From Silence To Sight
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series II, Cycle B
Playwright Neil Simon has written a comedy, God's Favorite, based on a contemporary Job, a tycoon whom Simon names "Joe Benjamin" or "Joe B." for short. The setting is Long Island, where Joe B. lives in a nineteen-room mansion with his wife, a prodigal son, and a pair of kooky twins. The family's assets include priceless paintings, irreplaceable antiques, including a Gutenberg Bible, half a million dollars in jewelry, swimming pools, and domestic servants.
Joe was not always wealthy, having grown up in a tenement. When he was a young man, the holes in his socks were so big that he could put them on from either end. Joe is now a prominent citizen and businessman, a patient and generous person, trusting that how we live and how we die is in the hands of God. He attributes all his success to God, believing that wealth is as much a responsibility as poverty is a burden.
God sends Sydney, a messenger from Queens, to put Joe's faith to the ultimate test and persuade him to renounce God in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. Satan is a suntanned Robert Redford look-alike who wears a pink suit.
Soon after Sydney makes an appearance, Joe's company burns to the ground, followed by calamity after calamity. Joe's multiple physical afflictions run the gamut, from neuralgia with a side order of bursitis and the heartbreak of psoriasis, down to hemorrhoids.
Then his mansion burns to the ground, and we find Joe painfully sitting in the ashes of what had been the showplace of Oyster Island. He makes the best of the situation, suggesting a cookout over the embers. The family notes the burning bush in their yard, and decides immediately to begin all over with a renewed faith in God and in humanity.
As the curtain comes down on Joe B. and his family, I am surprised to learn that the Benjamin family's worldly wealth was not fully restored as it is in our Bible story. Nevertheless, they do seem content in their new circumstances. Their obsessions with possessions have dissipated.
In the last chapter of the book of Job, after all is said and done, Job prays for his friends and is restored to his original status. In the end, the scriptural Job's earthly possessions supercede even his original wealth. Job's story begins, "Once upon a time" and ends with "... and they all lived happily ever after." This ending seems a little incongruous to us, doesn't it? Just as Job's experiences showed him that bad things do happen to good people, our own experiences tell us that real life tragedies rarely turn out the way Job's did. Very seldom are we left better off than before the calamities struck.
Life is not always fair. That's why the Apostle Paul says in effect, "I've learned to accept the fact that life isn't fair, and that's okay. I'm serving God, not my circumstances. I've learned how to play the cards that life has dealt me."
When playing card games, each person is dealt a different hand. In life, each person is playing a different hand of cards, too. Some people are holding several trump cards, while others have been dealt lousy hands. Maybe your spouse left you or your teenager ran into trouble with the law. Maybe downsizing has eliminated your position at the company or you have been diagnosed with cancer. You can't seem to beat your addiction or get admitted to graduate school.
You are envious of those who have been dealt good hands and resent the successful person who appears to be cheating. Although you have been dealt a poor hand in the game of life, you still must play your cards in the game of life. But, you just can't seem to unload that Old Maid card, no matter what you do. The game of life goes on in spite of crooked dealers and stacked decks.
Although we may not be responsible for the cards in our hand, we are accountable for the way we play them. We must stop complaining about our bad hand and play the game, trusting God, who promises that each believer will have a winning hand in the end.1
God does not cause us to suffer, but is right there suffering with us. Instead of, "How can God let evil happen to good people?" the question becomes, "How long will we permit systemic evil to continue?" The question, "Why did God allow Auschwitz to happen?" then becomes, "Why did we allow Auschwitz to happen?"
"The cross of Christ symbolizes an understanding of human suffering in which humans may participate in God's pain that is love's pain ... We understand God's annunciation only when we hear the tears in God's voice. The God who 'will wipe away every tear from their eyes' (Revelation 21:4) weeps with us."2
Our sinful ways and poor choices can lead to suffering, not because God is punishing us, but because we are not living in response to God's love and sacrifices for us. When we cause ourselves trouble, God responds with compassion, as good earthly parents do. Suffering is a part of life in which God shares. God is present with us and can work through human suffering to bring about transformation in our lives.
God gives us some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that we do not get what we deserve. And, the good news is that we do not get what we deserve. God is at work in each and every situation to help us find meaning and purpose. God does not cause tragedies or take lives.
William Sloane Coffin, a well-known Presbyterian minister and social activist, was chaplain at Yale University and senior pastor of Riverside Church in New York a generation ago. His 24-year old son, Alex, was killed when his car plunged through a guardrail and sank into Boston Harbor. Two weeks later Coffin delivered his now famous sermon, "Alex's Death," exonerating God from any blame in his son's death and rejecting the platitude that human suffering is God's will. Coffin said, "God doesn't go around this world with his fingers on triggers, his fists around knives, his hands on steering wheels ... It was not the will of God that Alex die ... When the waves closed over the sinking car, God's heart was the first of all our hearts to break."3
Losses often bring about extensive changes in our lives, often in the form of a void. Accepting change does not mean lying down, doing nothing, and letting whatever happens happen. It means accepting the fact that some decisions are out of your control. Others make decisions that affect your life, for better and for worse, but their judgments don't have the power to modify your basic spirit. Downsizing at your company may leave you temporarily jobless and financially strapped. But unemployment doesn't change the fact that you are gifted and that God has a purpose for your life.
