✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ
Job 14,1-6.13.15-17 5619
Vorletzter Sn. d. Kirchenjahres (26. Trinitatis) 071
Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, ✠ 265
17. November 2019
1. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of the nations; send forth the message of the law and the gospel, so that hearing Your Word we believe, and in believing confess You to be our Savior. Amen. (Romans 14,10-12)
2. »Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. 2He arrives like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. 3And do You open Your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with You? 4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. 5Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with You, and You have appointed his limits so that he cannot pass, 6look away from him and leave him alone, so that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day. 13O that You would hide me in Sheol, that You would conceal me until Your wrath be past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! 15You would call, and I would answer You; You would long for the work of Your hands. 16For then You would number my steps; You would not keep watch over my sin; 17my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.«
3. On the 2. Last Sunday in the Church Year, our lectionary readings remind us that Christ will judge all the nations and separate people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25,31-32). In the midst of his suffering, Job opines upon God his Judge: »There is no one who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing.« Job utters the depth of his distress and depression. You will recall that God had boasted to Satan that Job is a righteous man and there is none like him upon the earth (Job 1,8). Satan and God made a wager: Satan would tempt Job to curse God by bringing upon him suffering upon suffering; God held fast with His conviction that in spite of all these tribulations Job would uphold his faithfulness to God.
4. The wisdom we find in Job tends to make 21. century Christians uncomfortable because it challenges several concepts we have about both God and Satan, concepts that have often been passed down to us through the centuries in art and literature. The book of Job first tells us that God and Satan engage in dialogue, to the point that God goads Satan into testing His Divine opinion that Job will not curse God. Second, God and Satan agree to a wager, and Job is the unwilling subject of this wager. Third, God is in control of this entire account: Satan is given boundaries which he cannot cross, and he does not cross them. Everything Satan tortured Job with was allowed by God: the loss as wealth, the death of all his children and his agonizing illness.
5. Job, thus, is dealing with the question: does misfortune come from God even to the righteous? Job’s friends counsel two possibilities: 1. Three of his friends contend that God does not punish the righteous, and if the righteous are punished then it means the righteous have sinned in some way; 2. Another friend, Elihu, posits that perhaps God sent these tribulations to prevent foolish pride.
6. As Job processes his tribulations and thoughts, he arrives at the realization that: God has become my enemy. This terrifies humans, for such talks stands diametrically opposed to one-sided talk that speaks only about a loving God (Bayer 205). The deepest temptation is that in which God Himself becomes my enemy and in which I can no longer distinguish God and the Devil (Bayer 205). This then strikes right at the heart of salvation: who or what assures me about how I am in my relationship with God (Bayer 205)? This assurance means the difference between whether God is seated before us as our Judge or our Justifier. And thus Job requests a mediator (Job 9,33).
7. Job wants a third party to restore peace between God and him, for he knows that one cannot be right before God without a μεσίτης (mediator) (Job 9,1-2). Job wanted this mediator to take away God’s rod from him (Job 9,34). Job seeks an advocate (Job 16,21). Job needs a έστιν ο εκλύειν με (גאלי redeemer( (Job 19,25-27). Job declares in the midst of his suffering: »For I know that my Redeemer is eternal who is about to deliver me, to raise up upon the earth my skin that endures these sufferings: for these things were accomplished to me of the Lord (Job 19,25-26 LXX). Job confesses that the promised Messiah will be his Mediator and Redeemer. The New Testament tells us that Job’s Redeemer is Jesus: »Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need« (Hebrews 4,16). »We have an Advocate with God the Father, who is Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the Propitiation for our sins« (1. John 2,1b-2a). »When you call on God as Father who judges impartially … know that you were ransomed … with the precious blood of Christ« (1. Peter 1,17a.18a.19a). Job’s Mediator is Jesus, and He has appeased His Father on our behalf. When it seems that God has become our enemy, because we suffer tribulations and know not why God has plagued us with them, Jesus stands beside us as God made flesh who endures those tribulations along side us. This is the same Jesus who suffered the greatest tribulation for us: He suffered and died on the cross to save us. Job knew this thousands of years before Jesus accomplished it: »O Lord, You have sealed my transgressions in a bag, and You cover over my iniquities« (Job 14,17).
8. Job has realized that when God seems to be our enemy, visiting tribulation upon those who have done no wrong, then He is disciplining us to trust in His mercy and forgiveness. This can only be comprehended by faith and relying upon God’s Providence. Christ has brought us the gospel, that seligste Versicherung (blessed assurance) that He has saved us and nothing can snatch us out of His redeeming hands: not our sins and not our tribulations that we receive from our Heavenly Father.
9. When the time arrives for us to stand before Christ as our Judge, we stand before Him with confidence and joy, for we have already been judged and found innocent. Christ has been judged in our place, paid our sinful ransom price and has declared us justified before God His Father. God is well pleased with His Son and the angels rejoice over our salvation. Job reached a point in his suffering where he humbled himself before God with repentance and ashes (Job 42,6). He said to God: I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You« (Job 42,2.5). Amen.
10. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, our Judge; Your heavens declare the Lord’s righteousness and proclaim our justification, so that in hearing Your Word we are not judged but made holy. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.
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