Why or who?
Commentary
Object:
The book of Job does not really give an answer to why good people suffer. It begins with "Why?" and ends with "Who?" Being a person of faith, living a godly life does not ensure that you will never suffer. Being a Christian does not make us immune to suffering. Indeed, being a person of faith may well bring on additional suffering! Jesus, surely the most wonderful example of who God wants us to be, did not escape suffering. Nor did most of his disciples. Faith does not save us from suffering, and this is one of the points this story makes.
Another point is that suffering is often a mystery. We want to know why, the causes and the reasons for it. Sometimes we find them and we can see clearly the cause and the effect. But sometimes suffering just comes out of the blue with no rhyme or reason -- from a tornado that strikes a church and kills indiscriminately, to the kinds of sufferings that came upon Job and upon many good people we all know (and some of them us).
Job also teaches that it's okay to ask why. God is not offended by our questions, even our doubts, when we are in the midst of pain. Job is known proverbially as a man with great patience, but those who believe that must have never read the whole book. For soon, as we'll see, he loathes the day he was born and hurls many questions, and much fear and anger toward God. Job is a model for us, not so much in patience, but in being honest with God about our pain, questions -- about anything we feel.
The great lesson in this book is not the why of suffering, for no real answer is given, but the who. In the end (ch. 42), Job gets what he most longs for -- not answers so much to his questions, but a renewed sense of the presence and love of God. In the end Job realizes that he has to live with the mystery of suffering, but he can live with it because he knows that no matter what God is with him, God loves him.
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
We know little about Job. His name is not Jewish as far as we know. He doesn't even seem to be Jewish or live in Israel. Uz, well, we don't know where that was. Some say it was south of Israel in Edom and others north somewhere. We don't know. But that doesn't matter. Job is presented in verse 1 as a person of great faith and integrity. He loves and worships God. But that will not save him from suffering.
Several scenes then are shown in heaven and on earth. Chapter 2:1-10, today's reading, is actually scene 4. Here we are transported to heaven, where we eavesdrop on a conversation between God and one of God's servants: Satan.
It needs to be pointed out here that "Satan" is not so much a proper name as the title or role this being has. The Hebrew word satan means "accuser" or "adversary." Just as earthly kings had a court and servants with various functions, so it was pictured that God, king of the universe, also had such a court and such servants. We know in the Persian royal court that often there were persons who acted as the ears and eyes of the king, going here and there in the court and in the kingdom to find anyone who might be doing things to bring harm or dishonor to the king. The "satans" or accusers would then come back and bring charges against these people to the king. It is such a role that this Satan plays.
Job, for the most part, passes the tests forced upon him, disproving what the Satan had predicted Job would say and do. The Satan had predicted otherwise. You see, the Satan was saying that Job was only being righteous because God had blessed Job so much. He's doing it for the reward. Take away the rewards and he would lose faith. But Job didn't. Now Satan tries again. He, in essence says, "Well, those other things we did were not done physically to him. Cause his body pain and he'll curse you." And so Job got sores all over his body, even on the soles of his feet.
His wife, seeing him suffer for so long and having suffered herself, suggests that he give up, curse God, and then die. Job's wife has often been criticized for this. Perhaps she did it out of love for him. She wishes his suffering to end. If cursing God will do that, then do it. But Job will not do it. Job answers, "Shall we receive the good at the hand of God and not the bad?" In other words, Job is expressing here the faith of many of the day that whatever came upon you, for good or ill, was from the hand of God. God was sovereign. God was in control. So if you were blessed, God did that. If you suffered, then God did that as well. This is another thorny question raised by this book: Does God get the blame for everything that happens to us? Can we say of all things "God did that"?
At this point, Job still clings to his faith and his own sense of integrity. But as he continues to suffer, he begins to be filled with questions and anger, crying out to God for some understanding of what was happening and why, as we will see in the reading for next Sunday.
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
These verses very much set forth the theme of this whole letter -- the superiority of Christ. It's true that in the past God chose many different to ways to be revealed, even through human beings like the prophets. But now God has chosen something far superior to all those ways -- God has come in God's own Son. Why is this new revelation so far above all others?
First, Jesus is God's Son. Who better to reveal God and God's will than a child who has lived in the constant presence of the parent? Jesus said in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one" and in John 14:9, "He that hath seen me has seen the Father."
