Cultural Tradition In Conflict With God’s Wisdom And Love.
( Alternative Title: Getting Rid Of Stinking Thinking )
Preached on October 25th, 2015
Perspective From The Clouds
(from Our Daily Bread )
I have heard of You . . . but now my eye sees You. —Job 42:5
In 1927 the silent film Wings, a World War I film about two American aviators, won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. When it was being filmed, production stopped for several days. Frustrated producers asked the director why. He responded: “All we have is blue sky. The conflict in the air will not be as visible without clouds. Clouds bring perspective.” He was right. Only by seeing aerial combat with clouds as a backdrop could the viewer see what was really going on.
We often wish for blue skies instead of storm clouds. But cloudy skies may reveal God’s faithfulness. We gain perspective on how God has been faithful in our trials as we look back on the clouds.
At the beginning of his terrible suffering, Job lamented: “May the day perish on which I was born . . . . May a cloud settle on it” (Job 3:3-5). His experience of despair continued for a long time until God spoke. Then Job exclaimed, “I have heard of You . . . but now my eye sees You” (42:5). Job had encountered the sovereign Creator, and that changed his perspective on God’s purposes.
Do clouds of trouble fill your skies today? Sooner than you think, God may use these clouds to help you gain perspective on His faithfulness.
God, give us wings to rise above
The clouds of trial that block the sun,
To soar above gray skies and see
The love and goodness of Your Son. —Sper
Often the clouds of sorrow reveal the sunshine of His face. —Jasper
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Then Job answered the LORD: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. `Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. `Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.
Mark 10:46-52
Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Both Job and Bartimaeus had to deal with the cultural prejudices of their time. Job’s was the understanding that because of what had befallen him, he, or someone in his family, must have sinned and brought this hurt upon him. Bartimaeus had grown up with the perception that to be blind basically meant there was sin in the family line, or something was wrong with him spiritually. Either way, both men felt that they had the deck stacked against them. Both men needed their eyes opened. Why? In order to see God in the way He wanted to be perceived; as the God who will heal the whole person, body and soul; to be seen as the one who would show mercy when faith is found in one’s heart. He was the God who wanted to eradicate prejudice, doubt and fear from their lives.
There were two ways God wanted to free both Job and Bartimaeus from the misperceptions of the reasoning of their times. One, by ripping away the idea that the Lord was vengeful and merciless, seeking only to punish. Two, by replacing that false perception with the knowledge that the Lord is a God who wants to save and redeem the whole person, to save to the uttermost and that ultimately their faith should not reside in the understanding of man, but in the truth of God.
Specifically Bartimaeus faith was found in the confidence he had received from hearing about Jesus. Job’s was on the revelation he received in his dialogue with God during the trial he was going through. One asked for mercy and trusted Christ and Christ healed him. The other had to learn to forgive in order for the healing process to be revealed.
God’s Final Words: The Interpretive Crux
Caught up in the divine speeches, we too often ignore God’s final words. In Job 42:7, God addresses Job’s friends, declaring his wrath at how they, not Job, had spoken about him. He declares Job as the only one in the right: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” If there was any doubt, God repeats this pronouncement in Job 42:8. The way we often interpret Job makes little sense if Job is the only one who has spoken rightly.
Job speaks to God and about God with bold and daring questions. God’s final speech in the book does not demonize Job’s questions—nor does it answer them. But it does affirm them as a proper way to speak.
( Anderson, J. E. (2014). A Lesson in Not Leaving before It’s Over. In J. D. Barry & R. Van Noord (Eds.), Study Like a Pro: Explore Difficult Passages from Every Book of the Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. )
Differing on the Nature of God: Theology as Debate
The book also presents an implicit argument that theology—reflection on the nature of God—is not so much systematic thought as the diverse and often conflicting claims about God believers make as they grapple with a world beset by the dualities of joy and sorrow, wonder and dread, prosperity and poverty, war and peace. The book includes many claims about the true nature of God that compete vigorously with one another. Job’s wife is certain of God’s retributive justice and equally certain that her husband has brought this misery on himself. She also seems confident that God’s justice leaves no room for forgiveness. Job’s friends share his wife’s insistence on God’s commitment to retributive justice, but they reject her view that God does not accept repentance, arguing that God forgives those who are repentant. Elihu’s speech affirms his friends’ views, but he adds the notion that unjust suffering among human beings is only apparently unjust inasmuch as it may also be explained as God’s pedagogy and discipline. Job represents in alternating literary personalities a posture of unquestioning (Job 1:20–21; 2:10) and chastened (Job 40:4–5; 42:1–6) devotion to God in spite of all innocent suffering; he also represents the bold view that the principle of God’s divine retributive justice stands apart from God as a judgment on God’s actions (see especially Job 31:29–37). Together, these diverse theological views in the book of Job testify not only to the fundamentally diverse nature of theology as a product of lived experience, but also to the tensions between perspectives naturally attendant to theology done this way.
Bibliography
Andersen, Francis I. Job: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press Press, 2008.
Kugler, R. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Job, Book of, Critical Issues. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Thoughts On Mark
In the Synoptic Gospels, the language of faith relates to trust in God and in Jesus (Mark 4:40; 11:22–24; Luke 8:25; Matt 21:21–22), with some concern for its relationship to divine judgment (Luke 18:8). However, Jesus’ miracles are of greatest interest in regard to the subject of faith. The Synoptic Gospels record two particular phrases that connect healing with faith:
1. “Let it [the requested miracle] be done for you according to your faith” (Matt 8:13; 9:29 NRSV).
2. “Your faith has healed you” (Matt 9:22; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 7:50; 8:48; 17:19; 18:42 NRSV).
The potential for modern misunderstanding and misapplication of this material necessitates further discussion on the relationship between faith and healing and how it should be understood from a theological perspective. Four important points can be made:
1. The miracle traditions in the Synoptic Gospels focus on the dynamic appearance of the good news and how it claims victory over evil and the damage of sin. The miracle stories point toward true faith in God through Jesus, not the joy and satisfaction of the person being healed.
2. While Jesus commends the faith of the ill (or his friends; see Matt 9:2; Mark 2:5), deeper faith does not guarantee physical health or security. For example, John the Baptist is portrayed as strong in faith, yet he was beheaded and remained dead despite Jesus’ approval of his ministry.
3. The faith of the person is not necessarily orthodox or complete, and sometimes even involves only a rudimentary understanding of the identity of Jesus. In most people He heals, Jesus observes and commends their resolve to seek Him in their darkest hour. The people Jesus heals recognize His power and authority, but many of them do not understand the bigger picture of what God has done in Jesus or what He will do through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Culpepper remarks that the Gospel of Mark “measures faith not by its orthodoxy but by its determination, courage, and persistence” (Mark, 77).
4. The Gospels should not be considered guidebooks for healing. While there is no reason to doubt that Jesus did perform healing miracles as the Gospels record, these stories seem to carry a symbolic meaning as well. Donald Hagner argues that they point to “the greatest healing experienced by the Church, the ‘healing’ of salvation” (Hagner, Matthew, 1.251). This association is more obvious, as the verb for “healed” (σῴζω, sōzō) is also used for “saved” in the spiritual and eternal sense.
Gupta, N. K. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Faith. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Remember These Three Things
1. The Character of God.
Galatians 5:22-26
22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
2. Prejudice And Hatred will destroy your spiritual well being.
3. Forgiveness And Building Bridges of Understanding brings about Healing and Peace.
