The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
You have to have a lot of respect for Job.
Think about it: he'd been such a good man, always helping others, always giving secret donations to help the poor and needy. He feared God (that word "feared" really means more like "respected" in the original Hebrew.) He prayed regularly, made sacrifices at the Temple, and generally was just about perfect. But that's not why we should respect him.
You see, the devil challenged God to a trial. The devil's idea was that OF COURSE Job was a good, godly man. Why wouldn't he be? He was rich, he had a fine home, a nice wife, a good big family of model children, huge flocks of sheep and herds of goats and cattle. He had servants. He had a fine farm and his barns were full to bursting with his harvest. OF COURSE Job would praise and pray to God, with everything going for him, like that.
And so the Devil challenged God. Let me put Job on trial, the Devil said. Let me destroy his family, make him lose all his riches and his farm, and make him sick. Then we'll see if he still praises you and prays to you, and trusts you, God!
After some thought, God agreed. Of course God knows everything about everybody, and he knew Job wouldn't give in or lose his faith no matter what. But the Devil, of course, didn't know that! God did make one condition, however. He told the Devil that he could do what he liked with Job, but that he was not allowed to kill Job.
And so the trial began.
First, enemy soldiers came and killed all of Job's oxen and donkeys, and the servants who were using the animals to plow Job's farm.
Then lightning killed all of Job's sheep, and the shepherds who cared for them.
Then some enemy troops took all of Job's camels, and killed the men who cared for them.
Then Job's sons and daughters died when the roof of a house where they were feasting fell in and killed them.
So Job went into mourning, Hebrew style. He tore his robe, shaved his head, and went and sat on an ash heap, and prayed: The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord. He did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing or blaming God for all that had happened.
Well, that is reason enough to respect Job, right? But there's more...
Job came down with a terrible skin disease that hurt like fire and itched like millions of fleas. He was covered with scabs from head to foot. He took a piece of broken clay pot and used it to scratch all the itches while he sat on the ash heap.
Then his wife came and told him to curse God and die, since nothing good would ever happen to him again. And Job said to her, You foolish woman! shall we receive good things from God, but refuse to receive the bad? Still, Job was not cursing God or losing his faith.
Then his wife left him.
And then three of his friends came to sit with him, and they took turns telling Job that he must have committed a really dreadful sin if God let all this happen to him. They begged him to confess his sin and repent. But Job had not sinned, and he kept saying so, even though they took turns for many days scolding him and begging him to repent. Job kept denying that he had sinned. He insisted he had nothing to repent of. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Job was beginning to feel sorry for himself and wished that he had never been born. He began to talk with God and tell God that he, Job, had done nothing to deserve all this. He even called God to account for allowing this to happen!
And God scolded him. God reminded Job that he was a human, and God is God, and God is running things in this world.
Finally, Job spoke the few sentences we read this morning. One of them is the most sublime declaration of faith that you can find in the Bible: I know there is someone in heaven who will come to my defense and take care of me. Even after my skin is eaten by disease, while I am still in this body, I will see God. I will see him with my own eyes, and he will be a familiar friend to me, not a stranger.
And then God rewarded Job, with a new wife, more children than before, a larger farm, more flocks and herds and servants, and all the good things he had lost. The skin disease left him. He lived happily to a ripe old age, and continued to praise God and do good things for the poor and helpless and needy.
And so....what does all this have to do with us?
People tell me that they've lost their faith in God because their son or husband died.
People tell me that they are losing their faith in God because so few people come to church, or because of the trouble on the streets of our city, or because of the stuff they see on TV.
People tell me that they find it hard to believe in God because he let them get cancer, or because their dad had a heart attack.
People tell me that if there really was a God there wouldn't be any poor or sick people, or any war.
And I wonder what Job would think of all those excuses, and I wonder what God thinks, too.
What do YOU think about all this? Would you say your Faith Quotient is close to Job's?
Amen.
