The "Terrible" World God Entered

Job, Elizabeth, and Mary in the midst of evil and goodness.

The juxtaposition of today’s passages can serve as a reminder that at any given point, there are individual humans and families or groups who may be experiencing significantly disparate seasons of life. In Luke, the situation has gone from Zechariah’s confusion and forced silence to the joy of Elizabeth and Mary. In Job, he has gone from having it all to having nothing but sickness and death.

Sometimes my brazenness leads me to attempt the silly thought process that wonders how God can possibly attend to all the situations of the world at once. Have you seen that scene in Bruce Almighty where Bruce tries to answer all the prayers of the world in a moment? Trying to conceive of how God does this is not possible for us.

But the truth is that different people experience different aspects of life at the same time. At any given moment in the world, someone is dying while others are being born. In the very moment you are reading this, there is a wedding somewhere in the world at the same time that someone is being brutally abused in a dark corner. I’m sorry for concocting these images, but Job calls for it.

There are many who - for various self-serving reasons - want the masses to think that the world is a terrible, terrible place. And it is true, there are terrible things in this world. And as Christians, we are called to particular responses in the face of evil. But the world is also very, very good. What outward face we choose matters.

Further, this does not mean that we are to respond to every evil - we just can’t, any more than Bruce could answer all those prayers at once.

We are not God.

(This is the strong and jarring message at the end of Job in chapters 38-41.)

We are human.

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The other day, I heard someone posit that Christians need not participate in Ash Wednesday if they aren’t feeling up to it - if they have had enough of the current injustice and it might be too triggering or further depressing to be imposed with some oil and ashes.

This borders on overly-therapeutic, individualistic, American thinking.

While there are almost always exceptions to the rule, there is beauty and strength in participating together in collective faith and understanding. In fact, I dare say it’s our responsibility. It’s our responsibility because it follows Christ’s example in his suffering prior to and on the cross. This Lenten season is that very call. No matter what’s going on the world, we take 40 days to remember that the world can be really, really terrible (and of course, it’s a reminder of our participation in it).

But Lent’s most powerful reminder is that God determined to enter this terribleness with us through Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross.

This is, in part, why theology that is limited to, “Christ died so I don’t have to,” is a problem. Christ died so we wouldn’t have to be dead eternally. But we’re still called to that which comes with the cross. Jesus made that very, very, very clear.

This is why I’ve never been too big on “Ashes on the Go.” I get it - we’re all busy and want to insert Christian things when and where we can in a world that is increasingly ignorant to it all, to offer people on the go a glimpse of the Christian faith. But it cannot replace the call to the collective practice of our faith. When one suffers, we all suffer together.

Just as there are good things during Lent, there will be numerous tragedies on Easter Sunday. This is not a prediction of world calamities, but a note that in various unknown places throughout the world, people will die on Easter. Some unnecessarily so.

That is the world. That is the thing of life and death. This is not to say that when terrible things happen to us or others, we should not care and “praise God” with an ignorant smile. Certainly not. Thanks be to God - and to Israel’s wisdom writers - that our scripture does not hide from human suffering. Our faith, through both the prophets’, the psalmists’, and Jesus’ example, calls us to acknowledge such things and to deal with them both in reality and in hope (eventually).

But, if we can, we need not despair.

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There are many ways the book of Job has been interpreted over the years. As I’ve dug in this time around, one way that is a strong pull for me at the moment is to receive it, in part, as an allegory. Job can be seen as a character that represents the whole of humanity. The journey we’ll go through with him throughout the book does not solve the problems of the world. Rather, it offers some truth about it all.

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Then there’s Elizabeth and Mary. They were not immune or ignorant of suffering. You might feel it in their words, in Elizabeth’s long years of disgrace and in Mary’s humble lowliness. And yet, see how much they demonstrate for us a posture of faith, joy, and hope in the midst of it all. They don’t ignore what’s difficult, but dare to see the possibilities beyond.

(And so, I’ve chosen Mary’s song to stand in as our prayer for today.)

Luke 1:21-45

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered why he was in the sanctuary for such a long time. When he came out, he was unable to speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he gestured to them and couldn’t speak. When he completed the days of his priestly service, he returned home. Afterward, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant. She kept to herself for five months, saying, “This is the Lord’s doing. He has shown his favor to me by removing my disgrace among other people.”

When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. When the angel came to her, he said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I haven’t had sexual relations with a man?”

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come over you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the one who is to be born will be holy. He will be called God’s Son. Look, even in her old age, your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son. This woman who was labeled ‘unable to conceive’ is now six months pregnant. Nothing is impossible for God.”

Then Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. With a loud voice she blurted out, “God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her.”

Job 1:13-22

One day Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. A messenger came to Job and said: “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys were grazing nearby when the Sabeans took them and killed the young men with swords. I alone escaped to tell you.”

While this messenger was speaking, another arrived and said: “A raging fire fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and devoured the young men. I alone escaped to tell you.”

While this messenger was speaking, another arrived and said: “Chaldeans set up three companies, raided the camels and took them, killing the young men with swords. I alone escaped to tell you.”

While this messenger was speaking, another arrived and said: “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, when a strong wind came from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people, and they died. I alone escaped to tell you.”

Job arose, tore his clothes, shaved his head, fell to the ground, and worshipped. He said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb; naked I will return there. The Lord has given; the Lord has taken; bless the Lord’s name.” In all this, Job didn’t sin or blame God.

Prayer (Luke 1:46-55)

Mary said,

“With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name. He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next, who honors him as God.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.”