June 14, 2020
Job 3:1-10; 4:1-9; 7:11-21

There was a march in Owen Sound last week.

Roughly a 1,000 people gathered at the Farmer’s Market on what one speaker called “the hottest day of the summer” to walk a couple of kilometres to the Black History Cairn in Harrison Park.

The anti-racism march was sparked by the death of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer in the United States and to underscore the presence of racism in the Owen Sound area.

It has been a while since I took part in such an event, but I believe that as a faith community, we have to be visible and material opponents to the forces that serve to oppress and marginalize.

So, wearing my PPE and practising social-distancing, I joined the marchers carrying signs and flags denouncing racism. The march was an eye-opening experience… in more than ways than one.

The crowd was predominately young … in their late teens and in their twenties … which tells me that if it is an issue that is important … that is relevant … to them, they we come out in force. And, as a church community called to work for social justice … we should take note of that.

At the park, the organizers spoke about the discrimination … subtle and otherwise … that people of colour face in their daily lives.

They spoke about going into a store and being followed around by a clerk … because they might steal something off the shelves. They spoke about being disrespected because of the colour of their skin.

The march ended with the crowd being invited to kneel for eight minutes and 46 seconds – the amount of time the police officer kneeled on George Floyd’s neck.

If your joints can handle it … mine were hurting after a point … kneel for that period of time … imagine what must have been going through George Floyd’s mind during that period. The time seems like an eternity… especially when you consider that the time was marked by his pleas, “I can’t breathe.”

So, what does this march and the experiences that were given voice have to do with Job’s story?

Last week, we heard about how a heavenly being called “Satan,” set about dismantling Job’s life.

In a short period of time, Satan … also known as the accuser … claims the lives of Job’s seven sons and three daughters … arranges for his seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys to be stolen or killed and for the deaths of the servants caring for the flocks. 

Before this happened, Job was a man of unsurpassed piety … doing all that was expected of him. His love and fear of God was such that God boasted about this man Job to the other heavenly beings.

Job was flawless.

Between last week’s reading and today’s passage, Satan inflicts sores onto Job and leaves him on an ash heap. When he refuses to blame God, Job’s wife tells him to curse God for what has happened and then die. Job chastises his wife for her lack of faith.

Three of Job’s friends show up to console and comfort him.

These three wept and tore their robes when they saw that Job’s pain and anger from the suffering he had endured had made him almost unrecognizable.

In solidarity, the friends sat with Job on the ground and remained silent … they didn’t offer their theological interpretation of what God was up to … they remained silent for seven days … allowing Job to process the emotions and find the means to give voice to his pain.

Then, Job curses the day he was born… wanting the day to be hidden by darkness. One of his friends finally offers his interpretation of events. They claim that the innocent don’t perish, but Job’s experience says otherwise.

They say it was all Job’s fault … the man whose faith and devotion God boasted about … must have sinned. If disaster happens, it is because Job deserved it.

Unfortunately, that is still the interpretation of some faith communities … if you’re suffering, then you either sinned or you didn’t pray hard enough or long enough or the words you used weren’t compelling enough. In short, you’re getting what you deserve.

This is bad, destructive theology.

Today’s passage is about how we speak to God.

One Lutheran scholar calls Job’s friends “useless theologians.” They continually talk about God … but never speak to God on Job’s behalf … they don’t … as we do at each service … ask God to intercede in the problems facing the world or in the suffering being borne by others.

Job’s suffering changes the way he communicates with God … it changes his approach to prayer.

Job has also spoken about God, but in today’s passage, he talks directly to God.

Job tells God, “I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”

Job is in full lament. Job wonders what he has done to become a burden to God.

Through his lament, Job holds God to the promises that have been made. Job knows he has done nothing to deserve this pain and suffering and he calls God to account.

It is an honest conversation anchored in personal pain … a pain so profound that Job had to find a new way of speaking to God … a new way to be in relationship with God.

Through Job’s lament, we are given permission to bring our own hurts, fears and anger … and those we see in the world … to God in prayer. We are called to give voice to the evils we see and to listen to the stories of those suffering and carry their petitions forward.

I was sharing some details of last week’s march and of the organizers’ stories with someone from the community and I was told that racism isn’t a problem in the area.

The presence of hundreds of marchers and the stories of the organizers would seem to indicate that the contrary is true.

Maybe … just maybe … we should take a cue from Job and his three friends … in how we react in the face of sudden or systematic suffering.

Perhaps, we can follow the friends’ example … stand in solidarity with them … allowing the person or persons time to find the words to express their pain … their hardship … without imprinting our solutions … our story on their story.

And, perhaps, like Job, we can take their story and lament the suffering and the discrimination they have faced … while also working to eliminate the systems and the beliefs that perpetuate such hate-filled, pain-filled acts.

That is our call of discipleship … our call to love. And it is a call that we need to answer.

AMEN