Second, Jesus is far superior because he is now, as Son, "heir of all things." All the physical and spiritual blessings of God are his inheritance, and by implication also passed down to those who follow him and are gathered into his family.
Third, Christ is the one from before time through whom God created all things, which seems to be a reference to the teaching that we see in John 1:1ff of how Jesus is the word or agent God used to create the world (see also Colossians 1:16).
Fourth, Christ is the reflection of God's own glory, which calls to mind Moses coming down from the mountain having been transformed by his communion with God.
Fifth, but Christ is more than this -- he is the express image of God. The idea behind this is the impression that a seal does in wax. It leaves its exact likeness there. So, in Christ we see the image of God, what God is like. Christ is God's self-portrait.
Sixth, Christ's word sustains all things. Just as he was the word that created all things, he is also that power that holds everything together and supports and sustains the universe (see Colossians 1:17, where Paul says much the same thing).
Seventh, referring to the priestly work of Christ to which the writer will return to in some detail, he simply says here that Jesus is the one who has "purged our sins."
Eighth, if this is not enough, the writer then reminds the reader just where Christ sits now -- after his ascension -- at the right hand of God. Christ is priest and king! As such he deserves the highest honor, praise, and devotion.
Verse 4 is interesting in that it begins a small section on contrasting Christ with the angels. Angels were seen as messengers from God. It may be that some of the readers of this letter had begun to think that Jesus was just another such being: an angel, a messenger no different than any other. But the writer says otherwise. He has high regard for angels but says that Christ is far above them. There did seem to be a movement among some early Christians to worship angels (see Colossians 2:8, 18). But the writer here plainly says that no angel was ever called "God's own Son," and so no angel deserves the honor and position rightly afforded to Christ.
Verses 2:5-12. Here the writer continues with the theme of angels and how Christ is superior to them. Maybe there were some who were questioning the position and authority of Jesus because he had become a mere human being, taking on a position lower than the angels. Was he not just a man then? Are not even the angels higher than human beings? The writer responds by quoting from Psalm 8 about human beings being made only a little lower than the angels and given something even the angels are not given: dominion over the earth. Even human beings have yet to really have dominion over the earth, but this is their promise and potential. But then Jesus came as a human being and fulfilled that potential, bringing even sin itself into submission -- not by brute power -- but through suffering and the sacrifice of his life.
Herein is the connection with the other readings today. God brought about salvation for the world through one who accepted a place lower than the angels, becoming a human being. He did so in order to carry out God's plan to bring saving grace to human life. We were created for a loving relationship with God. Sin has shattered that. Nothing we do could restore it. So God did all that was needed in Christ. As the writer will say later, the high priest represented or stood in for all the people. He made specific sacrifices in order to cleanse them from their sins. So too Christ, our great high priest, became one of us. He stood in our place and took our place. He died that everyone might be forgiven, freed, and given never-ending life. The only way to do that was to become one of us and die for us. Suffering can be redemptive.
Mark 10:2-16
The opposition to Jesus is growing. It begins to show as more and more the leaders try to test Jesus, ask him tough questions, and hopefully gain some ground on which to condemn him. And here they choose to ask him about divorce, as it was a burning issue of the day. There were at least two schools of thought on this: 1) only if the wife committed adultery could a divorce be given; 2) much more liberal, that a man could divorce his wife for almost any reason -- from burning his toast to using too much starch in his loincloth (or simply because he found another he liked better). Human nature being what it is, you can imagine which view was most popular. So, could they get Jesus on the record here? Could they get him to say something, maybe against even the Law or Moses that they could later use against him?
Jesus, as he often does, throws the whole matter back in their laps: "Well, what did Moses say?" And they quote Deuteronomy 24:1 about how Moses allowed the man to write a letter of divorce. "But that was only because of the hardness of your hearts," Jesus says. In other words, divorce was becoming so prevalent and women so abused by it all that Moses felt compelled to create a law to bring some control and protection to women for this. That was then, but you have not gone far enough back, Jesus is saying. By quoting only Moses about divorce, they reveal that they had utterly failed to understand or have the desire to do God's will. That will is found in Genesis, where God gives marriage as a gift that makes two people one. God's intention is that marriage be a lifelong, permanent relationship, because that is what is best for humans and for families. That is God's intention, but they had let human traditions, like those even of Moses, to become even more important than the will of God. They were only concerned about legal loopholes of how they could get out of marriage rather than seeing marriage as the lifelong gift God intended it to be.
