23rd Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 25B

23rd Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 25B October 28, 2018 I want to start with a quick Q&A today. What is the worst, most unhelpful thing someone has said to you when you were suffering? How about one of these… “I know just how you feel.” “It’s for the best.” “Keep a stiff upper lip.” “At least...” “You should or shouldn’t” “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle” “It’s God’s will.” “Suffering is good for you. It builds character.” (That’s what they used to say to us in seminary…) How many of you have had someone say one of these things to you? I won’t ask you how many of you have been the well-meaning friend who said one of these to someone else who was suffering, but I suspect none of us is immune from having done this either. In light of all this, the book of Job may have been written for us. Now, I know what you’re thinking because I’ve thought it too: “Ugh, Job! I hate that book! Why on earth would anyone want to preach on that?” Well, friends, I don’t really know the answer to that. All I know is that I (and the other two preachers who have been in this pulpit over the last three weeks) had managed to successfully avoid engaging the book of Job for the last month, but today that success has come to an end. So let’s talk about Job. We’ve heard four different passages from this book over the last four Sundays. It’s a book of the bible whose time setting is deliberately ambiguous beginning with the line: “There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job.” The beginning goes on to tell us that “Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” But of course, don’t you know, there has to be drama. At the heavenly convocation, the adversary engages in a bet with God saying: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Have you not protected him and everything he has and have you not blessed all the work of his hands so that his possessions increased? “But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And God takes the bet, and tells the adversary that Job is now in his power but he can do anything except to stretch out his hand against Job and harm him physically. So the adversary wreaks all kind of disaster on Job: his oxen and donkeys are stolen by the Sabeans; the fire of God falls from heaven upon all his sheep and burns them up; the Chaldeans make a raid and carry off all his camels; a great wind blows upon the house where all Job’s children are eating together and all of them are killed; and all of his servants (except three messengers) are killed in all these simultaneous disasters. Job responds by tearing his robe, shaving his head, falling on the ground and saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” So the adversary goes back to God and says that’s all fine and good, but I bet if you let me harm his body, he will still curse you to your face, and God says, ok, give it a try. So the adversary inflicts loathsome sores all over Job, from his head to his foot. Job’s wife encourages him to curse God and die, but Job responds to her: “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” (And that’s just the first two chapters of the book!) The next 29 chapters of the book consist of round after round of debate and rants between Job and his “friends.” They are debating the notion that is prominent in scripture of retributive justice: “that God so orders the world that everyone receives reward or punishment commensurate with his or her behavior, thus maintaining a morally coherent environment that encourages ethical responsibility.”i In other words: good things will happen to good people and bad things will happen to bad people. In our world view, we refer to this as “karma.” Finally, after Job has questioned and ranted about God’s justice and demanded an audience with God, God shows up in a whirlwind and instead has some questions for Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?” This goes on for a while, and then Job, having received the audience requested from God answers God meekly with our reading from today: he tells God that he had heard of God but now he has encountered God directly, and he seems to be transformed by this encounter. God tells Job he needs to pray for his awful friends, and after he does, God restores everything to Job in even greater abundance, including giving him 10 more children. I don’t know about y’all, but part of the reason that I have always struggled with Job is because this happy ending rings hollow for me. And maybe that is the point. When we experience great suffering, it changes us, and no matter how hard we might try, we can’t just wish our way back to the way we were before. The lesson that this difficult book has taught me in the wrestling with it this week is that when we try to explain or even understand suffering in our world and God’s part in it, we fail. God is good and the mystery of God’s fullness as well as the way that our actions (both good and bad) affect us and each other will always be unfathomable to us in this life. Sometimes things happen and there is just no explanation, just no reason. But Job and Jesus show us that God does not abandon us, even when it feels like it, even when we are at our lowest. God is present and suffers with those who suffer. The Facebook “On This Day” feature revealed to me a post I shared three years ago titled When the Going Gets Tough… by Katrina Kenison. It gets to the very heart of what we are called to when the going gets tough, either when we are suffering or when we are called to sit with someone else who is suffering. Rather than offering one of those easy, empty sayings that none of us appreciate hearing, here is a different way: “When the going gets tough may I resist my first impulse to wade in, fix, explain, resolve, and restore. May I sit down instead. When the going gets tough may I be quiet. May I steep for a while in stillness. When the going gets tough may I have faith that things are unfolding as they are meant to. May I remember that my life is what it is, not what I ask for. May I find the strength to bear it, the grace to accept it, the faith to embrace it. When the going gets tough may I practice with what I’m given, rather than wish for something else. When the going gets tough may I assume nothing. May I not take it personally. May I opt for trust over doubt, compassion over suspicion, vulnerability over vengeance. When the going gets tough may I open my heart before I open my mouth. When the going gets tough may I be the first to apologize. May I leave it at that. May I bend with all my being toward forgiveness. When the going gets tough may I look for a door to step through rather than a wall to hide behind. When the going gets tough may I turn my gaze up to the sky above my head, rather than down to the mess at my feet. May I count my blessings. When the going gets tough may I pause, reach out a hand, and make the way easier for someone else. When the going gets tough may I remember that I’m not alone. May I be kind. When the going gets tough may I choose love over fear. Every time.”ii When the going gets tough, may God be with you, and may you know the strength of God’s presence. Amen. Throntveit, Mark. Exegetical Perspective for Proper 24 from Feasting on the Word Year B Vol 4: WJK, 2009, p. 175 https://onbeing.org/blog/when-the-going-gets-tough/