Looking at Lent and Easter Through the Eyes of Job: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies

Scripture: Job 4:1-8, 17; 5:17; 2:11-13; 8:1-10, 20-22; 11:1-14

Sermon by Dr. George B. Wirth

First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

April 2, 2000

 

 

Introduction

Last Sunday night, Barbara and I went to see the final performance of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House at the Alliance Theater. It was a remarkable production of a magnificent play, written by one of Great Britain's finest authors. And as the audience responded with grateful applause, I remembered a story about something that happened to Shaw in the late 19th century.

 

The year was 1894, the place, London, and the playwright himself attended the opening performance of his Arms and the Man. As the final curtain fell, almost everyone in the theater stood in a resounding ovation as George Bernard Shaw walked on stage to take a bow. But the acclaim was broken by the sound of one lone hiss coming from the balcony.

 

Shaw held up his hands, asking for silence. Then he lifted his eyes toward the balcony and said, "I agree with you sir. But what can we two do against so many?"

 

As we pick up the story of Job this morning, three friends named Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar come to visit and supposedly "to console and comfort him" (2:11). But as the scene unfolds and the plot thickens, we can almost hear the hissing sounds of disapproval directed at Job as these three friends start to criticize and then try to correct the sad situation he's in. None of them know, of course, about the back stage drama wherein the adversary Satan is testing this suffering man's faith in God.

 

And even though we the readers, the audience, are aware of what is happening, the whole production causes us to wonder: With friends like these, who needs enemies?

 

Part 1

Notice please, that as Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar arrive, they are shocked by what they find. They hardly recognize Job, because his body has been decimated by sores and disease. The Bible tells us that they "tore their robes, began to weep and sat down in silence" beside their friend for a week.

 

Sometimes, that's the best thing we can do - just to show up and let a friend in sorrow or pain know how much we care simply by being there. But after seven days and nights of mourning in silence, Job's three friends start to speak, and that's when things go from bad to worse. This is a summary of what they said:

 

In chapters 4 and 5, Eliphaz tries to convince Job that he must have sinned, for “those who plow iniquity and sow trouble will reap the same” (4:8). “Can mortal man be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his maker?” (4:17)

 

In other words, somehow, somewhere Job, you must have done something wrong to deserve this. So accept God's discipline and reproof (5:17), which is for your own good (5:27). Repent of your sin and God will restore you to peace and prosperity again (5:18-26).

 

Then in chapter 8, Bildad speaks up and insinuates that Job's sons and daughters might be the ones to blame. “If your children have sinned against God, He has delivered them into the power of their transgressions” (8:4). Therefore, says Bildad, “seek God and make supplication to Him” (8:5). Ask forgiveness for your children, and God will “rouse Himself for you and reward you with a rightful habitation” (8:5-6).

 

Finally, Zophar takes the witness stand and in chapter 11, tells Job that he has failed to understand the will and purpose of God. “O that God would speak...and tell you the secrets of wisdom!...Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves” (11:5-6). Which means, from Zophar's point of view, that God knew more about Job's sins than Job did himself, and the punishment was not as severe as it could have been.

 

In conclusion, like Eliphaz and Bildad, Zophar exhorts Job to repent, saying “If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away” (11:14) and all will be well. Because, the wicked must perish and good people will surely prosper (11:20).

 

Part 2

Now, it seems to me that Job's friends made at least two mistakes in their visitation, and the first was to try to place the blame on someone for Job's pathetic circumstances. Like Dostoevsky's grand inquisitor, each friend in succession points his finger with self-righteous indignation, saying "It's your fault Job, or your children are to blame. Somebody must have sinned to cause all of this suffering and pain."

 

Sad to say, that same kind of attitude still exists in the community of faith today, where some people are quick to blame other people for something that has gone wrong. More often than not, the "blamers" are struggling with deep seated problems of their own and they are prone to dump their "stuff" on just about anybody in their line of fire.

 

Well, it didn't bring much comfort to Job and that kind of attitude is still as destructive here and now as it was long ago.

