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Pentecost 17 (5 October 2003)

Job 1:1, 2: 1-10; Psalm 26; Hebrews 1: 1-4, 2: 5-12; Mark 10: 2-16

This week the lectionary kicks off readings from two new books; Hebrews where the selections continue until November 23rd and Job where the selections run for 4 weeks. Both are books many of us place in the ‘too hard basket’, because they require a high level of concentration and don’t lend themselves to passage by passage exegesis or easy application to the preaching task.

Job 1:1, 2: 1-10

I was interested in a pastoral conversation I had recently, where someone suggested to her partner that he read Job, because some of his key hopes for the future had been dashed. We ended up talking about how some scriptures are there to help us in particular seasons of our lives, and that Job is a book for the hard times. In these first few chapters, Job’s life completely falls apart in absolutely devastating ways. He loses his property, his children, his health and his unsympathetic wife suggests he throw away his faith as well.

The bulk of the rest of this book consists of conversations and/or speeches between Job and three so called friends who try to argue that Job must have done something really bad to be punished by God so cruelly. Job’s argument and the message of the book is that suffering is not always a consequence of personal fault. That it is possible to be good and faithful, yet still experience suffering. The common view that those who suffer must have earnt it in some way, also lies behind the comments at the beginning of Luke chapter 13.  Jesus indicates that those who died when Pilate massacred Galileans or when the tower of Saloam collapsed in Jerusalem were no worse than everyone else.

The associations people have between success and  holiness, and suffering and sin is challenged in both passages. Yet we continue to believe at some fundamental level that those who do well in business, family and health, must be good people and those who suffer and experience calamity must be personally at fault. But these scriptures teach otherwise, and suggest that sometimes suffering is a sign of a godly life. It will be interesting to apply this insight to the gospel reading which touches on a significant area of suffering in our communities – divorce.

Psalm 26

This psalm reflects the struggles in Job’s life, someone who has lived in integrity and trusted without wavering in the Lord (v1) and is devoted to the worship of God (v7) finds life threatened by the bloodthirsty and those in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hands are full of bribes (v10). In the face of such attacks the palmist is determined to walk in integrity, rely on God and look forward to blessing the Lord in the great congregation (vs 11-12). Here we see really courageous faith in the face of cruelty and hostility. The first part of verse 1 is a prayer ‘Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity’. This is the prayer of Job and countless others who have faced cruel challenges to the integrity of their faith down through the centuries. Possibly there will be people in your congregation on Sunday morning who have faced such attacks on their integrity and their faith in God.

Hebrews 1: 1-4, 2: 5-12

It appears that Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were facing hostility from their fellow Jews because they had followed Jesus. They were facing significant attacks on the integrity of their faith because they recognised Jesus as their Messiah. Hebrews emphasises the humanity of Jesus more than any other book in the New Testament, apart from the gospels. It also emphasises the role of Jesus as mediator between God and humanity, the one who brings forgiveness once and for all.

There is a lot in the Hebrew readings, but can I particularly comment on suffering as this is the theme we are seeing through all the readings this week. Why in verse 9 is Jesus to be crowned with glory and honour? It is because of the suffering of death. Alongside the righteous suffering of Job and the psalmist, we now place Jesus’ suffering which focuses on his death – the Cross. The writer of Hebrews notes that it was fitting that God ‘should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings’. This raises the discussion about suffering to a new level, rather than just denying that suffering is a symptom of ungodliness, we now have the view that suffering is the means by which even Jesus is made perfect. The implication is that the suffering that the Jewish Christians are experiencing from other Jews because of their faith, is perfecting them in a way comparable to Jesus’ perfection through his sufferings. From this point on, suffering gains a noble place in the experiences of Christian people, seen as a sign of divine blessing and the means by which God is perfecting the saints, rather than the curse of suffering understood by Job’s friends.

Mark 10: 2-16

These reflections on suffering bring us to this reading on divorce with different, hopefully more compassionate, eyes. I’d like to suggest that what Jesus is saying here is motivated by compassion for those suffering the effects of divorce, rather than imposing unbending rules. Apparently a pattern had developed among some Jews sometimes described as ‘serial divorce’ where all the power lay with the husbands. It was possible for men to dismiss their wives with the slightest of provocations. This lead to some men having a sequence of short term marriages and the divorced women being thrown into serious poverty through lack of financial support. It was the suffering of the women that Jesus was responding to. In that context, Jesus was saying what was going on was wrong and to allow it to continue would be to sanction injustice.

However I don’t believe Jesus’ words apply to the situation true of most modern divorces where the dissolution occurs with a degree of mutual consent, with opportunity for dialogue and counseling and where the welfare state provides a degree of financial support (especially where children are involved) and society supports the earning capacity of women. The injustice of women being cast adrift into poverty and long term misery, true of Jesus’ time, is not present in the cases of most modern divorce settlements.

The theme which runs through all our readings is suffering and appropriate responses to it. They call us to understand suffering in a healthier way, rejecting the view of suffering as punishment, but instead seeing it as an experience God uses to shape us into the people we are made to be. The gospel reading, in particular, alerts us to respond with compassion to those suffering from injustice in our world.

Some preaching suggestions:

1. Explore the theme of suffering as it is developed in these readings.
2. Retell the story of Job with its theme of rejecting the view of suffering as punishment.
3. If you feel like a challenge you might tackle the NT teaching on divorce.

Hymn and song suggestions:

1. Brother, Sister Let Me Serve You
2. Our Life Has It’s Seasons  (AA 113)
3. Amazing Grace
4. Lead Kindly Light

A prayer

Help us Lord, when we face hardship and suffering. Help us to see these times as opportunities to experience more of your grace in our lives. Help us to grow through the experiences, even when our hearts are breaking and our mouths are shouting ‘unfair’, ‘unfair’. Lord you knew real and painful suffering, so we place our lives in your hands in all our sufferings, and ask for your gentle care. We pray for people we know who are suffering today and trust you to sustain them in their day in the shadows. God of all sufferers, we ask for your generous love for all who cry out to you. Amen.