20th Sunday after Pentecost                  

Job 2:1-10

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before God, and the accuser also came among them to present himself.

God said to the accuser, “Where have you come from?”

The accuser answered, “From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.”

God said, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.”

Then the accuser answered, “Skin for skin! All that the man has he will give for his life. But, stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”

God said, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”

So, the accuser went out from God’s presence and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself and sat among the ashes. Then, his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die.”

But, he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive good from God and not receive evil?”

In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

 

Wrestling with Job 

The Book of Job, one of the oldest books of the Bible, reads very much like a fairytale. Job is a good man. He’s blessed with 10 kids, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, 500 donkeys, and many, many servants. He’s described as the “greatest of all the people of the east.” And, every morning, he makes a burnt offering for each of his children, just in case they “have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.”

The council of heaven gathers together, and God brags about how wonderful Job is. And, Satan, or The Accuser, says, “You protect him, you bless his work and give him everything he needs. Of course, he loves you! But, take all of that away, and he will curse you to your face!”

And, God says, “Fine. He is under your power. Do what you will with all that he has, but do not touch him.”

What happens next is horrific. All of the sheep are killed. All of the camels are killed. All of the oxen, and donkeys, and servants are killed. A great wind rises up, destroying the house where his children are. They are all dead. And still, Job says, “Blessed be the name of our God.”

God points this out to Satan. “Look at everything you have done to Job, and he yet still does not sin against me.”

And Satan says, “Of course! He still has his health! Take that away, and he will curse you to your face!”

And, God says, “Fine. Do what you will to him. Only, do not take his life.”

So, Satan covers Job in boils. His wife sees him, having suffered the loss of everything they had, just as he did, and she says, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die.”

But, he says, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive good from God and not receive evil?”

In everything that happened, Job did not sin against God with his lips.

The Book of Job is part of the Wisdom literature of the Hebrew scriptures, along with the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. While the idea of God and Satan essentially playing some kind of game with a man’s life, most scholars agree that the Book of Job is not historical; Job was never a real person. This story is more like a myth or a legend, and it may not have never been intended to be taken as literal. But, the story has persisted for thousands of years, and about 500 years ago, when the biblical canon as we know it today was adopted by the church, the Book of Job retained its place among the 66 books that American Protestants currently consider to be divinely inspired scripture. So, why did all of these people, during all of this time, decide to keep the Book of Job, as problematic as it seems to be, as part of our canon?

The events that take place in the Book of Job, whether they actually happened or not, make a lot of us deeply uncomfortable. We don’t want to think that God might be playing games with our lives; it doesn’t fit with who we think God is. But, there’s a reason that this book is part of the Bible. The authors of the Book of Job are trying to tell us something, and we have to try to figure out what that is.

Job’s story is an attempt by our ancestors of faith to answer the question, “If God is good, why is there evil in the world?” This question comes up a lot, not only in our modern times, but as long as people have come together to talk about and think about our relationship with God. It’s a big reason why there are so many different Jewish and Christian denominations, today.

Returning to Job’s story, we see that three of his friends have come to mourn with him. But, as they sit with him, and they think about what’s happened, they start telling him that he must have done something for all of this to happen. God wouldn’t have done this unless Job deserved it. But, Job maintains that he is innocent, speaking at length about his own weakness and suffering.

When God finally answers, what we hear isn’t what we might have expected God to say. Instead of explaining what happened, God speaks of divine wisdom and power. “Where were you Job, when I set the foundations for the earth? Where were you when I made the sea and set its boundaries? Do you command the day and the night? Are you able to send the lightning and the rain?” God is all-powerful and all-knowing and shrouded in mystery; human beings could never understand what it would be like to create a universe, create life, and make sure that all of creation continues for all of eternity. Job is humble and acknowledges this. But then, God turns to Job’s friends, and says, “You have not spoken right of me, as Job has done. Take seven bulls and seven rams and make a burnt-offering. Job shall pray for you, for it is only his prayer that I will accept to not deal with you as you deserve.”

At the end of Job’s story, all that he had lost is replaced – more than replaced – doubled, including ten more children to replace the ten he had lost. Though, we all know ten new children could never replace the ten that were lost.

So, what are we supposed to make of all this? One message that I think the community from which this story arose wanted listeners to hear is that God is all-powerful, and all-knowing, and all-good, and that we cannot fathom the grandeur and majesty that is the Creator of all life, matter, space, and time. There will always be things that happen that we do not understand, and that’s okay. We’re not capable of understanding everything, but we have to trust that God is with us and with everything, and that God understands, and that God is in charge, taking care of everything. That’s what it means to have faith.

The other thing that I think they wanted us to know is that there is always hope. No matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, there is hope that things will be better, that things will change. This story is asking us to have faith, to trust in God, and have faith that God knows what’s best for us and for the world.

There is also a warning here, against the temptation to think that suffering is punishment for something that a person has done. Job himself is tempted to buy into this idea; while he maintains his innocence, he agrees on principle with what his friends say. His desire to prove his innocence shows that he believes he is the victim of injustice, not that he doesn’t believe the premise that suffering is proof of wrongdoing. The Book of Job is essentially an extensive argument against this idea.

Job’s story doesn’t provide us with neat answers. What it does is present us with questions. What is the nature of suffering, and how does it relate to sin? Where is God in our suffering, and why does God not do anything to stop it? Is God the cause of our suffering? What is the appropriate way to respond when we believe we have suffered injustice, especially when we think that God might’ve had a hand in it? What do we do when we feel like God might not be listening to us?

The Book of Job was never intended to answer these questions. Instead, it represents an ancient people’s struggle to understand divine power and authority, and our relationship to it. It shows how we might wrestle with these questions, while still maintaining our faith in a just and good God. It gives us permission to ask these questions, to rail at God if we must, knowing that God will always be there, no matter what we do. It gives us permission to wrestle with these questions.

Being a person of faith does not mean blindly going along with what other people say. It means having a relationship with God. And, relationships are sometimes messy, and we don’t always get what we want, and we don’t always get to know everything that we want to know. God is eternal, omnipotent, and only wants the best for us. So, have faith in God, and remember that God will always love you. Amen.

~ Rev. Charles Wei