I was talking with another minister about children’s curriculum for summer camps. He mentioned that sometimes he has a problem with the theology of the children’s stories and some of what the children are taught. I asked him to give me an example. He said he saw one curriculum that was based on an Olympics theme. One of the stories shared was about how an Olympic team had lost and how there had been such huge disappointment around the loss. So the next year, people were encouraged to pray and many prayed very hard for their team to win, and, lo and behold, they’re prayers were answered and the team won! Ask and you shall receive is the message, but does this work? Was the other team praying just as hard? Does praying really hard make God listen more, so that God gives whatever is being asked?
Are we teaching our children that God is like Santa Claus? Write a list, tell him what you want, and if you’re good, Santa/God will give you whatever you want. But, if you’re bad…. What kind of message does this portray about God? Are our lives controlled by the choices we make, by whether or not we are a good neighbour, by whether or not we follow God’s mandates? If that sports team had lost, would that have sent the message that they didn’t pray hard enough or that the team or someone on the team, had displeased God in some way?
 |
| Why does he eat with sinners and tax collectors? |
In the gospel of Luke, we read a phrase at the beginning of Chapter 15: “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” At the time, it must have been well known to many that only those worthy shall be followers of wise teachers and that rabbis only socialized with people who were not known sinners. Jesus, a wise teacher and rabbi, should not have been rubbing shoulders with known sinners, like tax collectors, lepers, certain unclean women, and the like.
Nowadays, we think we’ve gone beyond this kind of thinking, but have we really? How often do you hear of a person or a people blamed for their hardships? I know I find myself doing it sometimes. If only they would…. or if only they hadn’t…. People with addictions are judged for careless choices or weak willpower. Parents with unruly children are blamed for not using proper parenting techniques. People living on the streets are blamed for not trying hard enough. Indigenous people are blamed for not being able to get over their past. Young people living at home or those who can’t find work are said to be lazy.
The idea that we reap what we sow can be found throughout our sacred scripture. In the book of Proverbs we read much of this traditional wisdom:
- 1:31: They will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
- 11:18: A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the ones who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.
- 11:14: One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
In the book of psalms, the 106th psalm tells us: How blessed are those who promote justice, and do what is right all the time! Remember me, O Lord, when you show favour to your people!
Throughout our scripture, a person’s wrongdoings explain their hardship or a person’s righteousness explains their good fortune. Even when explaining the exile of the Hebrew people to Babylon, people believed it was their punishment, that they did not devote enough time to God or they ignored the needs of the widow and the orphan, or that they worshipped other gods causing the one true God to be jealous. A person or a people’s bad luck is for a reason and this rationale is still a part of our psyche. It helps us make sense of suffering.
The book of Job challenges this traditional wisdom. Chapters 1 and 2 and 42 is a story of folklore, passed on for many generations and it carries the traditional wisdom. In it, the satan makes a wager with God. God says of Job, “There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” The satan wants to test this. The satan wants to see if Job will continue to be so blameless and upright, once all has been taken away from him, his property, his children, and his health. Through it all, Job trusts in God, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Then, in chapter 42, Job is redeemed. In staying faithful to God, more so than his friends, God gives him twice as much as he had before, including ten more children. He lives to one hundred and forty years, then dies, old and full of days. The story seems to say that if one remains faithful to God, all will turn out well in the end. But is this true? Are the words of Eliphaz that Lindsey read for us today, true, that “those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble reap the same,” or in today’s language, “you reap what you sow.”
The character of Job, within these chapters, challenges this traditional wisdom. Harold Kushner, author of a commentary on the Book of Job called, “Why Bad Things Happened to a Good Person,” writes the following:
The Poem of Job…asks questions like Do we live in a world that rewards people for being honest and charitable?, and if so, in what currency does that reward arrive? Does God care about what kind of person I am? Can a religious person be angry at God, even doubt the existence of God, and still think of himself or herself as a religious person? The Poem of Job does not have an answer to those questions; it has answers. It invites us to look at the world through the eyes of several characters, some who challenge God, some who defend God, and ultimately from the viewpoint of God Himself. It is an extraordinary experience to be changed by a book as we read it, to see the world differently because of it, and the Poem of Job strives to be that kind of book. (Ch 3 pg 10)
These so called friends of Job tell him that the travails of life happen for a reason, that Job must have done something, or maybe his children did something, to bring about all of this misfortune. They tell him that he only need repent, for whatever the wrongdoing, and God will restore his good fortune. That’s the way the world works.
And in fact, Job doesn’t dispute the fact that he did something to incur God’s wrath, but he wants to know what it was. He pretty much puts God on trial and like a lawyer, interrogates God and cross-examines his friends who have come to God’s defence. Job believes God needs to be held to account. After all, he sees the way of the world. Thieves get away with their treasures all the time. The innocent suffer. Leaders are made to look like fools. God seems to be able to get away with the suffering of many without having to offer any explanation and Job is now demanding an explanation.
Job sees destruction and suffering and a god that seems to have complete control and needs no justification for what happens in the world. Job says in chapter 12, “Why, he destroys and there is no rebuilding, closes in on a man, leaves no opening. Why, he holds back the waters and they dry up, sends them forth and they turn the earth over. He leads counsellors astray and judges he drives to madness.” (14-15, 17 of The Hebrew Bible by Robert Alter) Is this a good god? Does this god have too much power, too little accountability?
So what does all of this mean for us? What do we believe about God and the suffering we see in our world? What do we teach our children? Jesus heard people grumbling about the people he accompanied. His disciples questioned him when he approached someone who was ‘unclean’ or someone that they believed was suffering because of their own sin or the sin or their parents. Jesus, again and again, had to justify why he healed certain people or included certain people in his circle. I don’t think he believed that suffering was God’s punishment. Jesus turned his back on some of this old wisdom and offered new wisdom. He healed the leper, he hung out with questionable women, he ate with tax collectors, and he made children his example of the kingdom of heaven. This was new wisdom for his followers.
Job struggled against the old wisdom and Jesus brought new wisdom. Jesus brought love and compassion to those who were hurting and those who were excluded. And today we are still struggling like Job with old wisdom and still trying our best to model Jesus and his new wisdom, to understand that it’s not God who causes suffering, that people aren’t suffering because of God’s judgement and punishment. We are a people that judge others, that are greedy, who seek power, and are very tribal, excluding others who are different. We are a broken people. We are a hurting people, but we are also a people who are still learning every day how to bring God’s kingdom to this earth. We are still learning every day, and need to told all the time, that God loves us and has plenty of grace for everyone.
May we know that it’s all right to question, to doubt, to struggle against the suffering of the world. May we continue to learn about the Way of Jesus and continue to try, every minute of every day, to model his example. May we allow the Spirit of God’s grace to fill our lives and the lives of those around us and may we know that we are loved, regardless of our choices, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our judgment of others. Thanks be to God. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment