Job & Michael
Job 1 (NRSV)
Job and His Family
1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did.
Attack on Job’s Character
6 One day the heavenly beings [Hebrew: sons of God] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan [b] also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan,[c] “Where have you come from?” Satan[d] answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 The Lord said to Satan,[e] “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.” 9 Then Satan[f] answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan,[g] “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan[h] went out from the presence of the Lord.
Job Loses Property and Children
13 One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 He said, “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.”
22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
Job 2 (NRSV)
Attack on Job’s Health
2 One day the heavenly beings [Hebrew: sons of God] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Satan,[c] “Where have you come from?” Satan[d] answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 The Lord said to Satan,[e] “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.” 4 Then Satan[f] answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives.[g] 5 But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 The Lord said to Satan,[h] “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”
7 So Satan[i] went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 Job[j] took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse[k] God, and die.” 10 But he said 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?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Wednesday, 10 October 2018, a day that will live in nightmares. God - - to whom we give praise and glory for good things, for deliverance, for close calls, for fears that don’t come true, for when our prayers seem to be answered - - for most of us in our rationalizing piety, God will not have to take the rap for Hurricane Michael. For most of us, God will not be cursed; or we may even say, “Well, Hurricane Michael was the will of God.”
And it is undeniable that hurricanes are part of the nature of Creation. Those of us who know the story of Job as an ancient Jewish drama that we are meant to discuss and discern and take sensibly away from, may take a theological view. God the Creator, Author of the Big Bang, has breathed into us life in a universe, galaxy, solar system, world that is filled with beauty, wonder, good things and love; and there is also what we experience as evil in the nature of things. Poisonous, stinging creatures, wasps, spiders, scorpions, mosquitos, serpents, ravenous predators on land and in the sea. Even evil, mean, selfish and greedy humans. What seems to be evil in nature itself: lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, disease, earthquakes, tsunamis, unbearable heat and cold, wind and storms at sea and on the land. Even, depending on our perspective, the fact that life is short, and we haven’t much time, that we enter life and take our chances and then we die.
Earth and nature are what they are. God doesn’t pull strings and make flashing lights and scary noises like the Wizard of Oz. We might wish God would intervene, or that God had done a better job with Creation, had made all things come together with our benefit in mind, both all of us corporately and each of us individually. But here we are in life, Jobs of the world as it is. If we want to blame, hate and curse God, as Pierre Wolff, SJ has written (May I Hate God?), that's fine, because God who is Grace, is big enough and loving enough to take our abuse, absorb our anger and hatred, and love us still. Counter to Job's wife, you may curse God; you will NOT die, God is Grace.
Job finds that God is God whether Job understands God or not; and Job does not; Job simply accepts. It is what it is. At least in Job's case, though some forty chapters in the wilderness later, Easter comes.
If this were a sermon I might conclude with Jesus on the Cross, God loving us in spite of us, and, dying, dead, on the Third Day coming straight back and keeping on loving us. But it isn’t a sermon. It’s a blogpost. Life here in the wilderness, in sackcloth and ashes, is what it is.
He descended into hell,
And as yet, Easter is nowhere in sight. But let us bless the Lord. And let all the people say,
Thanks be to God.
He descended into hell,
And as yet, Easter is nowhere in sight. But let us bless the Lord. And let all the people say,
Thanks be to God.
T
No, I take that back. Easter: Malinda was discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon and is here in the Pensacola motel with us, sitting up in bed, sipping a cup of coffee.
No, I take that back. Easter: Malinda was discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon and is here in the Pensacola motel with us, sitting up in bed, sipping a cup of coffee.