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Then Job answered: “How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? And even if it is true that I have erred, my error remains with me. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me, and make my humiliation an argument against me, know then that God has put me in the wrong, and closed his net around me. Even when I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice. My relatives and my close friends have failed me; the guests in my house have forgotten me; my serving girls count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes. I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must myself plead with him. My breath is repulsive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family. Even young children despise me; when I rise, they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, like God, pursue me, never satisfied with my flesh? “O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! - Job 19:1-7,14-27

Job gets serious with God here.

He points out how many times God has tormented him, despite his pleas and cries.

Everyone in Job’s life has failed him. All he has left is God, and God has ignored him. At this point, after all he has been through, we expect Job to totally give up hope.

But he doesn’t.

He holds out.

But he asks for something unexpected. He wants his story told. He wants it written down in a book so others will know what he has been through.

What does he want us to remember about him? His torment, or the fact that after all he has been through, he still holds firm to the belief that God will redeem him.

Is that what we get from this story?

I think we get caught up in the why rather than the what of this tale.

Why would God do this? Why play games with us humans, or this one human?

What we should be asking is: what drives a man to become so committed to God that, despite all the torment and suffering he attributes to God’s own hand, he remains hopeful for redemption?

Is Job a superhuman?

Or is he an example we can all follow?

No one would want to go through what Job has gone through.

I am reminded of stories of people in concentration camps who never gave up hope, even as they went to their death.

We feel sorry for them, and we may even see their faith as futile. But we miss the point of faith when we do that.

Faith is the thread that holds us together when all else fails. It is the thinnest filament of hope that manages to keep us tethered to God despite everything the world throws at us.

Job ends with the statement that his redeemer lives. He knows God will face him and make this right. He doesn’t know how, and he will never know why all this happened. But he believes he will be vindicated.

That type of hope and faith is what this story is truly about. That is what we need to remember and ponder.

God lives. We are in His hands. He is forever faithful and loving.

That’s a lot.

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My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids, though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. “O earth, do not cover my blood; let my outcry find no resting place. Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high. My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God, as one does for a neighbor. For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return. My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness, if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?” - Job 16:16-22,17:1,13-16

He can no longer find hope. He is totally spent, clinging to a thin thread of faith.

He hasn’t completely given up, but he is dangerously close to it.

Who can help someone who has descended to this depth?

When someone suffers from existential despair, like Job, the path back can be difficult. We don’t notice anything but the symptoms: hopelessness, isolation, feeling numb, being totally exhausted.

Clinicians treat this set of symptoms by trying to get the patient to talk about their fear, because naming the fear is believed to reduce its power over the patient.

But these attempts don’t always work. Someone who is so deep in the belief that their very existence is meaningless can mask their inner feelings just to appease the doctor.

Months, or even years, of therapy can produce no results when the patient has dug in. Job has dug in. He sees Sheol as his new home, and his family are worms ready to devour him.

When someone we love slips beyond depression into despair like this, we become powerless. We have no language for it. God has not given us the tools to help fight this.

It is the deepest, most personal, and most spiritual brokenness one can experience in life, and where it leads depends on how open the person is to hearing God’s voice.

Job is yearning, pleading for that, but so far, God has not answered him.

When someone descends into this abyss, the whole family descends with him. Time stops. No one advances. The world closes in, and every attempt to make progress seems futile.

The only one who can reach us when we are at this point is God.

Job was a righteous, faithful man; his faith was stronger than that of any other man, and still, he finds himself here.

Words lack meaning for him. Actions lose their value. He is waiting to die, begging God to take him.

Despair is not a demon that possesses us. It cannot be exorcized. It consumes us fully. It becomes us.

Bringing someone back from the pit requires a lot of cooperative work, and that’s the challenge. The person suffering has to want to come back. Therapy has been successful, but it is slow, arduous work, and some don’t stay long enough to get better.

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“A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble, comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last. Do you fix your eyes on such a one? Do you bring me into judgment with you? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one can. Since their days are determined, and the number of their months is known to you, and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass, look away from them, and desist, that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days. “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. But mortals die, and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they? As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep. Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should come. You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands. For then you would not number my steps, you would not keep watch over my sin; my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity. “But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of mortals. You prevail forever against them, and they pass away; you change their countenance, and send them away. Their children come to honor, and they do not know it; they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed. They feel only the pain of their own bodies, and mourn only for themselves.” - Job 12:1,14:1-22

Job is questioning what we all question about how this world works. Being good and righteous does not keep one from suffering, nor does it help them prosper.

Life isn’t fair that way.

God’s creation is self-renewing. Job points out that a tree can be cut down and sprout again. It lives on because its root system isn’t killed with the tree.

Humans have no root system, at least not like that. Our roots are anchored in God, not in the earth. So when we are cut down, we die on earth, but live through our roots with God.

Jesus tried to teach us that these roots are what matter, not the physical presence we have for a moment here on earth.

Job keeps trying to improve his fate on earth, which is, at best, a temporary fix.

He has already established his home with God, and he doesn’t realize it. He is judging God’s love for him based on how this life is playing out, and that isn’t the playbook God uses.

Yes, it sounds like a game, but that is because we can’t see the whole picture.

Job tries. He wonders if death is not the end. Should he have hope for something beyond death?

The finality of death has all of us, including Job, baffled. We want to believe there is more to our existence than the handful of years we have on this planet, but we can’t be sure. Imagine how easy and comfortable our lives would be if we knew for certain.

