Sermon for March 16th, 2025 - Revision history

Iraneal at 05:17, 16 March 2025

2025-03-16T05:17:36Z

Iraneal at 05:16, 16 March 2025

2025-03-16T05:16:36Z

Iraneal at 05:11, 16 March 2025

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Iraneal at 05:05, 16 March 2025

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Iraneal at 04:40, 16 March 2025

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Iraneal: Created page with "Three college students from the state of Texas go out partying one night. They get drunk, and they wake up in jail. They discover that they are scheduled to be executed for t..."

2025-03-15T22:25:43Z

Created page with "Three college students from the state of Texas go out partying one night. They get drunk, and they wake up in jail. They discover that they are scheduled to be executed for t..."

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Three college students from the state of Texas go out partying one night. They get drunk, and they wake up in jail. They discover that they are scheduled to be executed for their crimes but none of them can remember what they have done.

The first one is strapped in the electric chair and is asked if he has any last words. He says, "I am from the Baylor School of Divinity and I believe in the almighty power of God to intervene on behalf of the innocent."

They throw the switch and nothing happens, so they figure God must want this guy to live, so they let him go.

The second one is strapped in and gives his last words. "I am from the University of Texas School of Law and I believe in the eternal power of Justice to intervene on the part of the innocent."

The switch is thrown and again nothing happens. They figure that the law is on this guy's side, so they let him go.

The last one is strapped in and says, "Well, I'm from Texas A&M—go Aggies!—School of Electrical Engineering, and I can tell you right now you'll never electrocute anybody if you don't re-connect those two wires over there!"

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:17, 16 March 2025
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−	==Job 9:1-35==	+	==Job 9:1-35 (OT p.459)==
	1 Then Job answered:		1 Then Job answered:

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:16, 16 March 2025
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	A devout man sat on top of a large rock for twelve years, meditating and seeking enlightenment. One day, the Buddha appeared before him and said, you have shown great devotion, great patience, and great endurance, sitting on this rock for twelve years, day in and day out. And for this, I will grant you one reward--whatever you wish, just ask and it will be yours. The devout man sitting on the rock, said "Justice. I simply want justice in my life." The Buddha said, "Look, Buddy--you can have anything you want: love, family, fame, fortune, riches, immortality...anything. But I don't recommend asking for justice." Still, the devout man sitting on his rock was resolute. "I want justice," he said a second time. The Buddha shook his head and said, "I'm going to give you one last chance--and I implore you NOT to ask for justice--please, just be very careful what you ask for, okay?" The man steadfastly replied, "I've been sitting on top of this rock for twelve years, and I've had a lot of time to think about it. I don't want riches. I don't want immortality. With all due respect, my answer remains the same: I just want justice in my life." The Buddha shrugged and said, "Okay." And then the rock sat on top of the man for twelve years.		A devout man sat on top of a large rock for twelve years, meditating and seeking enlightenment. One day, the Buddha appeared before him and said, you have shown great devotion, great patience, and great endurance, sitting on this rock for twelve years, day in and day out. And for this, I will grant you one reward--whatever you wish, just ask and it will be yours. The devout man sitting on the rock, said "Justice. I simply want justice in my life." The Buddha said, "Look, Buddy--you can have anything you want: love, family, fame, fortune, riches, immortality...anything. But I don't recommend asking for justice." Still, the devout man sitting on his rock was resolute. "I want justice," he said a second time. The Buddha shook his head and said, "I'm going to give you one last chance--and I implore you NOT to ask for justice--please, just be very careful what you ask for, okay?" The man steadfastly replied, "I've been sitting on top of this rock for twelve years, and I've had a lot of time to think about it. I don't want riches. I don't want immortality. With all due respect, my answer remains the same: I just want justice in my life." The Buddha shrugged and said, "Okay." And then the rock sat on top of the man for twelve years.

−	People of First Presbyterian Church, I leave you with this thought: God's idea of justice and ~~our~~ idea of justice may not always look the same. For that matter, God's conception of innocence, guilt, suffering, ~~and~~ prosperity, may be vastly different from ~~ours~~. May we always seek for greater understanding about these things, but may we do so with humility and with grace--even (perhaps especially) when we KNOW that we are NOT what we are THOUGHT to be.	+	People of First Presbyterian Church, I leave you with this thought: God's idea of justice and your idea of justice may not always look the same. For that matter, God's conception of innocence, guilt, suffering, or prosperity, may be vastly different from yours, too. May you always seek for greater understanding about these things, but may you always do so with humility and with grace--even (perhaps especially) when you KNOW that you are NOT what you are THOUGHT to be.

