Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
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2024 Pentecost 5 (Proper 7) Sermon
Job 38:1-11 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Amen.
Someone I read this week pointed out that if we ask questions of God, we should be prepared for God to ask questions of us. In the book of Job and the reading from Mark, questions are asked of God. And God does indeed respond.
You are probably all aware of Job’s situation. Job was a faithful and righteous man. The Lord blessed him with wife, children, respect of his neighbors, and a prosperous business. Satan took notice of him and in conversation with the LORD said that, of course Job is righteous, you have made life so easy for him. The LORD is convinced that Job will remain faithful to Him no matter what, so He permits Satan to do almost anything he wants to test him. In short order, Job loses his family, business, and health. His wife stays alive long enough for her to tell him that he should really just be done with it, curse God and die. Then three friends, eventually joined by a fourth, come and sit with a miserable, sick, and suffering Job and try to convince him that Job has clearly sinned. Unrepentant, secret sin is what brought this on! Out with it man! Through it all Job remains faithful. But he does have questions that he would like to address to the Lord.
The question that the Lord addresses comes from chapter 23, where Job said:
2 “Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
God comes to Job and speaks to him out of this whirlwind that must have looked like a small tornado. God comes with questions. Job is a man of faith. The confession of Israel through the Shema is his confession too. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) Job’s faith is never the issue. Job’s presumption that he can address the Lord as an equal or a near equal is an issue.
As Job suffers, he wants to know why this is happening to him, for he is a righteous and faithful man. He expects God to explain himself.
When we read through the rest of Job, we learn that God has no interest in being held accountable by a man. They are not equals. God is God, and Job is a created entity. Job is a loved man, but he is still a mere mortal. In the course of God’s questions, we discern that God has no interest whatsoever in explaining himself to Job or anyone else. By chapter 40, Job is put in his place and reduced to silence. “Behold, I am of small account; what shall answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.” The Lord continues to question Job. Of course, Job is not in any kind of a position to answer any of the Lord’s questions. In chapter 42, finally, Job makes a clear confession of faith and trust in the Lord God. He needs no answers. He repents. “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Out of God’s mysterious kindness, the LORD restores Job’s fortunes.
In the course of the LORD’s questions, we are taken back to God’s creative work recorded for us in Genesis one and two. Job is reminded that the beautiful earth that he works on and enjoys, once upon a time did not exist. The LORD created it out of nothing. The LORD God set the parameters of the earth, the sky, the land, and all the waters. All the physical world did not come into being by accident. It was created with an imagination beyond our comprehension and with a strength of force we cannot possibly fathom.
When the LORD says to Job, “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb…? And says, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed?” Along with Genesis one and two, we should remember the Great Flood, and the parting of the Red Sea so that Israel could escape to the other side. And, we should also remember God’s judgment upon Pharoah and his army, who in their proud arrogance pursued Israel into the midst of the Red Sea, and the Lord released the water and smote them.
When God deems it necessary, He makes an extraordinary display of his strength and ability. The created order is his to manipulate according to His purpose and pleasure. We remember these things as we encounter Jesus, fast asleep in a boat, rocking in the waves of a storm and taking on water. We remember these things as we note that experienced fishermen are deeply concerned. So, more questions are asked.
The reason Jesus sleeps is because He is exhausted. He was teaching all day. And, he needs to rest because on the other side, he knows he will meet a man possessed by demons. He may be the eternal Son of God incarnate, but his humanity needs to recuperate. He can sleep so soundly in the midst of the chaos of the windstorm because he sleeps with the full knowledge that his time of suffering and death has not yet come and he is under the protection of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the unseen angels guarding Him.
From his slumber, Jesus awakens to an accusing question. “Do you not care that we are perishing?” As someone wrote, if one chooses to question God, one should be prepared to be questioned by God.
In response, Jesus rebukes the wind and speaks to the sea. The words that Jesus uses, the rebuke and the command, is the same terminology that Jesus uses when he encounters demons. For example, in Mark 1, Jesus healed a man with an unclean spirit. After the demon acknowledged Jesus, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God.” Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him.”
Who has the authority, the power, the force of strength with his words, to rebuke and silence demons? Same one who has the authority, power, and force of strength with his words to create the world out of nothing, to separate the earth from the water, and to begin and end the Great Flood. The Lord God.
Jesus is not only the Rabbi teaching with authority and healing sick people, Jesus can also rebuke and still the primal forces of wind and water. Who can do this? We know it is because Jesus is God. But at this sad moment, the Apostles do not yet have faith in Him as the Christ, God’s own Son. Jesus sees into their hearts, he sees amazement, admiration, hope, but he does not see faith in Him as the Christ, as the Savior of the World.
The Miracle of Calming the Sea of Galilee happens about six months into their journey to the Cross. They are still in the early part of the Galilean ministry. Seeing the condition of their hearts and minds, Jesus asks them a question: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
We might take this line of question as some kind of bitter or sarcastic question on Jesus’ behalf. He was just woken up from a sound sleep after all. No, the more accurate way to interpret Jesus’ questions is to see them as a loving call to repentance.
God loved Job so much that he chose to engage Job, to speak with him, to ask him questions. In the course of the questioning, Job realizes that he has sinned by presuming to be an equal with the Lord God. Equals can expect answers from one another. God is the superior. Job is the created entity. God owes Job nothing. But God blesses Job with a conversation and provides him with questions that he cannot possibly answer so that Job will see his sin and foolishness and repent. God demonstrates immense grace to Job.
Jesus loves the disciples that he has called and placed under his tutelage. With the demonstration of divine power that they witness along with his questions, Jesus demonstrates immense grace to his disciples. He calls them to repentance and to have faith in Him as the Christ, the Savior, who comes for the sake of the world.
“Do you not care?” The disciples demanded. Yes, Jesus cares. Deeply. More than we can possibly ever know. In the fullness of the Father’s timing, the eternal Son of God fully enters into our mortality for the sole purpose of being the final sacrifice in behalf of our sins. Jesus’ death, because it is God’s own Son, atones for the sins of the world, past, present, and future. Jesus dies on the cross so that all may have the opportunity to have faith in Jesus as the Christ. Through faith, we receive God’s promises of forgiveness and everlasting life.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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