People who have that level of conviction are viewed as odd, strange, or naive. We, like Job, let our daily grind pull us back into despair.

We look at the life we have now and can’t imagine anything getting better. Then we let that feeling permeate our thoughts.

Is it foolish to believe in the living roots we have in God?

Jesus promised us an advocate, and that advocate is the Holy Spirit. The way I view that Spirit of God is like those living roots, the ones beneath the surface, unseen.

All of us who connect with the Holy Spirit are connected with each other and with God in a way that is beyond our comprehension. And if we think about it, there is evidence that is true.

When someone we know is praying for help, we somehow feel it. Something calls us and draws us into a state of wonder. Are they all right? Maybe I should call and see. It has been too long since I heard from them.

God guides us to one another. It is our purpose in life to be there for each other. Jesus told us that. We live in service to each other.

The one who isolates himself from the world is the one who is truly dead. Only those who reach out and embrace humanity with love and compassion are truly alive.

Our roots may be invisible, but they bind us together in ways we cannot explain. We are planted in the living soil of God’s love, and we bear fruit that brings life to others.

How cool is that?

Job almost figured that out. He had to suffer in order to get close to the answer. We can learn from him and from the cross. We may not be able to avoid the suffering, but our roots are deep and we will survive this. Not in a way that perishes, but in a way that lasts.

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Then Job answered: But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. As for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless physicians. If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom! Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips. Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him? Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God? Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another? He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality. Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you? Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay. “Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand. See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face. This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him. Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears. withdraw your hand far from me, and do not let dread of you terrify me. Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me. How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do you hide your face, and count me as your enemy? Will you frighten a windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff? For you write bitter things against me, and make me reap the iniquities of my youth. You put my feet in the stocks, and watch all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet. - Job 12:1,13:3-17,21-27

The friendly advice Job was given by his friends was neither friendly nor was it meaningful. Job calls them worthless physicians.

This is the reason he feels he must speak directly to God. He must take his case to the ultimate judge and he believes that if God chooses to hear him, he will win his case.

He accuses his friends of defending God with false statements, rather than with truth. Job knows that going to God directly is risky. God could put an end to his life, but he is willing to take that risk because he trusts God to be fair and just, even though God has not treated him fairly here.

This is the heart of the story.

Job remains a faithful believer in God through it all, even though God has been excessive in His treatment of Job.

I don’t think many of us could hold up under such pressure. We would surely start to doubt our own faith, and possibly turn against God altogether.

This is why this story is so important.

We can look at it the way Job sees it, as God’s unfair attack on a righteous man, and we can miss what matters most, the man’s response to that attack.

What Job has us focus on is the cause and effect of his sins. Which things did he do or not do to bring about each of these punishments?

That is something each of us would want to know, isn’t it? What good is being punished if you have no idea what it is you did to deserve that punishment?

Even as children, we sought these answers. Why? What did I do? What was so wrong?

Without knowing what you did wrong, you are bound to repeat it, and bring more trouble upon your head.

So, Job is our compass. He shows us which way North is, if North represents truth and justice.

What we take away from this story is complicated. We came away with more fear of God than we had before, not because God is unknowing, but because God can do things that we don;t understand, and that can shake our faith.

It is illogical. Who would give someone reason to turn away from them?

God can and He does here. And that is what makes this story so difficult for us. We don’t want to believe that God will play games with us, or use us to play games with someone else.

We look for the end of this story to help us grasp the truth, the reasons Job searches for.,

Will we find them?

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Then Job answered: “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock. Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable. The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hands. “With God are wisdom and strength; he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away stripped, and makes fools of judges. He looses the sash of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins. He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong. He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light. He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away. He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste. They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard. - Job 12:1-6,13-25

Let me explain.

Job is saying that the scoffers and disbelievers have ammunition when God does something like this, punish a righteous man.

The righteous suffer and are mocked by those who are not righteous. So, one can posit that the wicked see humor in Job’s suffering. This is how Job’s god treats him?

But Job doesn’t end on a negative note when it comes to his view of God. He points out that God brings down those who hold themselves up. He credits God with ways that we humans cannot understand, and this is where Job’s faith shines.

Unlike most of us who get angry with God when we feel He has abandoned us, Job says that God’s justice is invisible to us. We are unable to grasp how and why God does what He does, so we reject God, when we should accept God.

How many of us could say that if we were put through this kind of suffering?

So, while Job’s assessment of the result of God’s actions, which seem to support the view of the scoffers, is that God is ultimately wise and just.

What appears to be ammunition for those who oppose God, turns out to be something else entirely. It is as if God is giving them enough rope to hang themselves.

That makes sense. We have seen that no matter what we say, there are those who twist it around to mean the opposite. So, let them.

Let them take our faith and turn it against us, trying to show us how foolish we are to believe in an invisible man in the clouds. The last laugh will be on them.

So it is with Jesus, who went to his death knowing he would rise and show the believers they were right to follow him.

The world looks upside-down to us at times, and that is intentional. God does not explain His actions. He does not share His wisdom with us. He trusts us to trust Him.

That is our duty, our purpose: to live in faith, without knowing everything.

It is a tall order, and people will scoff, just as they scoffed at Job. But the journey we are on is better knowing we are not walking it alone, and that makes all the difference.

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Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: “Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and should one full of talk be vindicated? Should your babble put others to silence, and when you mock, shall no one shame you? For you say, ‘My conduct is pure, and I am clean in God’s sight.’ But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For wisdom is many-sided. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves. “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven-- what can you do? Deeper than Sheol-- what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. “If you direct your heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands toward him. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness reside in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear. You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. And you will have confidence, because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety. You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.” - Job 11:1-9,13-20

Did you ever judge someone based on their appearance or situation?

