Limitations, October 4, 2009

Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Mark 10:2-16
The great distinction between God and Humanity is limitation, defined boundaries to life itself.
Almighty God is all knowing, all powerful, boundless grace. The Alpha and Omega symbols in the stained glass point to God being the ultimate beginning before all else, and the absolute conclusion after all has been done. While there are those who believe the Apple in the Garden of Eden was knowledge of good and evil, others that this was knowledge of sex or war, or shame, others that this was knowledge of science and human learning, I believe the forbidden fruit was knowledge of our humanity, our mortality, our human limitations. Before that time, there is no discussion of death, only possibility. Tempted that limitations would not kill us, and were desired to make one wise, we bit, and following that first taste, we have been testing our limits ever since.

There are a wide variety of tests, from expansion of vocabulary and spelling, to mastery of concepts, physical exertion, and musical ranges we did not know we could reach, from standardized testing to essays that enable us to use concepts and theories to reach beyond what we thought we knew. The dual edge to testing is that we discern that despite all we know and are certain of, how little we actually understand; as well as being able to reach for immortality, for answers to what has always eluded us.

The book of Job is about testing a person. In Genesis, Abraham had been tested, with the sacrifice of Isaac, the difference in these stories being that when God saw that Abraham would not withhold his hand but would actually sacrifice his son at God's command, God spared both Isaac and Abraham. Here the test is not whether you love God, or how great is your love of God, but why do you love God, and is that love motivated by an implicit contract, or by honor, or piety or what? Because the question of faith is different, the test does not end when the child is about to be sacrificed, but rather this test begins with the death of all 10 of his children, and his land and crops and animals, and suffering in his own body and life. His wife and friends, all questioning why Job believes.

Many of us have been rereading the story of Joshua for the Women's Circles, trying to understand the importance for that people of there being a Nation of Israel, a Promised Land to inherit, while testing ideas of leadership and commitment and the persistent Old Testament ideal, that if you do right God will bless you, and whenever you do wrong, when you sin God will find a way to curse as well. The book of Job tests that ideal. Not an historic record like Chronicles or Kings. Not a book of Prophecy like Habakkuk, Isaiah or Ezekiel. The book of Job is didactic like the Parable of Nathan to King David. The result of telling the parable is to convince the listener there is only one answer for justice and righteousness in the world.

While many perceive Job to be a story of SUFFERING, Job is the story of God's Uncompromising HONOR, and the story of Job's unwavering TRUST. The last few weeks I have done a great deal of driving to host an event for retirees in Oneida, then a wedding rehearsal south of Canandaigua, Presbytery at Chittenango, and the wedding south of Canandaigua, a dinner to honor our departing EP's leadership in Fayetteville, and visiting our shut-ins and those in assisted care, as such I have listened to a variety of stations on the radio. Many of what are called Christian networks make great promises, that if we turn away from all temptation, if we abandon all the things of this world, we will be rewarded with far greater possessions... if we will send contributions to support their programs they will return to us seven-fold...my favorite is that you choose your top ten wishes from their list of forty: to win the lottery, to find true love, to live in a beautiful home, to be surrounded by the opposite sex, write these down on a slip of paper sending them to this address and within four to six weeks one will come true, and then and only then are you required to pay for your good fortune. It was as answer to this kind of faith, that the story of Job was told. JOB'S point is that if we believe we receive blessings from God, should we not then also expect that curses come from God as well? Far from a question of if there is a God, or if we have faith, or if there is suffering in the world, Job asks, Knowing that there is a God, having faith, experiencing suffering, “What are we to do, what are we to believe?”

Job's spouse is the sympathetic and supportive type who declares “Curse God already! Curse God and die!” But Job's faith cannot. Job's faith is based on unwavering TRUST, that even when, especially when what we believe in, the trusts we have known seem broken and betrayed, this is when we must believe.

Believing in wish fulfillment is a kind of implicit contract, that if we do the right things, belong to the right clubs, eat all our vegetables and say a prayer, our lives will be eternal blessing. The awful reality is that people do die, there was both a tsunami and an earthquake in the world this week. SU lost to Southern Florida. Chicago did not get the Olympics. Iraq continues to work at creating a nuclear bomb. The response of Job is sit upon the pile of debris that was his business, scraping the blisters of his flesh with a broken piece of pottery, trusting and believing that even if no one else understands, God cares.

Fool hardy, naïve? Perhaps. But Job is not questioning if there is a God, Job is confident that there is! Job's test is a different set of questions, questions of WHY, for what purpose, what am I to do?

I remember taking a test many years ago, perhaps you took the same one.
All the test booklets were passed out, each with 243 impossibly complicated questions, and the very last one on the last page, said that IF BEFORE TRYING TO ANSWER, YOU HAD LOOKED OVER ALL THE QUESTIONS TO SE WHERE THIS WAS GOING AND WHY, THEN YOU HAD PASSED THE TEST, SIGN THE TEST AND TURN IT IN.

So often we ask the wrong questions, looking for the wrong answers. Knowing that the Pharisees were putting Jesus to the Test, trying to trap him, many have taken Jesus' teaching out of context. In a question about “Divorce” the Pharisees ask Jesus about the LAW. He responds by asking “Do you know the Law as Moses gave it?” They respond “we do.” Then he goes on to describe not divorce, not adultery, but marriage, what marriage is truly all about, trust and commitment between two.

This week the media has had a field day, testing our culture's values, whether Roman Polanski who has so many influential friends and has gone on to make such award winning films, should be held accountable for having raped a 13 year old 40 years ago when he was 36. David Letterman has made a joke of his being blackmailed for having abused his power to have sex in the workplace with those who had depended upon him for their job and the feeding of their families. These are not questions of celebrity. These are not tests of a statute of limitations. Not questions of changing cultural mores. These are abuses of power, power over a child, power over those dependent upon you. These are violations of trust and we have been asking the wrong questions. The questions we need to consider are whether we have abused our relationships? What do our actions say to those who trust us? Can we be as vulnerable and transparent and open, as having parents of children bringing their children, or not?