What a word of wisdom job speaks here: "Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" Isn't this a great answer to the question of the theodicy: even our suffering has a place in God's eternal plans?
It may not be so unusual to have friends come to council and console and turn out to be more hindrance than help. But it is Job's wife that distresses me. She not only says curse God and die, but she is essentially telling him that his integrity is worthless--give up integrity. Some insults we can handle when they are not so personal or come from strangers but some cutting words really hit us in the heart.
Yes Job's wife's words are cutting but who says she was closer to Job's heart than his buddies?
Good and evil seem to go together; theology-theodicy, companions being both caring and critical, good news bad news, yin and yang This ancient wisdom story seems to transcend cultures and religions, it is the kind of transcendant though we see in the beatitudes, where a higher wisdom questions conventional wisdom. Such dialogue cannot take place without a new perspective on the interplay between good and evil.
World Communion Sunday calls for a more international, cross cultural view that is inclusive to the extreme even as in such a parable as Job where good and evil get mixed together in such a way that sorting them out is like a Rubrick's cube.
The folktale which sandwiches the real debate in Job gives the easy answer: just keep faith and it will come out right in the end. The author of Job rejects this answer as false: the just and the innocent often suffer, and it does not always come out right in the end. I will take this text as a starting point for the real answer Christianity offers: that God does not explain suffering, but enters into it with us, triumphs over it at Easter, and invites us to participate in victory through faith.
The folktale which sandwiches the real debate in Job gives the easy answer: just keep faith and it will come out right in the end. The author of Job rejects this answer as false: the just and the innocent often suffer, and it does not always come out right in the end. I will take this text as a starting point for the real answer Christianity offers: that God does not explain suffering, but enters into it with us, triumphs over it at Easter, and invites us to participate in victory through faith. Steve
I want to work with the Job and Mark texts together to talk about the human need to know if our lives are mistakes or failures or indeed gifts of God and therefore an invitation to grace. When suffering comes, as in the wisdom story, or when divorce happens, do we see ourselves as failures? What keeps us from sinking into despair? How do we find strength? I plan to talk about the sacramental presence of God as a sign of God's grace rather than our failure. Any image or illustrations would be most appreciated - that's always my roughest part! -Claire at mcc@coastalnet.com
Dust in Royal Robes is my sermon title. I am working primarily with Job but also the Hebrews text. I guess if I were to have a secondary title it would be "I Believe in Evolution" talking about our transformation individually as persons in the hand of God. Job suffers and is changed by the questions God asks him. Hebrews speaks of our near-angel status. Quite a leap from the dust (adama) out of which Adam was created. Goes well with World Commion Sunday in the transformation of elements as bread and wine into a symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf.
markh@tyler.net
I am going to extend the text to include the rest of chapter 2. Although Job's friends later botch it by accusing Job of misdeeds, their response at first to sit with Job and console him is a good one. In light of world communion Sunday, I will put forward the notion that we are called as God's people to console those who are facing evil even in the midst of good . We are to be present with folks (and even more) where we can.
Job's friends do say the wrong things to job, in their trying to come to grips with his tragedy, however, they did a very important thing for Job. They went and sat with him and at first didn't speak for days, just stayed there with him. In that since, they display what we Christians should, they went, reaching out by their presence. I lost a child and it was just amazing what people would say to me in thinking they were comforting but were not. I could write a book with the lines they gave me, that were really their way of working out something so terrible within themselves, not something helpful to me. I do however, love them and their attempts. At least his friends attempted, being silent They were there. Something we are suppose to do too.