I know. That’s a tough question to answer, because we all do it, whether we acknowledge it or not. We see a homeless person and make assumptions about their lifestyle. Or we assume status based on clothing and appearance.

Zophar is Job’s friend, and still, he judges him harshly.

He tells Job that he must have done something wrong or God would not treat him the way He has. The proof is that all Job’s words receive no response from God.

Job complains, instead of admitting guilt and seeking forgiveness, things Zophar expects of Job.

He tells Job to let go of the iniquity he has been harboring in his tent. Let go of this stubbornness and accept God’s punishment.

But Job is innocent. He knows it, and we know it.

Or do we?

What would actually happen if Job accepted what God or Satan has inflicted on him?

Who wins the game if that happens? Satan only wins if Job curses God and turns away. God wins if Job remains faithful. But what if Job takes Zophar’s advice and gives in?

Job cannot admit to guilt, since he has done nothing wrong. Sure, he can assume God is punishing him for something his children did, since they perished, but that isn’t fair, either.

So, Job has no choice but to seek answers from God and wait.

What happens when we find ourselves in a similar no-win situation? Do we give in and move on, or do we stand our ground to the end?

None of us want to be Job. We like to believe God would not do this to us, play us against Satan in a game of wills.

Even though God chose Job because of his righteousness, Job is suffering under this arrangement. It is clearly unfair.

So, what does this tell us about our lives?

Jesus told his disciples that they would suffer because of Him. Their faith and belief will cause them pain and rejection from others.

So, maybe that is what this life is all about, standing up to injustice and unfair treatment even if it costs us dearly.

We like to think we can have a wonderful life, and we convince ourselves that the minor setbacks are not tests, but growth. Maybe that’s true. Maybe we need to get knocked down to stand up straight.

What is clear, though, is that life is hard at times. But giving up on life is not an option we can justify. Job has pleaded with God to wipe out his history, to make it as though he never lived, but God doesn’t do that.

God lets Job deal with the tragedies and afflictions.

That is our lot in life, to deal with whatever comes along, and try, with all our faith and hope, to rise above it.

Life is hard.

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“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked? Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see? Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years, that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand? Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me. Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again? Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits against me. You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. “Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness.” - Job 9:1,10:1-9,16-22

Job is angry with God for not showing Himself.

He wants answers. Why did you create me? Why am I here? What is my purpose? Is life all about suffering in silence and dying?

These are tough questions, pointing to how troubled Job is by what has happened to him.

He correctly states that God is the ultimate authority, the one from whose hand no one can save. Once we are in God’s clutches, we are totally at His disposal. So, Job wants to know why God is doing this to him. What has he done?

Why me?

Does there need to be an example for all of us? And if so, why a righteous man? Why not show an example of a man suffering for turning against God, rather than one who is faithful?

It all comes back to the premise of this story, a premise which troubles all of us to this day. Why would God use Job as a pawn on a chessboard in a game with the accuser?

Are we that insignificant in God’s eyes?

It will take Jesus to change this. He will show us that we are not alone, but will he tell us that God wouldn’t do these things?

No.

God, the Father, has given all authority to the Son, and Jesus says he will not change one letter of the law, and that he will be the final judge.

So, where does that leave us?

We get to see God face-to-face, like Job wanted, but in the face of the Son, not the Father.

We get to walk and talk with Him while He is here with us. And He leaves us our own advocate to help us defeat the one who taunts the Father, the Holy Spirit of God.

We are now well equipped. Or are we?

God has made Himself reachable through the Son, but we may not be satisfied, especially if we, like Job, are suffering for no apparent reason.

The question remains. Why?

What is the point of it all?

It is a question we all must answer for ourselves. And I know that is no answer. What I make of my short life is all my own doing. If it has meaning, it is meaning I bring to it. Maybe that is the lesson here.

We get to play God in our own lives. We can be what we choose to be, and the life we wind up with his what we build.

We will see God when it is all over. Maybe the answers will be clearer then. Or they won’t matter at all.

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Then Job answered: “Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength-- who has resisted him, and succeeded?-- he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger; who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars; who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea; who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number. Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ “God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him. How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both. If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me, then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be. - Job 9:1-15,32-35

Job is filled with anguish at this point. There is nowhere for him to turn. He seems to have given up hope of convincing God that he needs his day in court.

Who can adjudicate on one’s behalf against God?

Job is faced with the impossible task of trying to prove his righteousness to God, who judges all things. Anyone would give up at this point.

When the accuser is also the judge and executioner, a person has no chance at justice, and this is what Job feels. God is holding all the cards. So, when God decides that you are wrong, you cannot prove otherwise.

What does this say about justice in general?

What it makes clear to me is that God cannot be the accuser. Job should realize this. For God to be fair and just, which we believe He is, He cannot be the one making the claim against us. Someone else must be doing it.

So, has Job lost sight of God’s fairness?

Perhaps.

But look what this does for our arguments against God when things go wrong in our lives. If God is with us, He cannot be against us.

True justice requires that God remain impartial, since He is the judge. So, God does not take a position against us.

But what about all the things God did when He judged people?

That’s just it. He was sitting in judgment, not as an accuser. The accusation was brought upon by one’s own actions against the covenant.

By breaking the rules, we sin. We choose to hold ourselves above God, and so we become our own accuser.

