Job's Repenting

Job’s Repenting

Presented at County Line Brethren Church on October 25, 2009.
Year B, Proper 25
Scripture passages: Job 42:1-6, 10-17; Hebrews 7:23-28

Before we grab the bait, we would be wise to look carefully for the hook. When I go fishing, I don’t do much catching. My explanation is that there are a lot of fish down there that have the ability to see my hooks. For some reason they do not see other fishermen’s hooks, but they are able to see mine – unless of course the fish are only about 4 inches long.

When we read some portions of scripture, it is tempting to take the bait to oversimplify without considering all the steps which help us put all of scripture into proper perspective. For example, the story has been told many times of the man who was looking for God’s guidance, opened the Bible and (with his eyes closed) thrust his index finger upon the page and was horrified to discover the passage about Judas, “and he went out and hanged himself.” This is an extreme example of how NOT to use and interpret the Bible. One obscure and ambivalent passage is found in I Corinthians 15:29:
Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
Some have used this passage to build a tenet of religious practice in which believers submit to baptism for presumably unsaved and/or unbaptized friends, relatives and ancestors – in order to secure their salvation. Proper consideration of scripture as a whole would clearly lead us to different conclusion. As far as I know, this is the one, isolated passage that references this bizarre practice. There are many passages in scripture which must be considered carefully in order to avoid improper conclusions.

Our lection passage for today, defies easy explanations and seems to dangle some tempting morsels which threaten to unravel what we have learned thus far from the book of Job.

Let us recall a few simple rules for understanding and interpreting the Bible, which is called the study of hermeneutics.

If one is to gain a fuller understanding of a passage of scripture, the student is to consider the sentence, the paragraph, the immediate context, the context of the book, the style of the material (for example is it a parable, a prophesy, a story, or poetry). In addition, one must consider the grammatical, historical-cultural, and overall theological contexts. And finally, there are some that say that the Gospels (more specifically the words of Jesus) are more important that the letters of the New Testament. Others believe Paul’s letters, for example, help to explain the Gospels. And using a wider lens, many Christian theologians assert that the New Testament helps us to understand the Old Testament.

Where does this leave us? Well, we must be cautious about how we interpret scripture and how we attempt to apply it to our lives. One more example before we move on directly to our text. Paul stated on one occasion that he does not allow women to speak in the church. The Brethren Church, from early in its history, has held that women are certainly permitted to speak in church and even pastor congregations. The Brethren Church considered the context from which Paul spoke along with the large number of scripture passages which spoke differently about this issue. They arrived at a conclusion that scripture as a whole spoke favorably about the role of women in the leadership of the church.

Here is the question I would like to address today. To what is Job referring to when he says in 42:6 “Therefore do I loathe [it], And I have repented on dust and ashes.” (Young’s Literal Translation)?

What is Job repenting of?

Is he repenting of claiming to have been subjected to injustice?
Is he repenting of asserting that God was not just?
Is he repenting of yelling at God?
Is he repenting of asserting that he was righteous?

So, what is Job repenting of?
One option is to say that Job is repenting of expressing his anger and frustration to God – implying that it is sinful to do so. Perhaps that might make sense if we only looked at the book of Job. But what about scripture as a whole? If we were to say that Job was repenting of having spoken freely of his anger and frustration toward God, then how are we to make sense of the Psalms in which David or other psalmists are at least as frustrated and angry as Job is? Are we to suggest that God does not accept our vitriol directed at him? If there is one thing that the Psalms teach us, it is that God is big enough to accept our anger, direct, raw and unfiltered.
Another option for trying to understand Job's Repenting, is that Job's friends were correct in their admonitions to Job, that Job was harboring some grievous sin, which was why God had so inflicted Job with all kinds of suffering. So, what if we were to suggest that Job’s friends were right all along and that Job was a really bad sinner, in need of repentance – that his repentance in 42:6 was because of his sin? In between the paragraphs read by Mark, God chastises Job’s friends “because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” God then instructs these three friends (through Eliphaz) to “take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” This is certainly an indictment against these three friends for what they said. We are therefore not able to say that Job had some grievous sin he was repenting of. Furthermore, we are also reminded that in the very first verse of this book, Job was identified as “blameless and upright.” I am convinced there is no way that this phrase could ever apply to me, and I dare say any in my hearing would be brave enough to place themselves in the same company as Job. So again, Job was not repenting for some grievous, hidden sin.

Let us examine the context to see if there are any clues to understanding Job's repentance.

After all the suffering of Job and the conjecture of his friends, God appears to Job in the whirlwind. Consider Job 40:1-7

The LORD said to Job:
Job 40:2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD:
Job 40:4 “I am unworthy —how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.
Job 40:5 I spoke once, but I have no answer —twice, but I will say no more.”
Job 40:6 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
Job 40:7 “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

And now, consider Job 42:1-6
"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. [You said,] 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. [You said,] 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Notice that there are a few subtle differences between what God has said and Job's assessment of himself.

1.God indicated that Job had misrepresented God by speaking about God, without having a personal point of reference for actually knowing God.
2.God indicated that Job was trying to contend with God, correct God, and even accused God of injustice.
3.To this Job replied that he was not worthy.
4.On the other hand, God specifically implies that Job spoke about God in a “right” manner.