Jesus, too, lived in a time in which divorce was common and all too easy. The problem was that often women were the victims in all of this. Under Jewish law, a woman could not divorce her husband, but the husband could divorce his wife. Women were still pretty much considered property. (Roman law allowed a woman to divorce her husband.) Jesus is, I believe, opposing a system that often had painful and bitter results for women and children. Jesus is attacking even the use of scripture to justify their selfish desires to end commitments that God takes very seriously.
This is still an issue the church debates today, with no real consensus. We see this, however, even in the scriptures, as Matthew's version of these words from Jesus give one ground for divorce: unchastity or unfaithfulness. In Mark, Jesus lists no grounds at all for divorce. Paul must deal with the problem of an un-Christian spouse who wishes to divorce the Christian spouse. Is that spouse then permitted to remarry? Paul seems to think it's in the spirit of the teachings of Jesus to allow remarriage in such cases (see 1 Corinthians 7:15). So there are situations that arise for which there aren't easy answers.
Would Jesus expect an abused woman and her children to stay in that abusive marriage? Well, some think so, as one woman I know told her sister, who was seeking a divorce because of the abuse she had continually received, "You'll go to hell if you get a divorce." Nice to get support and love from your siblings.
The church has many responsibilities here that we usually do not carry out very well. One, to do a much better job of preparing our children and youth for marriage and family life. Two, to provide much better premarital counseling for couples. Three, to provide ongoing support and nurture for couples and families. Four, to continue to hold up God's ideal for marriage as a lifelong relationship built on love. Marriage is a relationship to be taken seriously and not to be entered into with the feeling that "Oh, we can get a divorce if it doesn't work out." It's a serious commitment, not because God wishes to oppress us but because it's within such relationships that we receive the greatest blessings in life. To take the blessings lightly is to cause ourselves and others great harm. Five, to reach out in love and ministry to those who fail to live up to this ideal.
Verses 13-16. Just as women could be cast aside and abused by the whims of selfish men, so too could children. And Jesus would have none of it. His disciples should have known this already as in Mark 9:33-37 he had already used a child as an example of the least in the kingdom who is the greatest. Whatever their reasons, Jesus was tired, or they were disturbing him, because Jesus was angry with the behavior of his disciples. Children belong in the kingdom as well, in fact they are held up as models for what is required to enter the kingdom. Jesus is not suggesting that we imitate childlike qualities here, as if that would earn our way into the kingdom. He is saying that only those who are like children, who have no rights and no standings so they were totally dependant on others for their acceptance and care, truly enter the kingdom. As Jesus often does, the kingdom is most open for the underdogs, the oppressed, those left out by almost everyone else, who are unimportant and cannot claim any rights at all. They are the ones then most able to understand and accept the message of grace that Jesus was sharing. The way into the kingdom is not the earning of merits, the counting of religious deeds, or even piety. It is the humble acceptance of God's grace and love, realizing that neither is deserved or ever could be, so they "receive" it as a gift.
Application
Bring Them to Jesus
Mark 10:2-16 contains one of the most wonderful and touching stories in the whole gospel. Jesus is busy. He was almost always busy with his teaching, healing, and helping people. One day some parents brought their children for Jesus to bless, but the disciples, perhaps thinking to protect his time, would not let them come to Jesus. Jesus strongly rebuked his disciples and told them that one had to receive the kingdom like a child -- trusting and dependent. A child became a hero then.
How often we parents wish to bring our children here and there: to sporting events, to the doctor when they need it, to school, to places and persons who we know will do good for them, or at least we hope so.
This powerful passage is a message to us parents -- to not forget to bring our children to Jesus...
* for him to hold and bless them, to tell them he loves them;
* for them to learn from him of the ways of God and life in the kingdom;
* to come to him through baptism, so that they might know even before they can know that they are sons and daughters of God through Jesus our Lord; and
* to bring them to educational programs and worship where they will learn of him and of what it means to be his disciple.
Is there anything better we can do for our children than bringing them to Jesus?
An Alternative Application
Possible sermon series? Because the next four Sundays take readings from the books of Job and Hebrews, this might be a good time to do a series of sermons on one or the other.
A series from Job could look in some depth at the problem of suffering, a topic that many people can relate to in personal ways. A good topic for the whole series could be "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?" (There was a popular book written by a Rabbi Kushner titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People that you may find very helpful). Also, Leslie Weatherhead's classic The Will of God has some good insights.