We present ourselves before God without counsel, and we lose the case.

Job cannot see that God is impartial in this situation, because Job believes God calls all the shots. But God has allowed Satan to call the shots. And that is the key to this entire story.

Satan, or whatever we believe evil personified to be, makes stuff happen. When God does it, it is a form of judgment. When Satan does it, it is to get a rise out of us and God.

Our job, therefore, is to stand firm and defy Satan’s attempts to have us blame God for these things.

That is how we win and how Satan loses.

When we start to believe that God is against us, we align with the wrong side, and that leads to ruin.

So, wake up, Job. God is with you. Stop looking for reasons and help God help you.

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Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? If your children sinned against him, he delivered them into the power of their transgression. If you will seek God and make supplication to the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore to you your rightful place. Though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. “For inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found; for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding? “See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.” - Job 8:1-10, 20-22

That is Bildad’s worldview. God is just. He only punishes those who have sinned. So, Job should repent and he should accept that his children sinned.

Wow. That’s a harsh comment from a friend.

Bildad invokes the past. Ask the former generations. What did they discover about God?

This is the traditional view, like Scrooge’s ghost from the past. It shows the world the way it was, the way it was always believed to be.

What is interesting about this is that we, the readers, know that is not what is happening here. God is not punishing Job, yet the outcome is the same. By allowing Satan to test Job, God is bringing down punishment on him, even though he doesn’t deserve it.

What it tells us is that there can be other circumstances at play when bad things happen to us.

Maybe it isn’t a test, like we often hear. God is testing you. I don’t know if that is what God does, though it makes sense if God has a plan for you that requires you to be ready.

What I think it all means is that stuff happens and God lets it happen.

That sounds cruel, but it is the way the world works.

Imagine a giant clock, with all mechanical mechanisms, gears, levers, pendulums, chains, and chimes. All these things are quite normal in a regular-sized clock, but in a giant clock, they become ominous.

Trying to walk through the inner workings of the clock can be treacherous. A gear can catch your sleeve. A pendulum can knock you over. A spring could catch your foot and cause you to trip and fall.

Living in this hostile world that seems so peaceful and serene, we are like the small man walking through a giant clock. The moments of time tick away and the world groans, spits, creaks, splits, and washes over us.

I go walking down a wooded trail and my foot catches on a root, causing me to fall. Was that God’s doing? Was I being punished for a sin?

Well, God created the tree and the tree sent its root out, so you could say it is all God’s doing, and it is. God made this world, and He designed it to be self-sufficient.

That’s the trick we haven’t been able to work out for ourselves. We don’t know how to make a world self-sustaining. It requires a mix of peaceful serenity and violent upheaval. Stuff has to happen to keep it going.

And, science tells us that it is all dying off. Eventually, the sun will die. The Earth will freeze over. Life will end.

But not now. Now, we are surviving on this big blue marble.

So, Bildad’s friendly advice is simple. Admit you did something wrong, ask God for forgiveness, and get back to your life.

It’s not bad advice, but Job won’t do it. Is it pride? Ego?

What would you do? Would you give in or fight for your day in court?

Sometimes it seems futile to rail against the sea, but it is in our nature to stand tall and demand our voices be heard.

So, Job needs to decide what he will do. Does he want it to end that badly that he would sacrifice his righteousness for peace?

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“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope. “Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. The eye that beholds me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who go down to Sheol do not come up; they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more. “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath. What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them, visit them every morning, test them every moment? Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle? If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.” - Job 6:1,7:1-21

He has resigned himself to oblivion. God has abandoned him and has made him a target. What else is there for him in this life?

He can no longer see clearly. He cannot sleep. He is drained and weakened by the torture he has been through.

But he still wants to know why. Why did God do this to him?

He asks God why God hasn’t pardoned him, and I think that is significant. Even back in Job’s day, God was known to be compassionate and forgiving, and yet, here, He is not showing it.

Why does God sometimes seem distant?

Job is at the point where hope is failing him. He still has faith in God. His hope is in God’s response, which he believes will come.

The lesson for us is to keep believing when all signs indicate there is no one listening. This part of the story is the most critical for Job. His hope is barely hanging on, and he seems to have accepted death over life.

If only we could catch people who get to this point, people who have lost even the hope in God’s existence. The fact that this story exists is an indication that humanity has always struggled with understanding why. Why do bad things happen? Why do good things happen?

Who decides who should get what they get and who should fail?

We are told it is all our fault, given that we make choices. We have the will to decide for ourselves, so when we screw up, things go south.

But that doesn’t seem to happen to people who choose to do what is evil. They seem to succeed. The scammers who prey on those with retirement savings and steal hundreds of thousands from them don’t seem to have remorse or get caught.

The honest and the innocent lose.

This is Job’s dilemma. He has done everything right, and he suffers, while others don’t.

That is the focus on this story, the righteous man. He is the one Satan wants more than anyone else. He is a target, yes, but not in God’s eyes. God is proud of Job, though it isn’t easy to tell.

Maybe our lesson is to be prepared. Someone with bad intentions will seek us out to deceive us and bring us down, because we believe, because we follow the rules.

The last thing we should do is lose hope, for where there is faith, there is love and there is hope.

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Then Job answered: “O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me. “O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! This would be my consolation; I would even exult in unrelenting pain; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me. “Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty. My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed, like freshets that pass away, Such you have now become to me; you see my calamity, and are afraid. - Job 6:1-4,8-15,21

In Job’s mind, two things have conspired to crush him.

