Year B Proper 22 7 October 2012
Job 1:1; 2:1-10 Psalm 26 Hebrews 1: 1-4; 2: 5-12 Mark 10: 2-16
One of my favourite television shows is The Big Bang Theory. One of the characters is a Jew and on one of the episodes when someone cried out, “why is this happening to me?” He replies, “My people have been asking that question for thousands of years...”
Truly if Christianity were a man made religion we’d have an answer to the big “Why” question, but instead although there are some things we know, we are left to struggle to make sense of so many others. The word “Israel”, does not mean “chosen people”, or some other comfortable and reassuring term, although it does designate the relationship that God’s people have with Him.... The meaning of “Israel” is, “He struggles with God”.
This week we have an amazing story about a man named Job. Ever heard the old saying “must have the patience of Job”? Well that would be due to the story of this amazing character.
In the book of Job we find a glimpse into that age old question. It doesn’t give a definitive answer to “Why”, but it does give an answer for this particular case, and teaches us a whole lot along the way.
Job 2:3 “Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
If we look at this one verse we learn a number of things. We learn that Job is blameless and upright and is a man of God. We also learn that the calamity that came upon Job was initiated by Satan and Job’s response to this suffering was a witness against Satan.
We know that even though this is an ancient book, well known by Jews, still it was common in the time of Jesus to presume that the reason for adversity was either the sin of the person involved or his parents. Due to the discourse of Jesus with his disciples we know that suffering can also be for the purpose of revealing the gory of God.... and in some ways this was also one of those cases.
Many of us have also been through our own times of adversity, and many of us are still asking that age old question.... WHY??? We don’t know and may not ever get an answer, but certainly we learn many things from Job. Firstly, that it isn’t our fault. Sometimes we certainly may find ourselves experiencing the consequences of our actions, but more often than not things that we even tend to blame ourselves for, are NOT our fault.
Job was blameless. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever feel that I could be described as glowingly as God describes Job, and certainly none of us is perfect. We know from scripture that no human, other than Jesus is blameless, so how can God describe him that way? Do you think that God would describe you that way?
Mark 10:13-16 “ People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”
In our Gospel we discover that the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like children. It is one of those, “ahhhh” readings, but I think we could be missing the point. Often people will say that children are blameless. Let me tell you about a young girl I know who, as a 3 year old, painted her room with poo. Afterwards she said to her doll, “Naughty girl, dolly, you mustn’t do yuckies in your togs”. She knew she was doing wrong.
What a child and those who are “such as these” understands is that someone else has more control. Yes they do know when they are doing wrong sometimes, but the bigger picture for them is that it is all going to be okay because someone else will fix it.... Someone else takes that “blame,” and that is the parent.
Job had a relationship with God. From what we read about Job he actually was pretty near perfect, but I’d like to suggest that the reason he was blameless was his continued reliance on God to “fix it”. It is a real and continuous relationship with God which renders us, “blameless”, which also means that if God is talking to Satan about you, he will also say, “Look at my servant. He/she is blameless and upright”.
Certainly not perfect, but certainly blameless and we can be assured of that because we know that Jesus took that blame.
Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Our reading from Hebrews tells us that Jesus provided purification for sins, but it also tells us about who Jesus is, and that he is the exact representation of God’s being. The doctrine of the trinity is never mentioned as such in the Bible, but it is certainly made very clear in many readings such as this one.
We know that Jesus was THE perfect human but yet we read something a little puzzling in this reading:
Hebrews 2:10, 11 “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”
Jesus was perfect and yet he was made perfect through what he suffered. One of those scripture verses that strikes you as slightly odd at first glance. Jesus was perfect in his being, but there was a plan and purpose for his existence and part of that perfect plan involved suffering. Without the suffering Jesus would still be perfect but his plan and purpose would not be.
Jesus was an innocent man who suffered. He knows how it feels to suffer and be treated like a sinner when you are not. Can you imagine how horrible it feels to be falsely accused, falsely judged and sentenced because of something you didn’t do? This was what Jesus willingly experienced for our sake. He willingly experienced it, but if given the choice the humanity of Christ would have preferred that that “cross” be taken from him.
What Jesus took on was the consequence for someone else’s actions..... ours! It was our sin that he took with him to the cross.
Our Gospel reading talks about divorce and marriage.
Mark 10: 10-12 “When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.””
The disciples asked Jesus about this even after he had already explained it to the Pharisees... why? Did they think he’d give them a different answer? How do people, Divorced, like me, live with Jesus’ answer?
Firstly, let’s not dance around the scripture and pretty it up because Jesus sure didn’t. Moses permitted a certificate of Divorce, but that doesn’t stop sin from being sin.
We, in the 21st century get all offended by the term “sinner”, as if it belongs to the dirty old paedophile. Sinner is a person who falls short of perfection. Do you fall short of perfection? Don’t get all defensive about it, because none of us is perfect and we are all sinners.... it is almost synonymous with being human – except for Jesus.
There is another part of the Gospel reading.... it talks about God making humans male and female and for this reason a man will leave his mother and father and be united to his wife... This brings me to another subject that I and other Christians get into trouble over..... man and wife - not man and husband or woman and wife. Once again this would be called sin and I don’t think Jesus would call it any differently.... BUT.... we are all sinners.
We need desperately to be able to recognise our sin. We can not be offended by the reality of our condition. Children are a lot more able to deal with being told that they’ve done something wrong then adults, because it is a reality that they are aware of. We seem to think that once we are grown we stop doing anything wrong.... and when we do something wrong we justify it. There is no amount of justification, no matter how understandable, can make a sin not a sin. If it falls short of God’s perfection, it is sin.
But like a child, we need to have faith that there is someone bigger who can fix it for us. This doesn’t mean that we don’t worry about our sin, or that we shouldn’t strive to do better, but this means we can rest in the reassurance that we have a big and powerful parent that will, does, and has bailed us out of trouble.
In the spiritual, our sins have been completely paid for already. There is no debt left to pay, but still we do experience suffering. Suffering is a reality due to many reasons, sometimes known, but most often not known.
We do know that the life of Christ had a purpose and suffering was part of it. We also know that the life of Job had a purpose and suffering was part of it also. In all that Job experienced and although he was sorely grieved, he refused to curse God. This was a witness to Satan.... something important in the heavens was accomplished by this act.
Job 2: 9-10 “His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
I remember the words of a song by the band, The Imperials, from many years ago. I feel that this song tells us something really important and it is the same message as our readings. In particular these words: “For the chains that seem to bind you, Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you, when you praise him”
We don’t know “why” bad things happen so many times, and it is natural feel so hurt, but we do know that there is a great heavenly battle won when we continue to serve God.
I think all the words of that song need to be read so I’ll paste them in for you to reflect on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfTQg9whI-s
Praise the Lord, by The Imperials
When you're up against a struggle
That shatters all your dreams
And your hope has been cruelly crushed
By Satan's manifesting scheme
And you feel the urge within you
To submit to earthly fears
Don't let the faith you're standing in, seem to disappear
(Chorus)
Praise the Lord
He can work with those who praise Him ,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise him
Now satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he knows himself
We're children of the King
So lift up the might shield of faith
For the battle has been won
We know that Jesus Christ has risen
So the work's already done
(Chorus)
Praise the Lord
He can work with those who praise Him ,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise him
No comments:
Post a Comment