~ ~ T E X T O N L Y ~ ~
READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Job 38:1-11, 40:1-14
1 Peter 5:1-11
- St. Matthew 16:24-28
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ (Rom 1)
Who speaks to you, as we continue in His Book of Job heard,
saying:
“Then will I also
acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.” (40:14)
Last week’s “turn towards the gospel” is this week’s “God
speaks for Himself”. Which also means, no matter what it sounds like, its going
to be Gospel. Especially as we also remember Gabriel speaking to St. Mary,
today, to announce her pregnancy. Yes, the Lord Himself, Whom we haven’t seen
since chapter 2, stands up in His own person, with His own reason, and begins
to give His TED talk.
But too bad, He doesn’t. God doesn’t explain anything. For
as much time as Job’s friends took up in this book of the Bible, trying to
explain God’s actions and thoughts to Job, the Lord takes up about 4 chapters
to seem to be indignant.
It is more than that, but at first it sounds as if God is
offended at being questioned. Like the clay talking back to the Potter.
What He is really doing is overwhelming the sinners,
including Job. He doesn’t explain Himself with excuses, He overwhelms. This is
the same work God has been doing in Job from the beginning of this book and its
the same work God continues today. He overwhelms, He kills our perceived rights
to an explanation in order to make alive again in the Gospel.
But what is the Gospel? From the book of Job, as we get to
the end, we expect it to be an answer to what has been happening. We expect God
come down and judge the whole situation. And we want to hear it too. We want to
hear why Job’s friends were miserable comforters. We want to hear why Job was
afflicted in such a way. We want to hear who Elihu is and what God’s plan is.
None of that is here. And none of that is anywhere in the
Bible. Why were there two trees in the Garden of Eden? Why the Flood? Why the
Passover? Why do bad things happen to good people?
The best answer we get, is heard in the Gospels which say,
“It is for the glory of God”, as Jesus says in St. John 11:4. The glory of God.
Good for Him, I guess. But then, what, we are just toys or tools to show the
works of God? To let Him show off and then just, “Oh well, sorry you had to
suffer, but it was for the greater good”?
That is, if that is what is God’s glory and God’s will. In
our sin, we believe that is so. Even Job has shared that belief with us not
only condemning the day he was born, but every day he suffered after that. When
we condemn those things, we condemn Him Who created those things. God is on His
throne and that’s that. He is in heaven, we are on earth.
Then comes the whirlwind, as we heard in chapter 38. It is
indeed mysterious for at the same time it is the whirlwind that took Elijah up
to the Lord (Sir 48:12), without dying, and also the storm that Jesus rebukes
in St. Mark chapter 4. The same whirlwind that assumes Elijah into it is the
same whirlwind that brings guilt and destruction close. That’s Law and Gospel,
that is.
And speaking of whirlwinds or atmospheric disturbances,
don’t we have the wind and the still, small voice Elijah also heard on the
mountain? Then there is the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that led Isreal
out of Egypt.
All of this leads to God’s presence among His people and it
is terrifying.
Storms and whirlwinds are not comforting. They are sources
of death which is why we monitor them in our day, producing watches or warnings
as need be. In this way, God appears to Job, just as He appeared on the
mountain in fire and thunder and lightning. Terrifying to the sinner, ready to
stamp out anything not holy.
Such as our ego and self-will. When God overwhelms, He is
purifying and sanctifying. He doesn’t explain Himself, He gives Himself. The
“who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge” is not “I am high
and mighty God and I can do whatever I want”. It is “I am high and mighty God
and what I want to do is send my only-begotten Son”.
In God’s alleged non-explanation at the end of Job, He
actually is explaining. He is explaining His love for His creation. All of His
“can you do what only God can do? I don’t think so” questions actually betray
His deep seeded love for what He has made. He presents Job with His oppressive,
whirlwind love and Job is silent before it.
Especially, when that whirlwind reveals God in the flesh.
That is what Job and sinners cannot stand: a God Who donates Himself to sinful
humanity. That willingness to suffer, die, and rise again for enemies crushes
us and silences us. It is unthinkable. It is unimaginable. Never in a million
years would we think of sacrificing ourselves in such a way. Maybe we would
dream of doing it, for a righteous man, but nothing more.
And that is the challenge presented in chapter 40. God will
take confession and extol our greatness if we can take all the wicked persons
in the world and bring them to justice. If we can tread down the wicked and
abase the proud and banish their evil forever, then God will believe in us.
Answer the Lord, if you are a man.
And if you are a man, you know the only answer is the
God-man, Jesus Christ. Unimaginable. Unthinkable. And yet, Jesus is the answer.
He is the answer to all of Job’s questions and doubts and He is the answer to
all our sufferings as well. Not because He solves them or ends them or makes
them easier, but simply because of Who He Is.
God’s answer is not “let me explain”, but repent and believe
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God’s answer is not “if you make it through
this, I’ll reward you double”. Its, “this is my believed Son, listen to Him”.
Listen to Him and remember His Words, for His work is to
tread down the wicked and abase the proud, in His Body and Blood. The eternal
righteousness that sinners seek in this world is only found in Jesus. Gird up
your loins like a man, says God, for the Word will be made man and by His Blood
and righteousness will all the families on earth be blessed.
No matter what. Even though suffering is present, the Blood
of Jesus covers all sins. Even though poverty and tragedy attack us, the Body
of Christ is exalted in the heaven, of which we are a baptized part. Even
though the earth gives way and the heavens melt, the Word made Flesh endures
forever and those who keep His Word will never taste death.
Thus, our ever-given Lord does explain Himself, but He acts
for Himself from the cross of His suffering and death. He will not take any
side requests or tangents. For greater than laying the foundations of the
earth, greater than making the Behemoth, and greater than taming the Leviathan
is Job and all sinners’ rescue from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
Not just Job, but all mortal flesh will remain in silence as
the Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, the guilt of sinners bearing. Better than
Job and better than us who complain every bit of the way, Jesus offers His
spotless life. He bears the bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies, the
mockery and yet replies, “all this I gladly suffer”.
We can ask Gabriel as he once stood in amazement at the same
whirlwind. For he came to St. Mary to bear the message that she will be a
mother, though she knows not a man. That her womb will bring forth a son,
though she is a virgin. This Son will be a man and yet is Gabriel’s Master. St.
Mary will be the Mother of the Creator.
The Chief Shepherd has appeared and Job receives His eternal
reward, which is more than he had. The Chief Shepherd appears and He is handing
out crosses to take up and follow Him. All in order that the sinner lose his
life, that is lose everything that stands in the way of Grace Alone, and then
find life again being baptized into The Life: Jesus Christ.
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