Foremost, God has turned against him. He has piled weight upon weight on him, and it is causing him unbearable pain.

Second, his friends have turned against him. They have become like dried-up streams for a man dying of thirst, offering no help when needed most.

This is a double punch that has Job asking God to put an end to his life. Where Job is at this stage is similar to where so many people may find themselves at some point in their lives, seeking an end to their suffering over continuing to live this way.

We read this story, and that fails to sink in. We move on, knowing or believing that Job will get his day in court and we will understand why he is being treated this way.

But that is not what happens in our lives. We don’t get to know why we suffer, why everyone turns against us, or why the world suddenly looks so bleak.

Job’s point of no return is not the end of the story, but it feels like it is for him. He hasn’t failed. This is not about a man who chose the wrong course in life. He has done everything right, and still, life beats him over the head.

It is understandable that his friends don’t know what to say to him. They are at a loss for words. This is not supposed to happen to good people. He must have done something to deserve this.

But he hasn’t.

He is the innocent, righteous man who happened to fall into a pit and can’t get out.

We need to understand what that feels like: to be so sure you are doing all the right things and to be crushed by failure, pain, suffering, and illness.

We praise those who brave the storm, who face death with dignity, strength, and a positive attitude. And we look down on those who want to end it all. We call them weak.

God help us if we find ourselves there. What would we do? How would we act?

What this story teaches me is the importance of being there for those who suffer. We may not be able to keep them from going over the edge, but we can sit with them while they ponder it. As difficult as that is for a loved one, it is all we can do.

God is with them, as He is with Job. He will catch us when we fall and hold us close.

No one can change the mind of another. There is nothing else one could have done to have prevented the outcome. Yet, we carry the guilt, as if we pushed the person over the edge.

Job’s friends are not at fault. They are lost. They have no idea what to do. They are the parent of a teen who chooses to end it all. They are us.

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The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” - John 1:43-51

When Jesus calls Nathaniel a man without deceit, he is referring to Jacob, who used deceit to gain a blessing. Nathaniel is not like that. He is a believer who comes without pretense.

It does seem odd that Jesus saw this in the man while he was sitting under a fig tree, but that is what makes it so interesting. What is evident to Jesus, and perhaps others, is how we present ourselves to the world.

When Nathaniel hears of the Messiah from his brother, Philip, he is doubtful. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Nazareth was not on the map, so to speak. It was an insignificant little place of no import. It was not along a major trade route. It was close to the Gentiles. And it was not mentioned by the prophets as the location from which the Messiah would come.

So, Nathaniel was not going to accept that Philip’s assessment of the situation was valid. Thanks, little brother, but no thanks.

There is symbolism in where Jesus says he saw Nathaniel. He was sitting under a fig tree. That symbolizes prayer. Nathaniel was probably praying, and Jesus saw him, saw into his heart and knew him.

That is why Nathaniel believed.

He may have even felt the vision deep inside himself when Jesus looked into his heart and soul.

What John is showing us through his Gospel is how we come to recognize Jesus. And that recognition takes several forms. For Nathaniel, it was through divine knowledge. This is similar to the woman at the well. John the Baptist saw the Spirit descend. And the disciples saw signs and miracles.

How do we come to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Anointed One?

There will come a time in your life when it hits you. Jesus has his eyes on you. He sees you the way no one else sees you, and while that may sound a bit unnerving, it actually brings peace where there is stress, and you settle in.

It may not be through a physical presence. It could be a moment of prayer under a tree, but it will happen. And you will know it when it does.

If it has already happened to you, feel free to share the experience.

Jesus called out Nathaniel as one with no deceit in him. What will he see in you?

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Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: “If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking? See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have supported those who were stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? “Now a word came stealing to me, my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: ‘Can mortals be righteous before God? Can human beings be pure before their Maker? Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error; how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth. Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without any regarding it. Their tent-cord is plucked up within them, and they die devoid of wisdom.’ - Job 4:1-6,12-21

Eliphaz has known Job to be the voice of reason and a positive influence for all seeking his wisdom, but here, he rebukes his friend for claiming innocence in his situation.

How can mortals be innocent?

This is his main point. We are all flawed, and we are all sinners. Now that Job is the one who is in trouble, Job loses his ability to see clearly and know that he is the one who brought this upon himself.

Why?

Because God doesn’t do bad things to you unless you deserve it.

That’s the view of the time, and that is the view that is challenged by this entire story. God is not doing this to punish Job. He is doing this to prove a point, and I think that is what upsets us the most.

I am reminded of Jesus and his friend Lazarus, who died. Jesus was told his friend was dying, and he waited to go see him. His reasoning was to show the glory of God.

But Jesus weeps when he does this. It is as if he is being told to wait by the Father, and he does, but he feels the pain of loss, because he is also human.

We are the ones who suffer. God doesn’t.

That sounds harsh, and it is. God is eternal. He will bring us to Him at some point in time, and we will know His glory and His presence. But for now, we suffer.

It isn’t fair. We shouldn’t be used like that, enlisted against our will to make a point. But that may be God’s way of teaching all of us.

Eliphaz makes it clear he had a vision. These are not his words, so Job shouldn’t get angry with him. He is only saying what he was told to say.

Some friend. I would think he should be comforting Job, but back in Job’s day, everyone believed God pulled all the strings.

Some still believe that today, though many think God takes a hands-off attitude, if they believe in Him at all.

What do we learn from this?

