but it never did occur to me to leave 'til tonight
Last week we made the somewhat provocative statement that Job was losing his religion. Well, this week, Job doesn’t walk that back an inch. In fact, if anything, he doubles down.
Just to be clear, though, the religion Job is losing isn’t much of a religion at all. It’s a religion that assumes a mostly absent God. A God who is just there to occasionally check in and see if you’re behaving. And then, and only then, to try and help make life turn our accordingly.
Now I know when I say it like that, it sounds ridiculously crude. The truth is, though, for the most part, this is the religious assumption we all carry around with us. We all have this working formula that presumes the degree to which life is going our way is fundamentally contingent upon our behavior. Like Job and his friends, we are all susceptible to falling into this faux religion.
Job, however, has been shaken out of it. Life has taught him, the hard way, that the formula he’s been living his life by is woefully inadequate. Experience has shown Job that when life slips out of your control, all those moral and religious theories make no difference whatsoever. Worst of all, though, Job learns that the “God” who props up such a scheme is tragically ineffective. And I do mean, tragically.
When you experience the kind of unraveling Job has, the “God” who stands behind that pseudo-religious-math Job’s been living his life by turns out to be no god at all! In fact, this no-god of a god only makes everything that much worse! This no-god of a god not only unravels itself, this no-god of a god actually unravels anything and everything that falls under its pernicious shadow right along with it! And it’s that harsh lesson that inspires Job’s prayers today…
Now, I know what you’re thinking; Job’s prayers today sounds, at long last, hopeful! And, that’s right. They do! They are! What we hear from the lips of Job is nothing less than a shout of faith! The shocking thing, though, is this hope isn’t born of any moral or religious theory. It’s born from their demise!
The problem with that ever-popular form of sham religion isn’t its appeal. Although, let’s face it, it’s flattering of all the complexities of life is appealing. But no, the real problem with that quasi-religion is how its very innocuousness is actually downright fatal!
That hokum religion imagines God as powerless. Impersonal, even. And this kind of god is not only no god of a god. This kind of a god is worse than no god! This kind of a god is downright disastrous! This kind of god takes you down right along with the whole religious scheme thats been proping this no-god of a god up!
It is right there, though, at that very place of despair in the whole system, that something unexpected occurs for Job! Instead of everything going to pieces, something wholly new comes together! An unlikely hope. An impossible one!
That maybe, perhaps, possibly hiding behind it all, on the other side of that closed system Job’s been living by, is a true God! A real God. A God who is capable of redemption! “I know that my redeemer lives,” Job chokes out!
No sooner does he make this bold confession, though, then he collapses into himself. His very heart faints within him. This hope is just too much for Job to sustain on his own.
Which, as it turns out, is his real problem. Fourteen chapters of playing armchair theologian with his friends have shown Job the uselessness of their little parlor game. What Job really needs isn’t theories about hypothetical just gods and supposed moral creatures. What Job really needs is God. A real God! A flesh and blood God! A God who will get mixed up in the mess his life has become, and get to work.
Now, the Good News is, this is precisely the kind of God the incarnate son reveals! The bad news, though, is Job doesn’t have a preacher to proclaim this to him. Instead, all he has is some useless friends who want to play at theology.
Blessedly, though, before the book of Job is over, God will interrupt. Bereft of a preacher, God will do the deed. But that’s for a later date. For now, suffice it to say the only real difference between you and Job is, whereas Job only had wannabe theologians, you have a preacher! So listen up!
When all your overly simple religious formulas stop working, the real God starts working! And actually working, too! Really working! The God we call “redeemer” is no consultant! This is a God who gets involved! A God who gets his hands dirty. A God who is born of flesh and blood. A God who gets so close his skin smokes, as Luther said.
And this God’s name is Jesus Christ! And what’s more, YOU have been baptized into his righteous invasion we call redemption! Now your life is no longer your own! It is no longer determined by formulas of your own devising, religious or otherwise! Now your life is determined by the redemption Jesus has made of it!
And here’s what it looks like; at the cross, Jesus laid aside every formula to actually be your redeemer! Your God! The one you can look to in any and all circumstances. When life is going your way. And even especially when it isn’t.
And when you look to Jesus, he will not look away from you to check any formula! No, instead, he will look to you through the cross. The cross, the means by which he has purchased you with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.
And Jesus has done all this in order that you might belong to him, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in eternal righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, JUST as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true!
And indeed, this is most certainly true. Your life is not a problem to solve! No, your life is one more part of your Lord’s redemption! Your Lord’s redemption that cannot be quantified! Your Lord’s redemption that knows no end! Your Lord’s redemption that will carry you through this life and all the way to eternity, too! And this, this alone is the only thing that is most certainly true!
Comments
Post a Comment