JOB, Part 1: "Who needs friends like this?"
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, February 4th, 2001
Text: Job II: 11-13 & Job III: 1-10
I don't know if you have ever heard of what is known as Gumperson's Law, but Gumperson is perhaps the North American equivalent of what in Europe is known as Murphy's Law. In other words, if something is going to go wrong, it will, and no doubt it will go wrong, just when you don't need it to. It's sort of like, and I'm sure you have experienced this, you're packed, you're ready to go on vacation, it is the night before you are about to embark and your children come down with a case of the mumps. Or, and this has happened to me, you are having to dash overseas for a particularly important business meeting and you get to the airport just in time, only to realize you have forgotten your passport. Or the one that really gets me, and it's Toronto that really, really upsets me with this: When you have to go to a meeting and the traffic has been backed up. You have finally reached your destination and you realize that the only parking spaces are on the other side of the street. You know, that is Gumperson's Law working at it's very best. Well, I didn't know this about Gumperson who came up with this idea; however, one day Gumperson was walking on the left side of the road. This is a true story. As he did so, he of course was able to see the oncoming traffic, and he thought that he had really prepared himself well for any eventuality until a car came from behind, struck him and killed him. It was an Englishman, who had just arrived in the country, driving on the other side of the road - the lesson being: Watch out for the English. I think that's the message, right?
But I am sure this has happened to you in your life. When you think you are ready for any eventuality and all of a sudden, from behind, out of the blue, a catastrophe, a dilemma, or a problem. Very often, these cause people of Faith to ask some very difficult questions. Who of us, for example, has not faced suffering and not actually wondered about God in the midst of this? Is God really responsible for this accident? Is God the author of my demise and destruction? Is it God Who has brought this upon me? Is God, therefore, a vengeful God who is out to get me? Many people ask that question. Once they have dealt with that, they then ask the second question: Well, maybe I'm the source of the problem; maybe I have done something wrong; maybe I should not have been walking on the street at all that night; maybe I should have done something for somebody else instead of myself; maybe a particular sin that I have committed in the past is coming back to get me and to grab me; maybe I am the author of my own demise. Sometimes we become paranoid and we decide that it is somebody else who is responsible for our dilemma. Maybe we just live in a wicked and perverse world where everybody is simply out to get us - It must be the fault of somebody else that I am in this position. Or a final one - what I call the rationalist's response -and really it is one of fatalism: Well the odds are that if I'm walking down a road, sometime, I will get hit by a car. That's life! These are just the things that are brought upon us. It is something we have to live with, resign ourselves to. It is just the rolling of the dice and the logic of the numbers.
Well my friends, if ever you have suffered, or had a problem; if you have ever asked yourself one of those four questions, then I can assure you that there is one book that you absolutely must read. It is the Book of Job. The Book of Job is a magnificent book, but very often because it is a complex one, people decide not to read it, or only read parts of it. To help you understand this book, for the next four weeks, I want to clarify just a few things about it that might make it more readable. The first of these is, we don't know the author, and we don't know the date or the timing of the writing of Job. So, unlike some of the prophets such as Isaiah or Jeremiah, or unlike the great apostle, Paul, we can't delve into the psychology or the situation of the writers to understand it. In fact, some have argued that the Book of Job was actually written by two people because it appears to be in three parts. You have a central part, which is poetry, and seems very ancient and very old. Then you have a beginning, a prologue, and an ending, a conclusion, which seem to be more contemporary and added by a later writer. The fact of the matter is, though, we simply don't know. You have to read the Book of Job as a whole. One of the other problems we have with the Book of Job is that there are many different interpretations and, indeed, many different translations. People find that at times, when they read through Job, it gets a bit repetitive. You say, "Oh my gosh, Job, shut up, I've heard that argument before. Let's move on to the next one.", only to become irritated with it and not stay through the whole of the story. Sometimes, there are other problems with the Book of Job. One of them is that it seems that it is an open story and doesn't give a rational, western, logical, step by step assessment of the meaning of suffering. And so, we read the Book of Job, an old book, two thousand five hundred years old, maybe from an even older book than Job, and we try to impose our western views of logic on it and we become frustrated.
The great Walter Brueggeman, the Old Testament scholar, has rightly said that there is also another aspect to Job, and that it really is a counterpoint to Abraham: That Job is a man of faith; that Job is a man who has to go and live his life regardless of what he may face; that Job may struggle and wrestle with that God, but in the end, Job always comes back to God, because God is faithful to Job.
And the final thing about this book that always grasps me is: That, not only is it an open-ended story, but it is one that speaks about the living nature of God. It helps us definitely to deal with suffering; it helps us to learn wisdom; but, most of all, it is a message about living with God, even through the difficult times. And so, if you go to Job looking to find certain answers to certain questions, you might be disappointed; but if you read Job as a living exercise of someone walking with God, then you will find it inspirational and helpful.