As Job breaks with the tradition of retributive theology, where people are rewarded for holy living and punished for sins, he also changes an inheritance tradition. In his patriarchal society that has only allowed sons to inherit property, he now includes his three daughters in his inheritance. God's mercy extended toward him inspires him to act justly toward others.
Job remarks to God, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." Job experiences God in a new way after his whirlwind tour of all creation. Job's eyes have been opened in his encounter with God. He has passed the test of faith set before him.
Tammy Sue Bakker, daughter of the now-infamous Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner, addressed a gathering of evangelicals in North Carolina. Tammy Sue, much like Job, lost many things she knew and loved after news of her father's sex scandal broke and he was convicted of financial fraud. When her parents lost their PTL Television Club and their Heritage USA theme park, Tammy Sue's world turned upside down.
Heritage USA and PTL were her life, too. "It was my school and my first job. I met my first boyfriend there and I went to church there," she explained. Tammy Sue also struggled with thoughts of her father facing jail time. In recent years, she has come to terms with her losses, and has experienced a great deal of healing, believing that her past struggles have strengthened her for helping others. "You can't have a testimony without going through a test," she remarked.4
As I began to study the book of Job, I confess that I came to it with a deep conviction. I believe that it is in the struggle of our spirit, in life's precarious moments, when we are asking difficult questions at difficult times, that our faith is strengthened the most. Yes, I have experienced this truth through my own suffering, and I grew to believe it as I matured in my own faith and understanding.
Our earliest understanding of suffering may come at a young age, when we lose a grandparent or a precious pet. We may have wondered, "Why me?" The tragedy that invades our lives can be hard to accept, much less understand. This is where our faith comes in, where we know that God is with us just as God was with Jesus on the cross. God is present with you and speaks to you in the midst of your suffering. God's greatest passion is not your happiness, but your wholeness. Your most difficult times can become an opportunity for growth. Suffering does not have the final word. God and a victorious life await you.
____________
1.ÊKent Crockett, I Once Was Blind, but Now I Squint: How Perspective Affects Our Behavior (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2004), p. 31.
2.ÊDorothee Soelle, "Suffering," in Donald W. Musser and Joseph L Price, eds., A New Handbook of Christian Theology (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), p. 466.
3.ÊHarvey Cox, "Out in Front: The Radical Witness of Bill Coffin," The Christian Century 121, no. 13 (June 29, 2004), p. 24.
4.ÊMaya Spikes, "Trial by Fire," Independent Tribune, May 24, 2003, C1.
Joe was not always wealthy, having grown up in a tenement. When he was a young man, the holes in his socks were so big that he could put them on from either end. Joe is now a prominent citizen and businessman, a patient and generous person, trusting that how we live and how we die is in the hands of God. He attributes all his success to God, believing that wealth is as much a responsibility as poverty is a burden.
God sends Sydney, a messenger from Queens, to put Joe's faith to the ultimate test and persuade him to renounce God in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. Satan is a suntanned Robert Redford look-alike who wears a pink suit.
Soon after Sydney makes an appearance, Joe's company burns to the ground, followed by calamity after calamity. Joe's multiple physical afflictions run the gamut, from neuralgia with a side order of bursitis and the heartbreak of psoriasis, down to hemorrhoids.
Then his mansion burns to the ground, and we find Joe painfully sitting in the ashes of what had been the showplace of Oyster Island. He makes the best of the situation, suggesting a cookout over the embers. The family notes the burning bush in their yard, and decides immediately to begin all over with a renewed faith in God and in humanity.
As the curtain comes down on Joe B. and his family, I am surprised to learn that the Benjamin family's worldly wealth was not fully restored as it is in our Bible story. Nevertheless, they do seem content in their new circumstances. Their obsessions with possessions have dissipated.
In the last chapter of the book of Job, after all is said and done, Job prays for his friends and is restored to his original status. In the end, the scriptural Job's earthly possessions supercede even his original wealth. Job's story begins, "Once upon a time" and ends with "... and they all lived happily ever after." This ending seems a little incongruous to us, doesn't it? Just as Job's experiences showed him that bad things do happen to good people, our own experiences tell us that real life tragedies rarely turn out the way Job's did. Very seldom are we left better off than before the calamities struck.
Life is not always fair. That's why the Apostle Paul says in effect, "I've learned to accept the fact that life isn't fair, and that's okay. I'm serving God, not my circumstances. I've learned how to play the cards that life has dealt me."
When playing card games, each person is dealt a different hand. In life, each person is playing a different hand of cards, too. Some people are holding several trump cards, while others have been dealt lousy hands. Maybe your spouse left you or your teenager ran into trouble with the law. Maybe downsizing has eliminated your position at the company or you have been diagnosed with cancer. You can't seem to beat your addiction or get admitted to graduate school.