Well, we can learn that friends are not always the help we need. Or we can learn that we need to take a closer, deeper look at ourselves to see what we have done to deserve what happens to us. Or we can take it for what it is.

God chose Job as an example of a righteous man, not just for Satan to tempt, but for us to see how we stack up against him.

Do we stand our ground and believe in our goodness, or do we give in and accept that we must have been at fault for what bad things happen to us?

No matter which position you take, there are consequences. And people will have judgments against us for the position we take.

There is no right answer here, and that is what makes this story so troubling. Job represents all of us. He shows us that bad things happen to good people, and whether we blame God or not for that, is up to us and how we live in our faith.

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After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. Job said: “Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’ Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. That night-- let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning-- because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide trouble from my eyes. “Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver. Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters. “Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in? For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.” - Job 3:1-26

This is Job’s lowest point.

He has lost hope and no longer feels God’s presence. He is totally alone in the world, and the world is crushing down on him.

Maybe we have been there. Maybe what he is feeling is exactly what we have gone through, or are going through now.

He begins with a curse, but it is not a curse of God. It is a curse of the day he was born, the night he was conceived in the womb.

He sees himself at peace, resting among the dead. And this is the scary part for all of us.

Could we get to this point? Could we wish ourselves better off dead than alive?

What this story does for those who are on the edge, feeling lost and abandoned, is that this moment is not lost. We may all get to a point like this, but it is not the end.

That may be hard for some to accept. And Job may even agree. Misery is devastating. It pulls us down, and we go where it pulls us because going down feels better than sitting in it.

But look how Job deals with this. By the end, he says he is not going to be quiet about it. He is going to fight.

The point of no return turns here. He shows us that we should never give up, even when we are certain giving up will bring peace.

The story of Job is a tough one to grapple with because, upon first reading, we focus on what God is allowing to happen to this man. But as we travel through the story with Job, we start to see something much deeper.

The story is about holding on. Job wants to let go and give up, but he can’t. Something keeps him in the fight, and that thing is his need for understanding.

He wants to know why.

Why is this happening to him? Why does God let this happen? Why is he being persecuted?

He shows us that we need that fight in us. We can’t give in and give up. We have a purpose, even if we don’t know what it is. And we can survive this.

The story is troubling because God seems so detached, so aloof and uncaring.

But God has faith in Job, more than Job has in himself. He is with him, even in the emptiness.

Job is holding on by a thread, and we are rooting for him. We want him to have justice, whatever that means. We need him to keep plugging away. He is our hero. He is us.

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One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home-- Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. - Job 2:1-13

Satan failed on his first attempt to turn Job away from God. Losing all he owned and all he loved was not what would break Job. But threaten his life, and he will fold, or so Satan believes.

Job has not lost his wife, though, and she enters the picture here, pleading with him to curse God and die. She is the one who says what Satan wants to hear from Job, but he fails to say it.

Job tells his wife that we must accept the bad with the good. God is responsible for it all, and if we enjoy the benefits of a good life, we have to be willing to deal with the pain of a bad life as well.

I wonder if Job’s children would have felt that way.

When we have only known good times, we will likely curse God for the bad days that come upon us. We feel privileged, like we deserve good things in life.

But life comes as it will, and we have no control over that.

Stuff happens.

So, now Job is covered in sores and in pain. His friends come to comfort him, but have nothing to say to ease his pain. They are just there.

This is what friends are for, right? Not that they can console us, but they can show they care about us.

We will find out what they think about this situation, but for now, they are silent.

What would you do if you were Job? Would you curse God? Would you accept that bad things happen to everyone?

The belief at the time was that God pulled the strings in our lives, so Job knows that God is behind this. God lets this happen to him. His big question is why?

Why would God let Satan do these things? Is God trying to teach Satan a lesson about humanity?

If so, Job is a pawn on the chessboard, and so far, he is accepting that role.

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There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did. One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.” Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. - Job 1:1-22

Job made burnt offerings to God for his children, just in case they sinned or harbored ill feelings about God in their hearts.

So, from the outset, we have an upright man who has doubts about his own children’s faithfulness to God.

That, I think, is significant. The narrator of the story calls the storm that killed the animals and servants the fire of God, because all things at the time were attributed to God. But it was Satan who did this.

Now, one could argue that God gave permission to Satan to do whatever he wished so long as he didn’t kill Job, and that’s where the story goes sour for many of us.

Why would God do that?

I had a long discussion recently with a Jewish scholar about this very topic, and we came to completely different interpretations of the situation. This is one of the most perplexing stories in the Bible, and it is one that may never be resolved fully by us humans.

We are simply incapable of grasping the reasoning for God’s actions here.

If we look at this scene from Satan’s perspective, a perspective we rarely take in talking about this story, we can see the logic of his argument. God has given Job everything and has protected him and his family. Satan says God has built a fence around him. So, of course, Job is happy with God.

But God says that he knows Job and he knows that no matter what harm comes to the man, he will continue to be faithful to God.

This is the heart of the story. Our commitment to God despite all the harm and evil that befalls us is what our lives are like.

We all believe those who have great wealth and prestige do not have to worry, but look again. Job fears his children will stray, and as it turns out, they are killed. Brutal as it is, the story shows us that life is terminal and living in this world is dangerous.

The rain, fire, and wind all conspire to take out what Job has built up. The world wins.

Satan, though, is frustrated by Job’s faith in God. How could someone who believes that all things, good and bad, come from God still praise God when God takes them away?

At the end of today’s reading, Job blesses the name of the Lord. Could any of us do that?