The series from Hebrews gives you the chance to look at the teachings of that letter in some detail. You could title the series "Who Is Jesus Christ?" and have each sermon add answers to that based on the readings from Hebrews.
Another point is that suffering is often a mystery. We want to know why, the causes and the reasons for it. Sometimes we find them and we can see clearly the cause and the effect. But sometimes suffering just comes out of the blue with no rhyme or reason -- from a tornado that strikes a church and kills indiscriminately, to the kinds of sufferings that came upon Job and upon many good people we all know (and some of them us).
Job also teaches that it's okay to ask why. God is not offended by our questions, even our doubts, when we are in the midst of pain. Job is known proverbially as a man with great patience, but those who believe that must have never read the whole book. For soon, as we'll see, he loathes the day he was born and hurls many questions, and much fear and anger toward God. Job is a model for us, not so much in patience, but in being honest with God about our pain, questions -- about anything we feel.
The great lesson in this book is not the why of suffering, for no real answer is given, but the who. In the end (ch. 42), Job gets what he most longs for -- not answers so much to his questions, but a renewed sense of the presence and love of God. In the end Job realizes that he has to live with the mystery of suffering, but he can live with it because he knows that no matter what God is with him, God loves him.
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
We know little about Job. His name is not Jewish as far as we know. He doesn't even seem to be Jewish or live in Israel. Uz, well, we don't know where that was. Some say it was south of Israel in Edom and others north somewhere. We don't know. But that doesn't matter. Job is presented in verse 1 as a person of great faith and integrity. He loves and worships God. But that will not save him from suffering.
Several scenes then are shown in heaven and on earth. Chapter 2:1-10, today's reading, is actually scene 4. Here we are transported to heaven, where we eavesdrop on a conversation between God and one of God's servants: Satan.
It needs to be pointed out here that "Satan" is not so much a proper name as the title or role this being has. The Hebrew word satan means "accuser" or "adversary." Just as earthly kings had a court and servants with various functions, so it was pictured that God, king of the universe, also had such a court and such servants. We know in the Persian royal court that often there were persons who acted as the ears and eyes of the king, going here and there in the court and in the kingdom to find anyone who might be doing things to bring harm or dishonor to the king. The "satans" or accusers would then come back and bring charges against these people to the king. It is such a role that this Satan plays.
Job, for the most part, passes the tests forced upon him, disproving what the Satan had predicted Job would say and do. The Satan had predicted otherwise. You see, the Satan was saying that Job was only being righteous because God had blessed Job so much. He's doing it for the reward. Take away the rewards and he would lose faith. But Job didn't. Now Satan tries again. He, in essence says, "Well, those other things we did were not done physically to him. Cause his body pain and he'll curse you." And so Job got sores all over his body, even on the soles of his feet.
His wife, seeing him suffer for so long and having suffered herself, suggests that he give up, curse God, and then die. Job's wife has often been criticized for this. Perhaps she did it out of love for him. She wishes his suffering to end. If cursing God will do that, then do it. But Job will not do it. Job answers, "Shall we receive the good at the hand of God and not the bad?" In other words, Job is expressing here the faith of many of the day that whatever came upon you, for good or ill, was from the hand of God. God was sovereign. God was in control. So if you were blessed, God did that. If you suffered, then God did that as well. This is another thorny question raised by this book: Does God get the blame for everything that happens to us? Can we say of all things "God did that"?
At this point, Job still clings to his faith and his own sense of integrity. But as he continues to suffer, he begins to be filled with questions and anger, crying out to God for some understanding of what was happening and why, as we will see in the reading for next Sunday.
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
These verses very much set forth the theme of this whole letter -- the superiority of Christ. It's true that in the past God chose many different to ways to be revealed, even through human beings like the prophets. But now God has chosen something far superior to all those ways -- God has come in God's own Son. Why is this new revelation so far above all others?
First, Jesus is God's Son. Who better to reveal God and God's will than a child who has lived in the constant presence of the parent? Jesus said in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one" and in John 14:9, "He that hath seen me has seen the Father."
Second, Jesus is far superior because he is now, as Son, "heir of all things." All the physical and spiritual blessings of God are his inheritance, and by implication also passed down to those who follow him and are gathered into his family.
Third, Christ is the one from before time through whom God created all things, which seems to be a reference to the teaching that we see in John 1:1ff of how Jesus is the word or agent God used to create the world (see also Colossians 1:16).