You are envious of those who have been dealt good hands and resent the successful person who appears to be cheating. Although you have been dealt a poor hand in the game of life, you still must play your cards in the game of life. But, you just can't seem to unload that Old Maid card, no matter what you do. The game of life goes on in spite of crooked dealers and stacked decks.
Although we may not be responsible for the cards in our hand, we are accountable for the way we play them. We must stop complaining about our bad hand and play the game, trusting God, who promises that each believer will have a winning hand in the end.1
God does not cause us to suffer, but is right there suffering with us. Instead of, "How can God let evil happen to good people?" the question becomes, "How long will we permit systemic evil to continue?" The question, "Why did God allow Auschwitz to happen?" then becomes, "Why did we allow Auschwitz to happen?"
"The cross of Christ symbolizes an understanding of human suffering in which humans may participate in God's pain that is love's pain ... We understand God's annunciation only when we hear the tears in God's voice. The God who 'will wipe away every tear from their eyes' (Revelation 21:4) weeps with us."2
Our sinful ways and poor choices can lead to suffering, not because God is punishing us, but because we are not living in response to God's love and sacrifices for us. When we cause ourselves trouble, God responds with compassion, as good earthly parents do. Suffering is a part of life in which God shares. God is present with us and can work through human suffering to bring about transformation in our lives.
God gives us some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that we do not get what we deserve. And, the good news is that we do not get what we deserve. God is at work in each and every situation to help us find meaning and purpose. God does not cause tragedies or take lives.
William Sloane Coffin, a well-known Presbyterian minister and social activist, was chaplain at Yale University and senior pastor of Riverside Church in New York a generation ago. His 24-year old son, Alex, was killed when his car plunged through a guardrail and sank into Boston Harbor. Two weeks later Coffin delivered his now famous sermon, "Alex's Death," exonerating God from any blame in his son's death and rejecting the platitude that human suffering is God's will. Coffin said, "God doesn't go around this world with his fingers on triggers, his fists around knives, his hands on steering wheels ... It was not the will of God that Alex die ... When the waves closed over the sinking car, God's heart was the first of all our hearts to break."3
Losses often bring about extensive changes in our lives, often in the form of a void. Accepting change does not mean lying down, doing nothing, and letting whatever happens happen. It means accepting the fact that some decisions are out of your control. Others make decisions that affect your life, for better and for worse, but their judgments don't have the power to modify your basic spirit. Downsizing at your company may leave you temporarily jobless and financially strapped. But unemployment doesn't change the fact that you are gifted and that God has a purpose for your life.
As Job breaks with the tradition of retributive theology, where people are rewarded for holy living and punished for sins, he also changes an inheritance tradition. In his patriarchal society that has only allowed sons to inherit property, he now includes his three daughters in his inheritance. God's mercy extended toward him inspires him to act justly toward others.
Job remarks to God, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." Job experiences God in a new way after his whirlwind tour of all creation. Job's eyes have been opened in his encounter with God. He has passed the test of faith set before him.
Tammy Sue Bakker, daughter of the now-infamous Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner, addressed a gathering of evangelicals in North Carolina. Tammy Sue, much like Job, lost many things she knew and loved after news of her father's sex scandal broke and he was convicted of financial fraud. When her parents lost their PTL Television Club and their Heritage USA theme park, Tammy Sue's world turned upside down.
Heritage USA and PTL were her life, too. "It was my school and my first job. I met my first boyfriend there and I went to church there," she explained. Tammy Sue also struggled with thoughts of her father facing jail time. In recent years, she has come to terms with her losses, and has experienced a great deal of healing, believing that her past struggles have strengthened her for helping others. "You can't have a testimony without going through a test," she remarked.4
As I began to study the book of Job, I confess that I came to it with a deep conviction. I believe that it is in the struggle of our spirit, in life's precarious moments, when we are asking difficult questions at difficult times, that our faith is strengthened the most. Yes, I have experienced this truth through my own suffering, and I grew to believe it as I matured in my own faith and understanding.
Our earliest understanding of suffering may come at a young age, when we lose a grandparent or a precious pet. We may have wondered, "Why me?" The tragedy that invades our lives can be hard to accept, much less understand. This is where our faith comes in, where we know that God is with us just as God was with Jesus on the cross. God is present with you and speaks to you in the midst of your suffering. God's greatest passion is not your happiness, but your wholeness. Your most difficult times can become an opportunity for growth. Suffering does not have the final word. God and a victorious life await you.
____________
1.ÊKent Crockett, I Once Was Blind, but Now I Squint: How Perspective Affects Our Behavior (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2004), p. 31.
2.ÊDorothee Soelle, "Suffering," in Donald W. Musser and Joseph L Price, eds., A New Handbook of Christian Theology (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), p. 466.
3.ÊHarvey Cox, "Out in Front: The Radical Witness of Bill Coffin," The Christian Century 121, no. 13 (June 29, 2004), p. 24.
4.ÊMaya Spikes, "Trial by Fire," Independent Tribune, May 24, 2003, C1.