Satan’s frustration with God and Job will mount, causing Job much more pain. When we see that, we look to God and ask why He lets Satan do this. Is it just to prove a point? Is it all a game? Are we pawns on this chessboard?

I don’t agree with the argument that this is our punishment for original sin. God may have given the devil dominion over the earth, but Jesus came to show us how to claim victory over this world.

So, maybe we are better off than we think.

Yes, bad stuff happens to good people, and bad people alike. God doesn’t show favoritism, or so we have been told. But I won’t go so far as to say all of this was set up just so God could sit back and laugh at Satan’s attempts to destroy us to get even with God.

That is too simplistic a view for me.

So, my Jewish scholar and I remain at odds over the reason God would do this. He is stuck with the question and cannot get beyond it.

I believe we can never know the answer in this life. Maybe when we meet God face to face, we will see with wisdom and clarity. In the meantime, we need to have faith.

Job will challenge God for answers. We do this too. We should. So long as we are arguing with God, we are still on speaking terms, and that is what matters.

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After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. - John 6:1-15

Chances are, you have heard or read a version of this story before, and like me, you have probably heard or discussed a variety of ways that the task of feeding so many with so little food could have been accomplished without a miracle.

The explanation I have heard over and over is that the people shared what they brought with them, but that doesn’t hold up since John says they had no food with them. Their desire to share what they had came from the boy’s offering, so the miracle was one of sharing. But that doesn’t hold up.

The explanation that it was merely a symbolic meal, where everyone took a small piece of bread and fish, would mirror what we do on Sundays with the host and wine, but John says they ate their fill, so that doesn’t work either.

I even came across an explanation that the disciples planted food ahead of time. But the disciples had no idea where to buy the food for so many, so that one doesn’t hold up either.

Finally, the crowd being smaller doesn’t help either. All four Gospels report the number, and how many people can you feed with such a small amount of food?

The fact that we want to explain away the miracle is a sign in itself. If you do a search, you can come up with videos attempting to claim that there is now historical proof that Jesus never existed.

So, what is going on? Why are we so hell-bent on disproving our faith?

It boils down to fear, the same fear the people of His day had of Him.

What He represents is scary. Pilate feared Him. The crowds turned against Him for not wanting to be crowned a king. The Pharisees saw Him as a threat to their power. And even His disciples fled the cross.

Jesus represents a major threat to the way we people want to live ur lives. The moral nature of His teachings creates tension in us. On one hand, we want to believe, but we are afraid to believe fully.

We become Thomas, needing proof.

So, instead, we follow the trail of those who choose the opposite approach, the ones who try to disprove one aspect at a time, until there is no faith left.

It isn’t a conspiracy against Jesus or against Christians. It’s fear.

Jesus is so influential and powerful a figure that people want to eliminate Christianity altogether. That in itself is scary.

Our faith threatens those who don’t believe in a way we cannot understand, and that makes us grow quiet about it. Live and let live, we say. But deep down, we care about those who don’t believe, because we are afraid for them.

And that’s the rub here. We care. Which is what Jesus taught us to do. And when we stop caring about others, it all falls apart. Our mission as Christians is to spread the Good News so others can be saved.

When we stop believing that you need the Good News to be saved, everything dies. We become our own enemy.

Without our faith, we will become like the Eloi of H. G. Wells’ Time Machine. In that novel, the scientist saves a woman, Weena, from drowning. The Eloi, the people of that time, have lost all will to help one another. They are like children with no moral framework, controlled by the Morlocks who live underground.

It is a story. But we can see how this attitude of disinterest is growing in us today. The decision of the young boy to share his fish changes our future, from one of selfishness and greed to one of compassion and caring.

This story of the miracle is a story of our miraculous transformation from individuals to a community. When we try to disprove the validity of these miracles Jesus performed, we miss the point. He was teaching us a lesson. This is how you love one another.

It is not about the sign, the way John presents it. It is about the heart and soul behind it.

This is who the Father is!

That is what Jesus is saying to us. And there is abundance in His hands.

More to come...

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“Ican do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” - John 5:30-47

This occurs after Jesus healed a man in the Temple on the Sabbath, so we have a reason for Jesus being adamant about who he is and who sent him.

So, let’s get down to it.

In Jesus’ day, to defend oneself against an accusation, one needed the corroboration of two witnesses, according to Talmudic Law. So, Jesus has to explain who his witnesses are.

This is a tough one, because one is dead, John the Baptist; one is God himself, who is unreachable for comment, and another is Scripture, which is open to interpretation.

So, he does what he usually does, and flips the argument in his favor.

He tells them that they are the ones who stand accused, for their failure to recognize him.

No wonder they wanted to kill him.

Of course, the action he took is justified. How many have stood before God and country and sworn by God that they are telling the truth? For a long time, that meant something in our society.

Jesus points out that the leaders of the Jewish faith have trouble with someone who claims to stand in God’s testimony, because they have trouble accepting that anyone could know what God is thinking, except maybe them.

For us believers, Jesus was sent by God to show us how we have lost our way and to point us in the right direction. These leaders are the reason the people were confused. Not Jesus.

And Jesus lowers the hammer on them by telling them that he will not accuse them before his Father. That is up to Moses to do that.

So, they don’t need to believe in Jesus to understand that Jesus is warning them of their ultimate fate before God. They will realize they had failed to lead the people properly, but only after it is too late.

No one is going to change his mind because of what Jesus says.