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 No answer for you today on that front--or at least not a direct answer.  Instead, I want to tell you a parable.  It's an old Buddhist parable, but I think it fits with today's message--or rather with today's questions.
-A devout man sat on a rock for twelve years, meditating and seeking enlightenment.  One day, the Buddha appeared before him and said, you have shown great devotion, great patience, and great endurance, sitting on this rock for twelve years day in and day out. And for this, I will grant you one reward--whatever you wish, just ask and it will be yours.  The devout man, sitting on the rock, said "Justice. I simply want justice in my life."  The Buddha said, "Look, Buddy--you can have anything you want: love, family, fame, fortune, riches, immortality...anything.  But I don't recommend asking for justice."  Still, the devout man sitting on his rock was resolute.  "I want justice," he said a second time.  The Buddha shook his head and said, "I'm going to give you one last chance--and I implore you NOT to ask for justice--please, just be very careful what you ask for, okay?"  The man steadfastly replied, "I've been sitting on this rock for twelve years, and I've had a lot of time to think about it.  I don't want riches.  I don't want immortality.  With all due respect, my answer remains the same:  I just want justice in my life."  The Buddha shrugged and said, "Okay."  And then the rock sat on the man's head for twelve years.
+A devout man sat on top of a large rock for twelve years, meditating and seeking enlightenment.  One day, the Buddha appeared before him and said, you have shown great devotion, great patience, and great endurance, sitting on this rock for twelve years, day in and day out. And for this, I will grant you one reward--whatever you wish, just ask and it will be yours.  The devout man sitting on the rock, said "Justice. I simply want justice in my life."  The Buddha said, "Look, Buddy--you can have anything you want: love, family, fame, fortune, riches, immortality...anything.  But I don't recommend asking for justice."  Still, the devout man sitting on his rock was resolute.  "I want justice," he said a second time.  The Buddha shook his head and said, "I'm going to give you one last chance--and I implore you NOT to ask for justice--please, just be very careful what you ask for, okay?"  The man steadfastly replied, "I've been sitting on top of this rock for twelve years, and I've had a lot of time to think about it.  I don't want riches.  I don't want immortality.  With all due respect, my answer remains the same:  I just want justice in my life."  The Buddha shrugged and said, "Okay."  And then the rock sat on top of the man for twelve years.
 People of First Presbyterian Church, I leave you with this thought:  God's idea of justice and our idea of justice may not always look the same.  For that matter, God's conception of innocence, guilt, suffering, and prosperity, may be vastly different from ours.  May we always seek for greater understanding about these things, but may we do so with humility and with grace--even (perhaps especially) when we KNOW that we are NOT what we are THOUGHT to be.

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 For Job, it is precisely when justice IS blind that (verse 24) "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges--if it is not he, who then is it?"  In other words, for Job, true justice should NOT be blind--true justice is when you are seen and heard fully by the judge, not passed over, not ignored or dismissed out of hand.
-The final section of chapter 9 sees Job descend into self-doubt and self-loathing. If "I shall be condemned," he says in verse 29, then "why do I labor in vain?"  Why bother?  And here, for the first time, he shows his hand.  Up to this point, he has been speaking of God in the third person (he does this, he does that, still hypothetically) but now he addresses God directly. Verse 28: "I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know YOU will not hold me innocent."  And verse 30 and 31: "If I wash myself with soap . . . yet YOU will plunge me into filth."  In other words, God, I'm afraid that you won't acknowledge my innocence, even if you know that I really am.
+The final section of chapter 9 sees Job descend into self-doubt and self-loathing. If "I shall be condemned," he says in verse 29, then "why do I labor in vain?"  Why bother?  And here, for the first time, he shows his hand.  Up to this point, he has been speaking of God in the third person (he does this, he does that, still hypothetically) but now he addresses God directly. Verse 28: "I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know YOU will not hold me innocent."  And verse 30 and 31: "If I wash myself with soap . . . yet YOU will plunge me into filth."  In other words, God, I'm afraid that you won't acknowledge my innocence, even when I really am innocent.
-−
-And for the next 32 chapters, the trial is on--despite Job's reluctance, and despite the fact that we're never quite sure who's on trial: God or Job or justice itself. Or maybe it's all three.
 So what do we take from all this, and from chapter 9 in particular?  Are we meant to be the jury, the ones who decide at the end of the story whether we think Job is guilty and God is innocent, or whether we think God is guilty and Job is innocent?  Or are we like Job's friends, trying to give legal advice  we are not qualified to give in a trial that is not our own?  Or are we simply meant to identify with Job, questioning the hand we have been dealt in life and wishing that God would be more fair, that God's idea of justice would somehow correspond exactly to our own idea of what justice should look like?