The moment that we encounter Job, is in the very beginning. It is in the prologue of Job. The prologue of Job really gives sense to this book, and you can't understand it without it. It is the story of where God and the Devil, or Satan, or the Adversary, whatever translation you want to use, look at this man Job. Job is a wealthy man, Job is a healthy man, Job is a family man - he has it all. And, in the midst of this, the Tempter comes to God and says: "I bet you, if I took away from Job everything he had, he wouldn't keep his faith in you." Now God, you'll notice, does not tempt Job - there's none of that in here - but God allows the Adversary to attack Job, because God is convinced that Job, in the end, will maintain his faith and maintain his fidelity to Him. So God allows this to happen, but the Tempter is the author of it and Job is the victim of it.
The moment that we begin our examination commences with the story of Job's suffering. We encounter Job having lost absolutely everything. As he does so, three of his friends come and visit him, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. These three friends, when they see the state that Job's in, don't know what to say. I am sure that you have encountered this in your life. You see someone who is so devastated, who has lost so much, whose joys have so evaporated, that you don't know what to say. And Job's friends sit with him for seven days, in complete silence. Many commentators have argued that they should have stayed there for a few more days in silence after the words that they had to offer him; for they should have just comforted him and been there quietly with him. But after a while, Job begins to become irritated and he starts to question the day that he was born. He says, in effect: Look, I would rather not have lived at all than go through this. All the joys, all the wealth, all the family that I've now lost are meaningless compared to the suffering that I now feel. In fact, I curse the day I was born; in fact, I wish my mother and father had not even thought about me in the first place. I would pray that no children are ever born on the day that I was born, because being born on such a day is such a horrible, horrible thing. Job, in other words, had no further to go. He had fallen to the very depths of Hell. His three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, then decide that it's time for them to speak. They want to say a word to Job, sort the guy out a little bit, make sure that he understands what he should do.
Now, there is one thing we need to know and understand here: Job's friends do not know what happened in the prologue. They come and they see Job in his suffering, and then they start to offer what I call the words of the vox populi: common wisdom on suffering, three people who represent what is very often the common view of the way in which we deal with suffering.
I am sure, my friends, that all of us have, at some point, used the words of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Sometimes, we have been confronted by the arguments of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. And while we may not have individual friends that have a direct correlation to these three characters, I can tell you definitely that their attitude toward suffering is right out there the moment you leave this church. Let us look at these three and see what they have to say to poor old Job who wished he had never been born.
The first of these characters is Eliphaz, and I call Eliphaz a self-help guru. He comes to Job and he's very nice and schmaltzy and lovey-dovey. And he says: "Oh, Dear Job, I am so sorry that you have terrible problems. I really want to sit with you and be with you and be kind to you and be nice to you."
He sounds like a mechanic I once knew. They are always trying to sell you something. The mechanic said to me, Reverend Stirling, you have the most beautiful car that I have ever seen. You take care of it, you wash it, you wax it, you maintain it. It deserves the very, very best of attention. Therefore, Reverend Stirling, because you have such a beautiful car, I have put hours and hours and hours into making sure that it's running properly. I have used the finest parts; I have cleaned it for you. Here's a bill for $1,000. It all sounds very nice up front, but when you're landed with the bill, it becomes a problem.
Eliphaz is just like that: lots of nice schmaltzy words. The only problem is, he's no friend of Job - on the contrary. He paints a picture of God as totally Other, somewhere out there in the distance of the world, maintaining his justice, detached from human existence. He says: "You know what you really need, Job, with that just God and the plight you are in, you need an intercessor. You need someone who has a vision of God, and I have a vision of God, Job, and I can tell you, Job, how you should live. I will tell you what God wants of you, Job. Job, you need an intercessor." And so, he claims to intercede on behalf of God, and he speaks to Job and basically, he comes to this conclusion: "Job," he says, "you're the problem." See what I mean about the friend? "Job, you are the problem." Let me quote Eliphaz for you: "Think back now. Name a single case where a righteous man met with disaster, Job. I have seen people plough fields of evil and plant wickedness like seed, now they harvest wickedness and evil." He goes on and he says: "No, Job. Man brings trouble on himself as surely as sparks fly up from a fire. If I were you, Job, I would turn to God and present my case to him. In other words, Job, you are the problem." It also means that if Job is the problem and the author of his own suffering, then it is in Job's hands as to how the problem is solved. Well, that's not much help to Job, who at this point has lost absolutely everything.
It reminds me of these people who come on television trying to sell products to people. Have you noticed that when they do so, they are usually sitting by a pool in southern Florida, and there are palm trees swaying and beautiful boats going behind. They bring on these people who have gone from making absolutely no money to a million dollars in a year, just because, for $99.95, they bought the plan that only this person can help you with. Isn't it amazing! Wouldn't you think that if these plans were really that good, those people would be out of business in a hurry. It seems to me that in normal life they would. But all these gurus come on. You can buy a package of personal power, sort out a few problems in your life and you will never have any miseries again. In fact you will live like me: by a pool, in southern Florida, boats going by, beautiful women or men. This will be the life!
Well, my friends, I wish it were as simple as that. I wish dealing with suffering were as simple as that. I wish it were sometimes all in my own hands, because if it were, I would try and sort myself out. The only problem is, suffering sometimes comes and it has nothing to do with me.
