Sermon for March 30th, 2025 - Revision history

Iraneal at 13:50, 30 March 2025

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Iraneal at 22:54, 29 March 2025

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Iraneal at 21:40, 29 March 2025

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Iraneal at 21:10, 29 March 2025

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Iraneal at 21:07, 29 March 2025

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Iraneal at 20:52, 29 March 2025

2025-03-29T20:52:34Z

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 A distraught man once sought the advice of his wise pastor. “I was born blind,” the man exclaimed, “But some people tell me that if I had more faith I would be healed.” The pastor paused a moment before speaking. “I see you carry a cane,” he said. “Whenever people say that, hit them over the head with the cane. Then tell them if they had more faith it wouldn’t hurt!”
-I have said before that the Book of Job is, in many ways, a thorough and heartfelt response to simplistic and shallow theologies like “If you had more faith, you would be healed,” or ”If you just pray more, give more, buy this book, or follow these three simple spiritual rules, all your problems will be solved.”
+I have said before that the Book of Job is, in many ways, a heartfelt response to simplistic and shallow theologies like “If you had more faith, you would be healed,” or ”If you just pray more, give more, buy this book, or follow these three simple spiritual rules, all your problems will be solved.”
-The scriptures, like life itself, are a lot more complicated than that.  There are indeed scripture passages that teach us that if we do good things, we will get good results, and that if we do bad things, we will get bad results.  And there is some (limited) truth to those teachings.  But if you isolate those passages, build your theological beliefs around them, and ignore the rest of the Bible, you will eventually be profoundly disappointed.
+The scriptures, like life itself, are a lot more complicated than that.  There are indeed scripture passages that teach us that if we do good things, we will get good results, and that if we do bad things, we will get bad results.  And there is some (limited) truth to those teachings.  But if you isolate those passages, if you build an entire theological belief system around them, and ignore the rest of the Bible, you will eventually be profoundly disappointed.
-Sometimes in this life, innocent people suffer while those who are less-than-innocent thrive.  This has been the subject of our Lenten sermon series on the Book of Job, which today I’ll attempt to wrap up.  In today’s scripture passage (chapter 21) Job wraps up his argument (or at least round one of the argument) with his three friends, who have been offering words of consolation, but not really listening to what Job is actually saying about his situation.
+Sometimes in this life, innocent people suffer, while those who are less-than-innocent thrive.  This has been the subject of our Lenten sermon series on the Book of Job, which today I’ll attempt to wrap up.  In today’s scripture passage (chapter 21) Job wraps up his argument (or at least round one of the argument) with his three friends, who have been offering words of consolation, but not really listening to what Job is actually saying about his situation.
 Then Job answered:
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
-“Wicked” may be a little bit too strong of a translation here—the Hebrew word is רְשָׁעִ֣ים (re-sha-I’m) which is specifically those who oppose or ignore God’s laws.  Sometimes in the Bible, the רְשָׁעִ֣ים are truly wicked, and sometimes they are just foreigners who worship other Gods.  Either way, the  implied question is valid: Why should we worship God if there’s no benefit to us—if we can be prosperous and happy without God?
+“Wicked” may be a little bit too strong of a translation here—the Hebrew word is רְשָׁעִ֣ים (re-sha-im) which is specifically those who oppose or ignore God’s laws.  Sometimes in the Bible, the רְשָׁעִ֣ים are truly wicked, and sometimes they are just foreigners who worship other Gods.  Either way, the  implied question is valid: Why should we worship God if there’s no benefit to us—if we can be prosperous and happy without God?
 Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
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 How often are they like straw before the wind and like chaff that the storm carries away?
-Note that Job doesn’t say that Godless people “always” prosper… just that they often do.  Also note that Job has launched into a series of questions here—in this chapter, he asks 16 questions in all, which means that this chapter is almost 50% questions.  Then in the next verse, Job answers something that his friends had previously brought up—that perhaps wicked people may die with no punishment, but surely their children and their descendants will suffer for their misdeeds, so that justice will eventually prevail.  Spoiler alert: Job doesn’t like this idea.
+Note that Job doesn’t say that Godless people “always” prosper… just that they often do.  Also note that Job has launched into a series of questions here—in this chapter, he asks 16 questions in all, which means that this chapter is almost 50% questions.  Then in the next verse, Job answers something that his friends had previously brought up—that perhaps wicked people may die with no punishment, but surely their children and their descendants will suffer for their misdeeds, so that justice will eventually prevail.  Job doesn’t like this idea. He responds in verse 19:
 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
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 For what do they care for their household after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
-In other words, when you’re dead, you don’t care about what happens anymore, so that’s not really a valid punishment. That’s not really justice.  Then he turns his argument back to God:
+In other words, when you’re dead, you don’t care about what happens anymore, so that’s not really a valid punishment. That’s not really justice.  And if you’re truly wicked, you probably didn’t care about those things anyhow. Then Job turns his argument back to God:
 Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?
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 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
-In other words (as Job’s friends have been pointing out), it’s gone—all the things wicked people accumulate in this life eventually come to nothing.  They lose it all to the grave.  But… as Job has frequently pointed out, so do the righteous.  Again, no justice.
+In other words (as Job’s friends have been pointing out), it’s gone—all the things wicked people accumulate in this life eventually come to nothing.  They lose it all to the grave.  But… as Job has frequently noted, so do the righteous.  Again, no justice here.
 Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony,
 that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity and are rescued in the day of wrath?
 Who declares their way to their face, and who repays them for what they have done?
 When they are carried to the grave, a watch is kept over their tomb.
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          and those who went before are innumerable.
-Here Job is saying that actually, the wicked even prosper after they die, because they have nice funerals, they are buried in a sweet valley and crowds of people honor them.
+Here Job is saying that actually, the wicked even prosper after they die, because they have nice funerals, they are buried in a sweet valley and crowds of people come to honor them.  Then he concludes with a bitter jab at his supposed comforters:
 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
-*16 questions, no answers
+Do you really need an answer?  Or do you just need to roll up your sleeves and get started?
-*don’t judge the poor or the rich
-*proverbs, job and Ecclesiastes
-*prosperity gospel