Do you catch the dissonance? How can Job, on the one hand speak properly about God, and on the other hand, speak without knowledge?

In order to gain more understanding about this puzzle, let's consider what happened to another person who had an encounter with God. Perhaps another example from scripture as a whole can shed some light for our understanding.

In Isaiah 6, the Lord presented himself to Isaiah, seated on a throne, the train of his robe filling the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with 6 wings. The sound of their praises shook the doorposts and the thresholds of the temple, which was filled with smoke. What was Isaiah's response? “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips.” You see, even though Isaiah had already prophesied as a servant of the Lord, when he was brought into the presence of the Lord, he was undone. The glory and majesty of God was so overwhelming and so far beyond himself that he became aware of how small he was in comparison. He thought he would be consumed, that he was finished. Perhaps it would be helpful to add that we know of no grievous sin, hidden or not, that Isaiah had committed. And yet, when both Job and Isaiah were brought before the presence of the Lord, Almighty God, they were both undone.

For me, one of the keys to understanding Job's repentance is found in 42:5. It is the statement that he had previously only heard about God with his ears. He had been given the book-knowledge. He had done all the reading. He had talked with the elders. He had worshiped God. He sacrificed to God. He did all the things that godly people do, in order to show his honor and respect for God. He was also an obedient follower of God. He was well-respected in his community. Job knew a lot about God.

But something dramatic happened when God revealed himself to Job. Job's eye's were opened – WIDE. This opening brought into clear view the awesomeness of God and the smallness of Job. I hasten to add that becoming aware of his smallness is in no way related to his significance. In other words, smallness does not equal insignificance. But the DISTANCE between God's awesomeness and Job's smallness is so incredibly large as to make Job feel so small.

The other side of the same coin is that once Job saw the unbelievable awesomeness of God, all of a sudden, Job's own words became completely inadequate.

How many of you have seen the Grand Canyon? How many of you have been to Europe? Tell me about one of the places that you have been to that took your breath away.

One of the mistakes that I made right before Beth and I were married is that I traveled with the Ashland College Choir to Europe for 3 weeks in the spring of 1975. We flew from JFK to Iceland to Luxembourg and then hopped on a bus which took us to various sites in mostly western Europe. We went to Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Champs Elysee. We visited Lucerne Switzerland and walked across the picturesque wooden bridges with murals painted on the archways. That's where I bought my wedding gift for Beth, a cuckoo clock. I saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the ruins of Rome and St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. I stood at the bottom of the ski jump in Innsbruck, saw the man-made hills near Munich under which was all the debris from WWII, and watched the famous clock in Prague. I took a bunch of pictures. I had a great time.

However, when I got back and tried to share that experience with Beth, I found myself unable to put into words anything that would resemble my own reality. Because Beth was not there with me, she was not able to completely join me in my joy, my sense of wonder and the moments of discovery.

Let me put it another way. Prior to going to the Grand Canyon, I had seen pictures. I had seen movies. I had read about it some. I imagine that I may have even had conversations about the Grand Canyon. So, I had an intellectual understanding of the Grand Canyon. I had pictures in my mind. And yet, when I walked up to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, despite being in the middle of clinical depression at that time, I became aware that what I was experiencing at that time was greater than any picture I had ever seen. It was more than any essay could have ever described. It was more than could be seen in an IMAX theater. It was like I just wanted to stay there and look. I just wanted to allow my eyes to enjoy a feast of majesty. I could not express it adequately. I cannot satisfactorily share that experience with you today.

So, it is right and it is acceptable and it honors God to speak of God, to praise and worship him. And yet, when such time comes that we encounter God directly in his presence, face to face, our past words and attempts to explain him seem so weak, inadequate and flimsy. Indeed, when I shall see God someday, these words comparing him to my Europe trip or the Grand Canyon will surely seem silly, like the words of a child or an infant.

When Job repented, he was repenting because his current experience of being in God's presence made every past thought, feeling, argument, and accusation of injustice seem completely anemic, decrepit, and powerless. Indeed, with Job's new awareness, what he had said before seemed to be referring to something completely different from what he was currently experiencing in the presence of Almighty God.

Job was repenting because he had previously thought of himself as big, important, entitled. But now, in the presence of Almighty God, Job was reminded just how small he is – there is no comparison. Job is small, but is nonetheless very important to God. Job was important enough to God to address individually. Job was important to God.

Unfortunately, we are a lot like Job – prior to being brought into the presence of the Lord. We discuss what God is like. We discuss whether it is ok for Christians to do this or that. We discuss which church is closer to what God wants. We discuss the finer points of theology, and sometimes we discuss the larger points of theology. We discuss how far God's grace and mercy extend. We question our own worth and whether we are significant to the God of the universe. These are not bad, for God complimented Job for speaking properly of him. But compared to the real deal of being in the presence of the Almighty, all our words are just child's play. Our efforts to understand God are like looking through a dirty, painted window. You may be able to tell that there is something on the other side, but we really only barely have a clue.

And God knows this about us. And yet, God chooses to speak to us. God chose to reveal himself to Job. God occasionally provides us with brief and clouded glimpses through the dirty window pane.

Even though we are small, to God we are significant. Job was significant enough to God to speak with. And God speaks to us today through his word. God chooses to speak to you. We may be small in the scheme of things, but we are very important to God.