The second friend is Bildad, and Bildad's a ruthless son of a monkey. He doesn't try and be schmaltzy, and nice and lovey-dovey. He just comes out in the most insensitive way possible and says: "Smarten up Job. You're the problem, Job. You're just not religious enough, Job. That is your problem." He's insensitive; he says things like this to him: "Do you know why your children died, Job? They must have done something wrong, Job." It made Job feel wonderful!
It reminds me of a story of a Mr. Mykin who was called away to business in Chicago, and he had to leave behind his cat, with his brother. His brother hated cats, so he was really worried about this. And so he went to Chicago, and, when he came back to the airport, he went to the phone right away to see if his cat was okay. And so Mr. Mykin phoned up and the brother says: "Your cat is dead." And he hung up. Well, Mr. Mykin was really upset by this, so he phones his brother again, a second time. He says: "In future, would you mind being a little more tactful when you give me bad news." The brother says: "Well, like what?" And he says: "Well, you know. Tell me that the cat was playing on the roof, and fell off and broke his leg, and we took him to a vet, and we gave him an anaesthetic, and we held the cat, but unfortunately, the cat died." So the brother said: "Fine. That's okay." So then, Mr. Mykin says: "By the way, how's Mother?" There was a long silence. The brother says: "Well, she's playing on the roof right now." You'll never forget Bildad now, will you?
Well Bildad's like the brother. Lots of nice smart words, lots of calls to prayer. "What you really need to do, Job," says Bildad, "is, you need to turn to God in prayer. You need to become more religious. That's your problem, Job." He is what I call the religious zealot of the crowd. Sometimes, my friends, they do great damage; because, sometimes religious zealots claim to speak for God when they have no knowledge of what God is saying at all. In fact, they sometimes speak a word of revenge.
Some years ago, I was a pastoral care worker at a hospital in Nova Scotia for the mentally ill. There was a young girl who was there, and I had ministered to her over a matter of weeks. She was suicidal. She had lost a baby. She was in great agony. I remember one day her pastor decided to visit her, and her pastor came in and found her sitting in the solarium, drinking coffee and having a cigarette. He went up to her, and within seconds, began to castigate her for smoking. He told her that smoking would lead to the road to hell; and that, no wonder she was suffering so much in this life if she was going to continue to sin so boldly. It took me weeks after that to reinforce in this young woman's life that God loved her, that God loved her. It was atrocious.
If people claim to speak for God, they had better understand the full counsel of God first, for Bildad spoke to Job, and he spoke in the most ruthless ways to him, and he made Job feel like he was nothing. He said to Job, and I quote: "Godless men are like reeds: Their hope is gone once God is forgotten." Some friend! Some friend!
The third of the friends was Zophar, and Zophar is what I call my rationalist philosopher-king. This is the one who comes to Job, and he tells Job off for his lack of wisdom. In the soaring heights of glorious and wonderful verbosity, Zophar tells Job that Job is lacking wisdom. And, not only is he lacking wisdom, he is lacking insight and reason. All Job really needs to do to understand his suffering is just become a little smarter, and a little wiser, and he would understand. There is, of course, in Zophar's belief, no role for forgiveness, no place for mercy, just cold, hard fatalism. Job, the way things are, is just the way things are, and if you were just a little smarter, you'd understand exactly what is happening to you.
It reminds me of the opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, entitled, of all things, Labyrinth. And Gian Carlo Menotti's Labyrinth is the story of humanity's obsession with television and it's lack of wisdom because of that. And so, he tells the story of a young couple who are newly married, who are trying to find their way to their hotel-room. As they do, they go through a wandering life, searching for meaning and understanding and they never get there until the very end. When they finally arrive at the door of their hotel, it is locked, and they realize that they have lost the key, and they do not arrive. The two characters eventually die. They eventually become nothing; but in a dream, once they are dead, the message is that only once they have actually moved on to the other side will they understand the meaning of life and know where the key is to open the door. Zophar is just like that. He says to Job, and I quote: "Your hope is that death will come. Your hope is that death will come."
In all his logic, in all his wonderful, splendid, human wisdom, Zophar leaves Job with only one way out: to die. Who needs a friend like that?
You see, my friends, these three men, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, are the reasoning of the world, not the reasoning of God. But they are absolute in their convictions. It's as if they've already got God all figured out. They have their orthodoxy, they have their views, and they impose them on Job, and they leave Job with a complete sense of despair and hopelessness.
Oh, there are partial truths to what they say. Some of it is right. Sometimes we are responsible. Sometimes we do need to smarten up. Sometimes God is upset with us. But that is not the final answer. The final answer is that God lives with Job through his suffering, as we shall see. And their partial view of the truth of God is precisely that. They also lack something: They lack mercy and they lack forgiveness.
I love what one person said to me after the 9.30 a.m. service. He said: "You know, the one thing, Andrew, that these men do not do for Job is, they don't give him a glass of water." No, they have all their wisdom, but that's exactly what it is, false wisdom. So, if you want to know, my friends, more about how God treats Job, I'm sorry, you'll have to keep listening. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.