Richard Davenport

August 13, 2023 – Proper 14

Job 38:4-18

            Good old Job.  He has a rough time, no doubt.  He goes from being on top of the world to being on the very bottom.  He loses everything he has, with the exception of a few friends who show up to console him.  They do what they think is best, which is to get him to admit whatever heinous sin he has committed so that he can be forgiven and restored.  The first two chapters give us some of the background of Job and why he ends up in the predicament he does.  But, the bulk of the book is taken up by this round and round dialogue Job has with his friends.  They tell him to fess up.  He argues he has nothing to confess because he’s done nothing wrong, and so on and so on.

            It is little unfortunate how pertinent Job is to our lives today.  Whether you watch the news or have any interest in current events or not, it doesn’t really matter.  The time comes whether you want it to or not, whether you care about it or not: election season.  I mean, I know the presidential election is more than a year away, but everyone is already preparing for primaries and that means campaigning.  If there’s campaigning, then there are ads, there’s news reports about the candidates and everything they’re up to and everything they’re saying. There are the televised debates and then all of the talking heads commenting on what all of it means, endless, endless political commentary.

            Whether you like any of it or not, you’re stuck with deal with it.  It’s just how democracy works.  We have elections, so we have people who want to be elected.  For us to be able to know which person is best suited for the job, we have to hear what they have to say.  We have to see them in action and get a sense of what they’re going to accomplish.  How else are you going to determine who should be there?

            Now, obviously, the candidates are trying to get elected and they’ll say a certain amount that they think everyone wants to hear. Hopefully though, they are also saying things they truly think are right.  Hopefully what they say is stuff they actually want to carry out because they think it’s what’s best for the country.

            You might disagree with them.  You probably do, at least on some things.  Even if you agree with them on most things, you probably disagree here and there about how best to go about getting things done.  We all have opinions.  Anyone who has spent any time thinking about all of the various topics up for debate in the upcoming election can probably talk about them at least a little bit.  Racism, abortion, LGBTQ issues, the economy, Ukraine, immigration, homelessness, on and on we go. 

            Our opinions don’t really stop with election season and aren’t constrained to election topics.  We have opinions on all sorts of things.  You have to.  Any time there is some decision to be made, you have to form an opinion as to which is the option you should choose.  Even if you decide it doesn’t really matter or that both options are equal, that’s still an opinion.  There may not be a right or a wrong answer, but you still form opinions on things. 

            Back in elementary school you probably went through an exercise where you had to sort out which sentences were facts and which were opinions.  They were probably designed to help you see the distinction between the two.  Facts are objective.  They are always going to be something someone can look at and say “That’s true,” or “That’s false.”  Opinions are subjective.  Everyone is going to see things differently.  Some may agree.  Some may not. I may not agree with you, but I can’t necessarily say you’re wrong.

            Except that I can and do.  My opinions are better than yours.  Not only are my opinions better than yours, mine are just plain facts. I know what’s right.  I know how it works.  It’s so obvious that anyone should be able to see it, but you didn’t. That’s ok though, I’ve got it figured out and I’ll show you.  You have some opinions and that’s fine, but really you should just keep them to yourself because of how wrong you are and how right I am.

            That’s how most of Job’s friends approach the situation. Job is laying there in the dirt, all of his worldly possessions are gone.  All of his children are gone.  His body is covered in sores.  The question at the forefront of everyone’s mind is, “Why?”  Job’s friends have an opinion.  “Job, you did something terribly bad.  God doesn’t just do that kind of thing for no reason.  He must be punishing you for some horrible sin. You’d better repent right now.” Job has his own opinion.  “I haven’t done anything wrong.  God is punishing me unjustly.  If he’d only listen to me we could clear all of this up, but he won’t talk to me.”

            Most of the book of Job is taken up by each side arguing why their view is the correct one.  Back and forth they go.  “Job, you’re wrong.”  “No, you guys are wrong.”  For about 30 chapters this goes on.

            Who is right?  Well, in the end it turns out to be neither of them.  God finally steps in with an extended series of rhetorical questions.  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?  Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?  Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?  Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?  Declare, if you know all this.”  All questions Job and his friends obviously can’t answer. 

            Why not?  Job and his friends seemed to have all of the answers.  Why can’t they explain all of this?  Now, you might ask yourself what difference it makes whether you know about the sea, about death, or about the breadth of the land.  You think you have all of the answers, but here are a number of things you know nothing about.

            There’s nothing wrong with opinions.  Obviously we need them just to make life work. What we find in Job is thinking of your opinions as fact, which is especially problematic when, as God explains to him in detail, you don’t have all the information.  We inflict our opinions on others and think we are superior and that those around us are know nothings.  “I can solve your problems.  I can solve the world’s problems.  I can sort it all out if you just listen to me.  I have all of the answers.”