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 So basically, good people and bad people alike both die in the end—what’s the difference between them?  Interestingly, Jesus makes a very similar comparison in the gospels when he says that God makes the sun shine and the rain fall on both the just and on the unjust.  But Jesus uses this comparison to argue that you should love a wicked person just as much as you love a righteous person, because God loves both of them, and because good and bad things happen to them both.
 Oh, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.
 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
 Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony,
 that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity and are rescued in the day of wrath?
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          and those who went before are innumerable.
 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
-So basically, good people and bad people alike both die in the end—what’s the difference between them?  Interestingly, Jesus makes a very similar comparison in the gospels when he says that God makes the sun shine and the rain fall on both the just and on the unjust.  But Jesus uses this comparison to argue that you should love the wicked just as much as you love the righteous, because God loves both of them, God blesses both of them, and God “afflicts” both of them, too.
+So basically, good people and bad people alike both die in the end—what’s the difference between them?  Interestingly, Jesus makes a very similar comparison in the gospels when he says that God makes the sun shine and the rain fall on both the just and on the unjust.  But Jesus uses this comparison to argue that you should love a wicked person just as much as you love a righteous person, because God loves both of them, and because good and bad things happen to them both.
 Oh, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.
+In previous chapters, Job has maintained his own innocence, which is supported by the narrator and by God himself, who both describe Job as “blameless and upright” in all things.  But now Job turns his focus to those who appear to have the same blessed and prosperous life that he once enjoyed, but without his upright moral character.  What exactly is it that makes them “wicked?”  Verse 14:
 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.
 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
 Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them?
      How often does God distribute pains in his anger?
 How often are they like straw before the wind and like chaff that the storm carries away?
 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
 Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
 For what do they care for their household after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
 Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?
 One dies in full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure,
 his loins full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.
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 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
 Oh, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.
 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’

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 I have said before that the Book of Job is, in many ways, a thorough and heartfelt response to simplistic and shallow theologies like “If you had more faith, you would be healed,” or ”If you just pray more, give more, buy this book, or follow these three simple spiritual rules, all your problems will be solved.”
 Then Job answered:
@@ Line 15: / Line 17: @@
 Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
 When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.
-−
 Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
 Their children are established in their presence and their offspring before their eyes.
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 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.
 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.
 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
 Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them?

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:40, 29 March 2025
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	==The Book of Job: Innocent, Part IV==		==The Book of Job: Innocent, Part IV==
−	A distraught man once sought the advice of his wise pastor. “I was born blind,” the man exclaimed, “But some people tell me that if I had more faith I ~~could~~ be healed.” The pastor paused a moment before speaking. “I see you carry a cane,” he said. “Whenever people say that, hit them over the head with the cane. Then tell them if they had more faith it wouldn’t hurt!”	+	A distraught man once sought the advice of his wise pastor. “I was born blind,” the man exclaimed, “But some people tell me that if I had more faith I would be healed.” The pastor paused a moment before speaking. “I see you carry a cane,” he said. “Whenever people say that, hit them over the head with the cane. Then tell them if they had more faith it wouldn’t hurt!”
		+
		+	I have said before that the Book of Job is, in many ways, a thorough and heartfelt response to simplistic and shallow theologies like “If you had more faith, you would be healed,” or ”If you just pray more, give more, buy this book, or follow these three simple spiritual rules, all your problems will be solved.”

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-==Job 21:1-34==
+==Job 21:1-34 (OT p.470)==
 Then Job answered:
 “Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.
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 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
 *16 questions, no answers
 *don’t judge the poor or the rich

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:10, 29 March 2025
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	==The Book of Job: Innocent, Part IV==		==The Book of Job: Innocent, Part IV==
	A distraught man once sought the advice of his wise pastor. “I was born blind,” the man exclaimed, “But some people tell me that if I had more faith I could be healed.” The pastor paused a moment before speaking. “I see you carry a cane,” she said. “Whenever people say that, hit them over the head with the cane. Then tell them if they had more faith it wouldn’t hurt!”		A distraught man once sought the advice of his wise pastor. “I was born blind,” the man exclaimed, “But some people tell me that if I had more faith I could be healed.” The pastor paused a moment before speaking. “I see you carry a cane,” she said. “Whenever people say that, hit them over the head with the cane. Then tell them if they had more faith it wouldn’t hurt!”
		+
		+	*16 questions, no answers
		+	*don’t judge the poor or the rich

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:07, 29 March 2025
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	==The Book of Job: Innocent, Part IV==		==The Book of Job: Innocent, Part IV==
		+	A distraught man once sought the advice of his wise pastor. “I was born blind,” the man exclaimed, “But some people tell me that if I had more faith I could be healed.” The pastor paused a moment before speaking. “I see you carry a cane,” she said. “Whenever people say that, hit them over the head with the cane. Then tell them if they had more faith it wouldn’t hurt!”