Fourth, Christ is the reflection of God's own glory, which calls to mind Moses coming down from the mountain having been transformed by his communion with God.
Fifth, but Christ is more than this -- he is the express image of God. The idea behind this is the impression that a seal does in wax. It leaves its exact likeness there. So, in Christ we see the image of God, what God is like. Christ is God's self-portrait.
Sixth, Christ's word sustains all things. Just as he was the word that created all things, he is also that power that holds everything together and supports and sustains the universe (see Colossians 1:17, where Paul says much the same thing).
Seventh, referring to the priestly work of Christ to which the writer will return to in some detail, he simply says here that Jesus is the one who has "purged our sins."
Eighth, if this is not enough, the writer then reminds the reader just where Christ sits now -- after his ascension -- at the right hand of God. Christ is priest and king! As such he deserves the highest honor, praise, and devotion.
Verse 4 is interesting in that it begins a small section on contrasting Christ with the angels. Angels were seen as messengers from God. It may be that some of the readers of this letter had begun to think that Jesus was just another such being: an angel, a messenger no different than any other. But the writer says otherwise. He has high regard for angels but says that Christ is far above them. There did seem to be a movement among some early Christians to worship angels (see Colossians 2:8, 18). But the writer here plainly says that no angel was ever called "God's own Son," and so no angel deserves the honor and position rightly afforded to Christ.
Verses 2:5-12. Here the writer continues with the theme of angels and how Christ is superior to them. Maybe there were some who were questioning the position and authority of Jesus because he had become a mere human being, taking on a position lower than the angels. Was he not just a man then? Are not even the angels higher than human beings? The writer responds by quoting from Psalm 8 about human beings being made only a little lower than the angels and given something even the angels are not given: dominion over the earth. Even human beings have yet to really have dominion over the earth, but this is their promise and potential. But then Jesus came as a human being and fulfilled that potential, bringing even sin itself into submission -- not by brute power -- but through suffering and the sacrifice of his life.
Herein is the connection with the other readings today. God brought about salvation for the world through one who accepted a place lower than the angels, becoming a human being. He did so in order to carry out God's plan to bring saving grace to human life. We were created for a loving relationship with God. Sin has shattered that. Nothing we do could restore it. So God did all that was needed in Christ. As the writer will say later, the high priest represented or stood in for all the people. He made specific sacrifices in order to cleanse them from their sins. So too Christ, our great high priest, became one of us. He stood in our place and took our place. He died that everyone might be forgiven, freed, and given never-ending life. The only way to do that was to become one of us and die for us. Suffering can be redemptive.
Mark 10:2-16
The opposition to Jesus is growing. It begins to show as more and more the leaders try to test Jesus, ask him tough questions, and hopefully gain some ground on which to condemn him. And here they choose to ask him about divorce, as it was a burning issue of the day. There were at least two schools of thought on this: 1) only if the wife committed adultery could a divorce be given; 2) much more liberal, that a man could divorce his wife for almost any reason -- from burning his toast to using too much starch in his loincloth (or simply because he found another he liked better). Human nature being what it is, you can imagine which view was most popular. So, could they get Jesus on the record here? Could they get him to say something, maybe against even the Law or Moses that they could later use against him?
Jesus, as he often does, throws the whole matter back in their laps: "Well, what did Moses say?" And they quote Deuteronomy 24:1 about how Moses allowed the man to write a letter of divorce. "But that was only because of the hardness of your hearts," Jesus says. In other words, divorce was becoming so prevalent and women so abused by it all that Moses felt compelled to create a law to bring some control and protection to women for this. That was then, but you have not gone far enough back, Jesus is saying. By quoting only Moses about divorce, they reveal that they had utterly failed to understand or have the desire to do God's will. That will is found in Genesis, where God gives marriage as a gift that makes two people one. God's intention is that marriage be a lifelong, permanent relationship, because that is what is best for humans and for families. That is God's intention, but they had let human traditions, like those even of Moses, to become even more important than the will of God. They were only concerned about legal loopholes of how they could get out of marriage rather than seeing marriage as the lifelong gift God intended it to be.
Jesus, too, lived in a time in which divorce was common and all too easy. The problem was that often women were the victims in all of this. Under Jewish law, a woman could not divorce her husband, but the husband could divorce his wife. Women were still pretty much considered property. (Roman law allowed a woman to divorce her husband.) Jesus is, I believe, opposing a system that often had painful and bitter results for women and children. Jesus is attacking even the use of scripture to justify their selfish desires to end commitments that God takes very seriously.