            Job thought he had the answers.  Job’s friends thought they had the answers.  Neither side treated the other in loving humility. Neither consulted God and treated the Creator of the universe with the respect he was due.  So God has to explain it to them.

            Our opinions color our perception of others. Those with different opinions are labelled wrong, bad, or evil.  We, with our superior opinions, think we are better and we treat others accordingly.

            Not everything in the world is made of opinions. The Creator has given us many things that are true and remain true no matter what anyone else thinks.  The Fifth Commandment God gives us tells us in no uncertain terms that murder is always wrong.  That makes everything that falls under that category wrong as well, including abortion and euthanasia.  We don’t need to debate whether one form of murder is better than another, because they’re all wrong. 

            However, God leaves many other things open to us. How best to carry out God’s commandments, how best to care for the world around us and the people in our lives. How we approach these matters often comes down to what we think is the priority.  We get so caught up in fighting to assert our view that we forget that others are trying to do good and godly things, just in different ways.

            So much of the breakdown in our society today comes simply from one side feeling they are superior and that the other side’s opinion either doesn’t matter or is just wrong, so wrong that it isn’t even worth discussing.  We can’t bear the notion that we don’t know everything. 

            Does this mean there’s nothing for us to say at all? No, not at all.  There’s a reason God steps into the debate Job is having with his friends.  While neither side can see the full picture, neither side understands everything that’s going on, God does.  God knows how his world works and what is best for us.  That’s why God gives us commands.  They are not opinions about what’s best for our lives or for the world. They aren’t suggestions for what we should do or how we should live.  They are definitive facts that the Creator has given to us.  They are non-negotiable.  Idolatry will always be idolatry.  Coveting will always be coveting.  Murder will always be murder.  We may disagree on how to deal with it, but there can be no debate about the rightness or wrongness of these things.

            We also have God’s promises.  While he issues commands to keep us on the path of life and righteousness, he also shares promises with us to show us where we are going. These are also definitive facts. They will happen.  Even if the promise is about something wild and fantastic, it will happen.  It is already built into our world.  We just haven’t seen it yet.

            It was vital that God entered into the conversation between Job and his friends.  It is vital that God speaks to us here today.  He has to remind us that we don’t know everything.  We can’t know everything.  It isn’t our job to know everything, and we don’t have to.  He knows.  He says things that don’t always fit what we think.  He says things we don’t always think are possible.  He says things that we have trouble believing. We are tempted to write them off as opinions, as polite suggestions, but they are not.  They are facts.  Whether we believe him or not changes nothing.  They are true and they will always be true.

            When God says every one of us is a sinner, it’s not an opinion.  It’s a fact. When God says every sinner is condemned to death, it’s a fact.  When God says no amount of work on your part will ever save you from your sin, it’s a fact. When God says all of those commands of his that we so often take as polite suggestions are now evidence against us, it’s a fact.  Our opinions don’t change any of it.

            Left with that, we would have no way forward.  Life everywhere would look much like it does in politics and many other areas of society, an endless parade of opinions and everyone bickering over which is the best.  No one open to new ideas.  Certainly no one admitting they don’t know it all or that they might be wrong. Everyone milling about with their opinions.  Everyone failing to see the full picture.  Everyone missing the fact that we are all sinners in the same boat and we are rushing right to our own death.

            God’s promises change all of that.  God gives more facts.  Yes, sin still means death.  But God promises to take that death on himself instead.  The Son of God comes into the world to die and our death is his and his life is ours.  Our sin is his and his righteousness is ours.  You may have an opinion on whether any of this is possible or whether God would really do such a thing, but God has said it.  God has done it.  It enters into history as fact.  God promises that you are covered in your baptism, kept safe from the wrath God directs against sin.  God promises that when he looks down and sees your baptism that it reminds him there is no charge to bring against you anymore.  Your debt is paid.

            We can stand on this with certainty because God said it.  You may have an opinion on what God is going to do.  Others may have different opinions.  But God has already made it known to you.  His plan is already firmly fixed and he has included you in it. Your baptism is your guarantee, your safety in the ark in the midst of the flood.  God is creating a new world, free from sin and death, and he has reserved a place for you in it.

            It is because of God’s power, his wisdom, and his love, that all of this is possible.  He alone can make this happen.  He alone sees and carries out the plan of salvation for the world.  He alone knows how to keep you safe.  God leaves a lot of things up to us to decide. There are many places we may disagree with each other.  But God’s word will always be true.