At first reading, the end of the Book of Job seems to negate all we’ve been working through these last 3 weeks. It sure looks like the good get rewarded. That doing the right thing by simply following the rules is what results in Job’s being restored to even better than before the wager between God and the Satan. Prosperity Gospel here we come.
But you know -and I know – that can’t be right- or at least it can’t be the whole answer. After all, each of us knows at least one person who has done everything right and yet still suffers. Surely all the people killed in Syria in the past week – let alone the past months- were not all bad. Surely not all of them asked to be part of the struggle. Surely some were simply trying to live their lives as best as they could in a war zone. So even though it looks at first reading of the end of Job that simply and solely acting righteously will result in being blessed many-fold, that isn’t the final answer.
Job tells us that he had spoken of God in ways he did not understand. He had spoken of and to God based on what he had heard. It was, if you will, an intellectual knowledge. There was some distance between Job and God when Job’s knowledge of God was limited to his intellect.
But now, after experiencing God in the whirlwind, Job now can speak of -and to- God from the heart. Job’s knowledge of – and relationship with- God is experiential. God is “real” to Job in ways that were not true before. Job repents of his prior perceptions of God and that’s one reason why, I think, Job is blessed and restored. Job’s experiences have given him new ways to speak to God. Job is willing to learn from his experiences and to lead a life informed by his experiences – he doesn’t remain mired in “but that’s the way it’s always been.”
And, Job is restored after Job has prayed for his friends. You see, God told Job’s friends (in part of the text we didn’t read) that Job- and not the friends had it right. Then God puts the future of the friends in Job’s hands. Job can ask God to destroy the friends- or main them and make them suffer as Job had suffered- a nice bit of revenge- or Job can do what he does.
Job prays for his friends. Job had the chance to seek revenge and he did not take it. I think that’s partly why Job is restored. Job repented of his own prior limited knowledge and relationship with God. Job forgave his friends. God restored Job.
Note that Job’s children and flocks and wealth from the beginning are not returned to him.
Rather, Job has new children, new flocks and new wealth. Bruce Epperly reminds us that “the problem of suffering is not solved by replacement”.[1] For each of us that has lost a loved one to death, we may and should love again – but it doesn’t mean the new love replaces the earlier love.
Each person who is a parent knows that he or she loves each child- and that loving one child does not negate the love for a second child. Each of us who has lost a job and finds another knows joy in finding the second job even as we may grieve for the loss of the first one.
So while Job was given more children, more flocks and more wealth, I’m sure there was always sadness for those first children and first flocks that were lost.
Job was restored, in part, because he didn’t give up. He ranted and railed against God, yes. He pleaded for a chance to make his case before God, yes. He experienced God in the whirlwind, yes. And through it all, Job kept his faith in God, even when it seemed nothing was ever going to go right again. Job persisted. We sometimes speak of the patience of Job. If by patience we mean to sit silently and simply accept what comes our way, then we miss the point of Job.
Job persisted is perhaps a better way of expressing what Job did rather than patience. Job was restored because he was persistent. Job did not stay on the ash heap crying “woe is me.” Rather, Job acted. And acted. And acted. And finally Job and God met in the whirlwind. In current parlance, we might say that Job was engaged in the process. Job was not passive- he acted.
You may remember the actor Ben Vereen. He first came to prominence in the mini-series “Roots.” He subsequently starred in many roles, including over 60 movies, plays on Broadway and cabaret theater. After that, his career took off – until an accident nearly destroyed his life.
In 1992, he was in a car accident, struck by a car while walking, and suffered a stroke- all in one night.
He had to learn to walk again, feed himself again –and many, many other struggles to regain health and life. He credits Chita Rivera, another actor, with helping him move forward. At one point he asked her if he would ever dance again. Her response was: yes, but differently.
Vereen says that although some people literally get up in the morning but figuratively just go back to bed. That is, they have given up. The “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” have so worn them down that they no longer act but rather only react. They have let their life slip away and are really just passively waiting to die even as they get up and go through the motions. They have no passion. They have no faith. They are no longer really engaged in life.
Vereen says he made up his mind to literally and figuratively get up when he got up out of bed.
To be proactive. To respond to what life had thrown at him – and to prove all those who said his life was over were wrong.
Doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard. In fact, it was darn hard. But he had faith that God was with him in his struggles. That life wasn’t over just because it was different.
As St. Andrew’s moves into its next phase as the Episcopal Church in Putnam County, it is even more important that each of you remain- or become- engaged in the life of this parish. The priest cannot -and should not- do it alone. This is your parish- not the priest’s. Everyone is important to carrying out the mission of St. Andrew’s. Every person needs to be here- each week, not just once a month – at least if what you want is a vital parish that has staying power. Too often it is the few- rather than everyone- that carries the company, the family, the church.
Too often too many passively wait for someone else to do what needs doing. We don’t have to think very much to know this is true. How many Sundays is there a plea for people to staff Concessions? How many weekends is it the same people who participate as Readers, Prayer Leaders, Acolytes- and the list goes on. What do you want the new priest to see when he or she comes to St. Andrew’s? A place where the few carry the many? Or a place where everyone is engaged and active and serving God in some way and everyone is here on Sunday mornings?
The future is in your hands and your hearts.
Get up. Get active. Don’t let it be said about St. Andrew’s that the advice of Job’s wife was advice you took: Don’t curse God and die.
Get up. Get active. Be the good news. It’s all possible. But it’s up to you. Amen.