Job's Defense to his Friends
And the proximity of God in Christ.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that Job’s response to Zophar is his longest yet. It’s three chapters long. We’ll read it over the next two days. Zophar was quite accusatory and insensitive.
Though not in today’s passage from Luke, we see it in several places in the gospels, too. Someone is hurt, or has dealt with some kind of suffering for a while, or even, someone who has sinned - but the crowd or religious authorities feel the need to press home the thing of sinfulness. There are times to point out sinfulness, but years of working as a pastor have taught me that one rarely needs to be told that they’ve done wrong.
So Job’s response is both strong and defensive. And he, somewhat kinder than I might, basically tells them to shut up: You, however, are plasterers of lies; ineffective healers, all of you. Would that you were completely quiet; that would be your wisdom.
Perhaps most notably, he confesses his central desire:
I want to speak to the Almighty; I would gladly present my case to God.
We know he will get that chance. But one thing I’ve noticed here that I’ve not known about Job before, is that Job actually acknowledges God’s divine role in the world well before God’s rebuttal in Job 38-41. I’m not completely sure what to do with this yet - and maybe it means nothing in the long run - but from the beginning, Job confesses God’s placement over the world.
I do think it’s been really good to read the gospel alongside Job. Jesus does not solve all the questions of the book of Job. Not exactly, at least. But he does stand in for God, demonstrating the possibility of salvation and deliverance, not just from eternal lostness, but from earthly suffering. A significant question remains - why healing for some and not for all? But in the midst of reading Job, Jesus shows us that God does care. God is not an ignorant celestial being sitting on a cold throne. This is the warmth we come to know in Jesus of Nazareth.
Questions remain. But in Jesus, the throne is no longer cold marble in the heavens. It has been warmed by the things of shared human breath, tears, and touch.
Luke 4:31-44
Jesus went down to the city of Capernaum in Galilee and taught the people each Sabbath. They were amazed by his teaching because he delivered his message with authority.
A man in the synagogue had the spirit of an unclean demon. He screamed, “Hey! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.”
“Silence!” Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. “Come out of him!” The demon threw the man down before them, then came out of him without harming him.
They were all shaken and said to each other, “What kind of word is this, that he can command unclean spirits with authority and power, and they leave?” Reports about him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went home with Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and the family asked Jesus to help her. He bent over her and spoke harshly to the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and served them.
When the sun was setting, everyone brought to Jesus relatives and acquaintances with all kinds of diseases. Placing his hands on each of them, he healed them. Demons also came out of many people. They screamed, “You are God’s Son.” But he spoke harshly to them and wouldn’t allow them to speak because they recognized that he was the Christ. When daybreak arrived, Jesus went to a deserted place. The crowds were looking for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s kingdom in other cities too, for this is why I was sent.” So he continued preaching in the Judean synagogues.
Job 12-13:17
Job responded:
Surely you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
I am also intelligent;
I’m not inferior to you.
Who isn’t like these people?
I’m a joke to friends
who called to God and he answered;
the innocent and blameless one is a joke,
a torch of contempt to one who is idle,
a fixed point for slipping feet.
Raiders’ tents are prosperous
and God’s provokers secure,
who carry God in their hands.
But ask Behemoth, and he will teach you,
the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
or talk to earth, and it will teach you;
the fish of the sea will recount it for you.
Among all these, who hasn’t known
that the Lord’s hand did this?
In whose grasp is the life of every thing,
the breath of every person?
Doesn’t the ear test words
and the palate taste food?
“In old age is wisdom;
understanding in a long life.”
With him are wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.
If he tears down, it can’t be rebuilt;
if he ties a person up, he can’t be set free.
If he restricts water, they have drought;
if he lets it loose, it overturns the land.
With him are might and success;
the deceiver and the deceived are his.
He leads advisors away barefoot;
makes madmen of judges;
unties the belt of kings,
binds a garment around their loins;
leads priests away barefoot;
overthrows the well-established;
silences the talk of trusted people;
takes away elders’ discernment;
pours contempt on royalty;
loosens the belt of the strong;
discloses deep secrets of darkness,
makes utter darkness enter the light;
makes nations prominent and destroys them,
expands nations and leads them astray;
takes away the power to think from earth’s leaders,
making them wander in untraveled wastelands.
They feel their way in the dark without light;
he makes them stumble like drunks.
Look, my eye has seen it all;
my ear has heard and understood it.
Just as you know, I also know;
I’m not inferior to you.
But I want to speak to the Almighty;
I would gladly present my case to God.
You, however, are plasterers of lies;
ineffective healers, all of you.
Would that you were completely quiet;
that would be your wisdom.
Hear my teaching
and pay attention to the arguments of my lips.
Will you speak injustice for God,
speak deceit on his behalf?
Will you be partial
or contend for God?
Will it go well when he searches you,
or can you fool him as you fool people?
He will certainly correct you
if you’ve been secretly partial.
Wouldn’t his majesty scare you
and dread of him fall on you?
Your old sayings are proverbs made of ashes,
your sayings defenses made of clay.
Be quiet and I will speak,
come what may.
For what reason will I take my flesh in my teeth,
put my life in jeopardy?
He will slay me; I’m without hope;
I will surely prove my way to his face.
Also this will be my vindication,
that a godless person won’t come before him.
Listen closely to my words
so that my remarks will be in your ears.
Prayer
God,
You are sovereign over all things, and yet you are not distant from our situation. Teach me to hold both truths without fear. When our questions are louder than our answers, keep us honest before you.
Guard us from easy explanations and cold conclusions. Give us the courage to speak to you rather than merely about you, and the grace to trust that you are nearer than we imagine.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.