The same is true today. We can bear witness to Jesus as the anointed one sent by God, but if our testimony is not accepted, it falls on deaf ears.

So, Jesus ends with a true statement. If you do not believe what Moses wrote, you won’t believe Jesus, either.

We have our example to follow. Tell the truth and leave the acceptance to the listener. As Jesus told his disciples, if they don’t accept you, brush off the dirt from your heels and move on.

More to come...

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Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out-- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. - John 5:19-29

So here is the big question I struggle with.

Are we spiritual beings inhabiting a human form? Or are we human beings with a soul that breathes life into us?

When I meet Jesus, I will ask him this question. However, if I am surrounded by physical bodies and we are all risen from our tombs, I will know the answer.

The reason I have a problem with this is that the period of time when we are dead and buried before the resurrection is not three days, like it was for Jesus. It is a very long time for most, especially those who have passed already.

We like to think of our loved ones as being with Jesus in heaven. He promised that to one of the criminals hung on the cross beside him, and we mention that at funerals, giving hope to the families and loved ones.

So, which is it?

Do we go dormant? Does the soul die and get raised again at a later date?

I always believed the soul cannot die. I like that idea, and I may decide to stick with it until someone shows me that I am wrong.

And what about the Holy Spirit who dwells within us? Does it float away at our death? Is that the ghostly image some see when a loved one dies?

Theologians and other experts will tell you that the soul and the body are inseparable, so when one dies, the other dies with it. But then both are brought back to life after a long rest, when Jesus returns to take the good people home and toss out the bad.

John tells us that the Father has given Jesus, the Son, full authority in judgment over us, and I would think that is a good thing. I’ve read how judgmental the Father can be. But Jesus says he only does what he sees the Father doing, so let’s break that down.

Jesus raised people from the dead. Why would he do that? Why would the Father return someone to this life?

One could argue that compassion has something to do with it, and if death is forever, or at least until the last day, then that makes sense. Give Lazarus another few years. Give the daughter of the official more time. But what about us?

One of the criticisms about Christianity is that it offers hope beyond life. People who live in suffering all their lives can rest assured that they will have a better eternal life after they die. For centuries, that kept people in check. The powers that be saw how powerful that was.

Today, though, we are more liberated, more progressive, to use a misused word. We want it all, and we want it now. We live as though this life is all we have, but at the end, we hold out hope for a next chapter.

We are a confused lot, we humans.

Still, the idea that the soul goes dormant bothers me. If we are made in God’s image, and God is the source of all creation, we should be eternal by nature, just like God.

Radical, I know.

But here is the problem with that thinking. If death is not the end for all, then how do we keep people from behaving badly? What can we threaten them with if the final judgment isn’t real?

Maybe it isn’t an “either-or” scenario, but something else entirely.

Maybe our souls live on when we die, but at some point, when all the bodies are raised, the souls go back to their human homes, and then, judgment happens.

No one will buy that. Maybe I have to write a story based on that idea.

More to come...

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Then Samson’s wife said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.” Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death. So he told her his whole secret, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else.” When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hands. She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks oıf his head. He began to weaken, and his strength left him. Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, and let him entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars; and Samson said to the attendant who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean against them.” Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson performed. Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “Lord GOD, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He strained with all his might; and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years. - Judges 16:15-31

Before we get into what Delilah did, and how Samson contributed greatly to his own demise, the question I have is why was he with her in the first place?

His judgment about relationships was off, to say The Book of Judges tells us he was in love with her, but it couldn’t have been true love, could it?

He chased after women who made him feel good. And that led to him breaking his Nazareth vow with God.

From the womb, he was chosen to be a Nazarite, to protect Israel from the Philistines. The conditions of his vow were to avoid alcohol, touching the dead, and cutting one’s hair.

He drank at a wedding, held the jaw bone of a donkey, and gave away the secret that led to his hair being cut.

Now, it wasn’t the hair that made him powerful, but the covenant with God, and this is important, because what Samson did by giving in to Delilah’s pestering, was break that covenant. He turned away from God and the purpose he was given before birth.

In the end, he came back to God and God gave him back his strength. So, this is a story about restoration and reconciliation with God.

We all screw up. Not just in relationships and judgments, but in our actions or failure to act. We pull away when we should approach. We seek our own path when we know the path we are on already is the right one.

God knows we will do this, and He is patient with us.

How do we know we are slipping away from God when we pursue our own desires?

That sounds like a silly question, doesn’t it? Jesus told us that earthly desires lead to our downfall, and it is stories like this one that show us how.

According to studies and numerous YouTube videos on the topic, relationships are on the decline. A growing number of men and women are opting out of marriage and even dating. There are a lot of theories about why this is happening, but countries are worried that the population growth they have had for generations is declining.

I wonder if we are all suffering from a lack of trust. It may appear easier to avoid the potential conflicts than to address them head on, like our parents and their parents did. The underlying covenant between them held them together.

Samson didn’t have that with Delilah. They weren’t married. God did not sanction their union. He chose his destiny, and chose poorly.

It all comes down to what we expect from one another. The vows we make when we marry are not as sacred as they once were. The friendships we create are superficial, lacking depth and meaning. We are becoming more attracted to artificial personalities, which are fake and meaningless.

When I was young, my father warned me about false friendships. He said a person who has one good friend in life is blessed. I used to think he was just bitter, because a “friend” of his burned him once. But now, in my golden years, I wonder if he was right about that. The value of a real friend is greater than the sum total of all the good times with people we would never trust with our secrets.

Samson should have considered that.

More to come…