooth-talk their friends, may the eyes of their children fail. I'm going to come back to that part (may the eyes of their children fail) at the end of the sermon, so hold that thought.

Verse six begins the second stanza (the middle stanza) of the poem, where Job gets to the meat of his complaint: the harmful perceptions that are leveled against him:

6 “He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom people spit.

"Byword" here is like a negative object lesson to learn from--Don't be like Job, kids! And here we learn that the perception is not just among Job's friends, it's among the peoples (and the Hebrew word here is the same one used for "nation" or "the whole country"). Perhaps Job is exaggerating, but remember at the beginning of the book, he is described as the "greatest man in the East." If the wealthiest or most famous person in our country today suddenly lost everything...we'd probably all know about it. And we'd probably have plenty of opinions about why. By the way, I love the Hebrew word for spit: תֹּפֶת (toh-feth). It's a great example of onomatopoeia. And in just about every culture, spitting on, or near, someone is not a very polite thing to do.

7 My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow.

This is the sixth time Job has referred to his eyes (or the eyes of others) in the past two chapters, reinforcing the theme of perception, or what people see. And when people look at Job, according to him, they see something shady, something like a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous hold to their way, and they who have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come back now, all of you, and I shall not find a sensible person among you.

11 My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day; ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness,
14 if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

• Lee Atwater: "Perception is reality."