THE STRAIGHTFORWARD PULPIT

Text:  Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Theme:  "Good and Evil:  A Conversation"

19th Sunday after Pentecost

October 7, 2012

First Presbyterian Church

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.  On another day the angels^[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

³ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

⁴ “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. ⁵ But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶ The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. ⁸ Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

⁹ His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰ He replied, “You are talking like a foolish^[b] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

right; he feared God and shunned evil.

Take the letter O out of the word "good" and you get God.  Attach the letter D to the word evil and you get Devil.

In today's reading, we have before us a conversation between good and evil -- ultimately between God and the devil.  This isn't the only such exchange that the Bible records. You may recall the interplay between God and the Devil in the book of Genesis -- with the devil taking the form of a snake.  Then, in the Gospel stories, we have the account of the conversation of Jesus -- God in the flesh -- conversing with the devil in the wilderness. 

In order to set the stage for this conversation in the book of Job, we are introduced to the man himself:  Job.  We are told that he lived in the land of Uz.  In addition, it is recorded that he was "blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil."  Now, to be blameless doesn't mean that you never have sinned.  Quite to the contrary, you have sinned and you have acknowledged that fact.  Then, to use the language of recovery, you "cleaned up your side of the street."  You confessed your sins and, in Job's case, made the required sacrifices.  In all of that process, Job learned to fear God (and fear, here, is understood as reverence) and he shunned evil.  When faced with evil, in whatever form it came in, Job chose against it.

So Job, here, is the topic of conversation.  In fact, he's the ultimate prize.  When God and the devil have a chat, when good and evil begin to talk, what is always at stake is humanity.  If sometimes you feel like a pawn  on someone else's chess board, you may be right. 

It must be said that Job, who we are told had his spiritual and moral ducks in a row, was also a successful man and a family man.  In the first chapter, we read of Job's daughters and sons. The family was close-knit.  We read of feasts and get-togethers.   He owned sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys -- thousands of animals.  He had a large number of servants.  Here in America, we'd put him in the one percent!  This is the man that becomes the topic of conversation.

"One day the angels came to present themselves with the Lord, and Satan came along with them."  Here it is clear that Satan, or the devil, is not another God -- as if God and the devil are equally opposing forces.  The devil is not another quote/unquote "god".  The devil is a fallen angel. If the devil wanted one of his own to go after, it would be Michael, God's archangel.  But as it is, he has bigger fish to fry. Far more delicious to the devil's taste is a dainty little human specimen.  Job fits the bill.

God sees the devil lined up with the angels.  God begins the conversation with a question:  "Where have you come from?"  "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."  It's as if he's saying, "You're the one who cast me away from your presence.  What else am I supposed to do?"  The Lord replies:  "Have you considered my servant Job?"  There's a soul for you to try to steal. 

Charlie Daniels got the drift of this in his famous song:

 

The devil went down to Georgia; he was lookin' for a soul to steal;

he was in a bind, cuz he was way behind, and he was willin'to make a deal.

When he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot,

So the devil jumped up on a hickory stump, and said "Boy, lemme tell you what

I guess you didn't know it but I'm a fiddle player too, and if you care to take a dare

I'll make a bet with you. Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due.

I'll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, cuz I think I'm better than you.

 

But Job was different than Johnny down in Georgia.  Job didn't see it coming.  And this is more biblically accurate.  While roaming around, evil often lurks in the shadows -- outside the realm of our perception. 

 

In the major motion picture The Devil's Advocate, Satan is portrayed in the form of a wealthy New York lawyer with the interesting name of John Milton. (You might recall that Paradise Lost, a most famous piece of literature, was written by the author, John Milton.)  At one point, Milton (the devil) says to his target (a young attorney in his firm named Kevin):  "Never let em see ya comin'; that's the gaffe, my friend.  You gotta keep yourself small, innocuous -- you know, the little guy.  You'd never think I was the master of the universe, would ya?  I'm a surprise, Kevin.  They don't seem comin'."

 

Later on, in the ultimate scene, Milton says this to his young protege':  "I've been down here with my nose in it since the whole thing began.  I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have.  I cared about what he wanted, and I never judged him.  Why?  Because I never rejected him.  In spite of all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man.  I'm a humanist; I rest my case.  Vanity.  It's definitely my favorite sin.  Kevin, it's so basic.  Self-love.  The all-natural opiate."

 

Back to the Bible.  In scene one, the devil says to God:  "Does (your servant) Job fear God for nothing?"  In other words, "Job's faith in you doesn't amount to diddly squat.  You've given him this great family and all this wealth.  No wonder he believes in you. But what about the little guy?  What about the welfare recipient?  What about the poor soul that has spent weeks and weeks trying to find work?  Did you forget about him?  Sure, Job believes you; you've hooked him up for some silly reason.  Take away his family and his money, and he'll curse you to his face."

 

The Lord responds:  "Very well then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." 

 

Job didn't see the devil comin'.  The next thing we know, Job's sons and daughters are dead.  His wealth has been raided.  He's seemingly reduced to nothing.  And Job said this -- not to God, not to the devil, but to no one in particular:  "Naked I have come from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."  "In all this," we are told, "Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."  Round one goes to God.  Job didn't buckle.  Do we buckle?  Have we buckled?

 

Round two starts just like round one.  Good starts the conversation with evil.  God says to the devil:  "Where have you come from?" The devil replies:  "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."  "Have you considered my servant, Job?" God asks.  He's holding on to his integrity, even though you incited me against him."   Thomas More once wrote that "The devil...the prowde spirite...cannot endure to be mocked."  Thus, angrily, the devil replies:  "Skin for skin!  A man will give all he has for his own life.  But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."

 

Again, Job didn't see the devil comin'.  His health takes a turn for the worse.  He is afflicted with an awful skin condition.  He is covered head to toe with painful sores.  He is reduced to sitting in the ashes.  Finally, his spouse -- the closest person to him in his earthly life -- speaks up:  "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"  Hers is the voice of existential despair -- which is very much alive and speaking quite clearly in our culture today.  "Be done with all of that God talk; join with the rest of us who have long since given up caring."

 

Job says:  "You are talking like a foolish woman.  Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?"  And Job did not sin in what he said.

 

Here is where our text ends, and it makes me mad.  We're left hanging with all kinds of unanswered questions. But  this much is very clear -- based on the text and our own human experiences. 

 

First, good and evil continue to interact; secondly, you and I -- that is, humanity -- are the topic of conversation.  Third, evil lurks in the shadows.  Fourth, we don't see evil comin'.  Fifth, there is more to life and living than who has the best family and the most money.  Sixth, the voices that tell us to curse God, to die, and/or to live a self-centered life are getting louder and louder.

 

The ultimate question is:  what has God done about all of this?  The answer is Jesus Christ.  Job didn't lose his life, but Jesus Christ did -- on a Roman cross.  He died there, willingly, to pay the price for our sins, for all those times when, in thought, word, and deed, we buckled. 

 

Now, risen from the dead and ascended on high, His Spirit strengthens us through the Gospel and the sacraments. We're strengthened to take life as it comes our way, to live in faith toward God and love toward one another.  We're challenged to live blameless and with integrity -- not because in and of ourselves we are blameless and have integrity.  We seek to live that way because of Christ alone. 

 

When the devil and evil, in whatever form they take, come knocking, point them to Jesus Christ.  Let's see how far it gets them.  Your round, my round, our round goes to God.  Christ did not buckle.  And that's where the conversation ultimately ends and the praise begins.

 

Amen.