This is still an issue the church debates today, with no real consensus. We see this, however, even in the scriptures, as Matthew's version of these words from Jesus give one ground for divorce: unchastity or unfaithfulness. In Mark, Jesus lists no grounds at all for divorce. Paul must deal with the problem of an un-Christian spouse who wishes to divorce the Christian spouse. Is that spouse then permitted to remarry? Paul seems to think it's in the spirit of the teachings of Jesus to allow remarriage in such cases (see 1 Corinthians 7:15). So there are situations that arise for which there aren't easy answers.
Would Jesus expect an abused woman and her children to stay in that abusive marriage? Well, some think so, as one woman I know told her sister, who was seeking a divorce because of the abuse she had continually received, "You'll go to hell if you get a divorce." Nice to get support and love from your siblings.
The church has many responsibilities here that we usually do not carry out very well. One, to do a much better job of preparing our children and youth for marriage and family life. Two, to provide much better premarital counseling for couples. Three, to provide ongoing support and nurture for couples and families. Four, to continue to hold up God's ideal for marriage as a lifelong relationship built on love. Marriage is a relationship to be taken seriously and not to be entered into with the feeling that "Oh, we can get a divorce if it doesn't work out." It's a serious commitment, not because God wishes to oppress us but because it's within such relationships that we receive the greatest blessings in life. To take the blessings lightly is to cause ourselves and others great harm. Five, to reach out in love and ministry to those who fail to live up to this ideal.
Verses 13-16. Just as women could be cast aside and abused by the whims of selfish men, so too could children. And Jesus would have none of it. His disciples should have known this already as in Mark 9:33-37 he had already used a child as an example of the least in the kingdom who is the greatest. Whatever their reasons, Jesus was tired, or they were disturbing him, because Jesus was angry with the behavior of his disciples. Children belong in the kingdom as well, in fact they are held up as models for what is required to enter the kingdom. Jesus is not suggesting that we imitate childlike qualities here, as if that would earn our way into the kingdom. He is saying that only those who are like children, who have no rights and no standings so they were totally dependant on others for their acceptance and care, truly enter the kingdom. As Jesus often does, the kingdom is most open for the underdogs, the oppressed, those left out by almost everyone else, who are unimportant and cannot claim any rights at all. They are the ones then most able to understand and accept the message of grace that Jesus was sharing. The way into the kingdom is not the earning of merits, the counting of religious deeds, or even piety. It is the humble acceptance of God's grace and love, realizing that neither is deserved or ever could be, so they "receive" it as a gift.
Application
Bring Them to Jesus
Mark 10:2-16 contains one of the most wonderful and touching stories in the whole gospel. Jesus is busy. He was almost always busy with his teaching, healing, and helping people. One day some parents brought their children for Jesus to bless, but the disciples, perhaps thinking to protect his time, would not let them come to Jesus. Jesus strongly rebuked his disciples and told them that one had to receive the kingdom like a child -- trusting and dependent. A child became a hero then.
How often we parents wish to bring our children here and there: to sporting events, to the doctor when they need it, to school, to places and persons who we know will do good for them, or at least we hope so.
This powerful passage is a message to us parents -- to not forget to bring our children to Jesus...
* for him to hold and bless them, to tell them he loves them;
* for them to learn from him of the ways of God and life in the kingdom;
* to come to him through baptism, so that they might know even before they can know that they are sons and daughters of God through Jesus our Lord; and
* to bring them to educational programs and worship where they will learn of him and of what it means to be his disciple.
Is there anything better we can do for our children than bringing them to Jesus?
An Alternative Application
Possible sermon series? Because the next four Sundays take readings from the books of Job and Hebrews, this might be a good time to do a series of sermons on one or the other.
A series from Job could look in some depth at the problem of suffering, a topic that many people can relate to in personal ways. A good topic for the whole series could be "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?" (There was a popular book written by a Rabbi Kushner titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People that you may find very helpful). Also, Leslie Weatherhead's classic The Will of God has some good insights.
The series from Hebrews gives you the chance to look at the teachings of that letter in some detail. You could title the series "Who Is Jesus Christ?" and have each sermon add answers to that based on the readings from Hebrews.