 

A second mistake Job's friends made was to try to explain the will of God. Believing that God's will was black and white and always consistent, that "good people prospered and the wicked were punished," Job's friends told him to repent of his sin so that he could get back onto the right side of God again.

 

That kind of primitive theology was prevalent in the 5th century B.C. and most biblical scholars agree that was one of the reasons the book of Job was written: to show that although God's will is good, life doesn't always turn out the way we want it to or think it should.

 

And just as that was true for Job, so it is for you and for me and for all those who are forced to face the reality of suffering.

 

It happened to Ann Weems. Many of us have read and been blessed by her books of poetry: Kneeling in Bethlehem, Kneeling in Jerusalem, Reaching for Rainbows, Searching for Shalom. But there is one book this Presbyterian woman wrote which is different from all the rest. It is entitled Psalms of Lament and in the preface, this is what Ann Weems says:

 

"This book is written for those who weep and for those who weep with those who weep...This book is written for those who are living with...tears running down their cheeks..."

 

"On August 14, 1982, the stars fell from my sky. My son, Todd, had been killed less than an hour after his twenty-first birthday, August 14, 1982...and still I weep...

 

Many were there for me...family, friends and people I didn't even know who sent their loving kindness by mail or phone or in person...and one of them was Walter Brueggeman (a professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary)...concerned and caring, he kept in touch long after the sympathy notes stopped coming...And then, he suggested I might want to write some lament Psalms...Several months later, I sent him five...and then threw my copies in a desk drawer and slammed it shut..."

 

Finally, in the summer of 1995, Ann Weems sent fifty Psalms of Lament to the publisher and Walter Brueggeman, her friend, wrote the forward. Weems begins with these amazing words of grace:

 

"...Lamenting and laughter sit side by side in a heart that yearns for the peace that passes all understanding. Those who believe in the midst of their weeping will know where I stand. In the quiet times, this image comes to me:

 

 

Jesus wept,

And in His weeping,

He joined Himself forever

To those who mourn.

He stands now throughout all time,

This Jesus weeping,

With His arms about the weeping ones:

Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted

He stands with the mourners,

For His name is God-With-Us

Jesus wept

Blessed are those who weep,

For they shall be comforted.

Someday. Someday God will wipe

The tears from Rachel's eyes.

In the God-forsaken...quicksands of life,

There is a deafening alleluia

Rising from the souls

Of those who weep,

And of those who weep

With those who weep.

If you watch, you will see

The hand of God

Putting the stars back in their skies

One by one."

(From "Psalms of Lament" by Ann Weems, Westminster John Knox Press, 1995)

 

This book comes from the broken heart of a Christian woman who discovered, as she wrote her Psalms of Lament, the healing power of God. And yet, who knows if even a single page would have been written without the encouragement and support of a friend, Walter Brueggeman, who helped Ann Weems go on instead of giving up.

 

Conclusion

That is what the Lord has called all of us to do as we walk together through the valley of the shadow. We don't need to figure out who's to blame and it is not up to us to explain the will of God. But when we are hurt by painful events we don't understand, when accidents happen without warning, when trouble comes that we do not deserve, when relationships are broken, when bodies get sick and people we love are lost, what we do need are friends who will be there for us, friends who care deeply about us, friends who will hold onto us and weep in the night with us, praying for the light that will lead us into the joy of the morning.

 

And standing there beside us in the valley of the shadow is One who can show us the way, One who has been there before us and knows our sorrow and pain. His name is Jesus and during His time on earth, He revealed to us that God wants and wills what is good for us, from the moment of our birth until the day that we die and join Him in heaven.

 

The gospel of John says this about Him: “Greater love has no one than this, that He would lay down His life for His friends.” (John 15:12) And based on that verse from the Bible, we were taught by our parents and Sunday School teachers a long time ago to sing a song which is just as true today as it was when we were children and even more so:

 

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry,

Everything to Him in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to Him in prayer.

 

His name is Jesus and He was and is and always will be the greatest friend we will ever know!

 

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.