Loving God, just as you delight in all your children, teach us to delight in all of your creation.  Make us aware of your presence with us this day, and renew our vision by the power of your Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

          Today we reach the end of our five-week journey through the book of Job.  It is a book that for many people raises more questions than answers – which perhaps isn’t that surprising for a book that explores the mystery of human suffering.  It is also a book that challenges the assumption that suffering is God’s punishment for sin.  In fact, through most of the book, Job and his three friends imagine God to be vindictive and overly concerned with punishing human sin (cf. Job 7:11-21).

         However, it turns out that God is not as focused on Job, or on punishing sin, as they thought.  Instead, as we heard last week, God cares about all of creation, and not just human beings.  There is a whole universe out there that is all under God’s purview, including creatures like Leviathan.

         Leviathan, as you may or may not know, appears in a number of different places in the Old Testament.  This creature has its origins in Ugaritic literature, which comes from the same time period as some of the oldest biblical texts.  In the Ugaritic stories, Leviathan is a serpent-like sea creature with seven heads.  In the Old Testament, Leviathan also has multiple heads in some verses (e.g. Ps. 74:14), and sometimes sounds like a sea monster, or a dragon, or a very large crocodile.  

However we might want to picture Leviathan, the point of today’s description is that Leviathan cannot be tamed by human beings.  It is as if God is saying to Job: “You really think you’re so smart?  Just try to tame Leviathan – the same creature that I made just for the fun of it!” (cf. Ps. 104:26).  “Lay hands on it; think of the battle; you will not do it again!” (Job 41:8).  Leviathan, it seems, is the final stop on Job’s whirlwind tour of the cosmos.

Job – as a result of this expanded vision of creation – acknowledges that he didn’t understand as much as he thought he did.  Now, God has answered him, he has seen God, and he repents after all of his rants against God.  And, in the end, Job receives healing.  His relationship with God is healed.  His relationships with family and friends are healed.  His understanding of his own place in the world is healed.  And, his dis-ease is healed.

In the midst of this healing, however, we find a somewhat puzzling ending.  After an entire book that challenges the notion that God punishes sin and rewards righteousness, Job is rewarded, and sacrifices are made to atone for the sins of his friends.  It almost seems as though everything has reverted back to the way they understood God at the beginning of the book.

However, in other ways, things have changed.  Job lives long enough to have ten more children – seven sons and three daughters, just as before.  Did you notice, though, that only the daughters are named?  We actually hear the names of Job’s daughters: Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch.  Not only that, but they are given an inheritance along with their brothers.  Do you have any idea how unusual this would have been in the patriarchal culture of the time?  In fact, how many biblical stories have you heard where all of the sons are named, and none (or maybe one) of the daughters?  The end of Job is definitely surprising and unexpected – just like God, in many instances.

Job, it seems, has learned something through all of his trials and tribulations.  He has learned about God’s care for all of creation and God’s delight in creatures like Leviathan.  He has learned that trials come to people on this earth, regardless of how good they are, and that in the midst of those trials, God hears and answers our cries.  He has learned to delight in all of his children and to appreciate what is unique about each one of them, just as God delights in all of God’s children.

That same delight, and love, and care, are there for each one of us, regardless of what might be going on in our lives at the present time.  In fact, even when we feel as though God has abandoned us, God continues to love us.  Even Jesus, after all, felt utterly abandoned on the cross, in spite of his intimate relationship with his Father in heaven.  Jesus’ suffering, as well, was not because he had sinned.  Rather, it was because of a sinful world that is utterly hostile to the love of God.  What greater love could there be than to come to this earth and become fully human, knowing how Jesus would be treated in the end?  Yet, God knew what would be needed in order to bring about salvation.

Jesus, too, was all about healing – healing our relationship with God – healing our relationships with one another – and even healing our relationship with ourselves.  At the same time, Jesus broke the power of sin and death, paving the way for resurrection and eternal life.  Even Job experienced a resurrection of sorts in the end, as his life was restored and his vision was renewed.

Just like Job, it is easy for us to become focused only on ourselves and our problems and our losses and our pain.  While these things certainly need to be dealt with and need to be healed, sometimes our vision needs to be renewed as well – enabling us to be aware of all of God’s creation and of God’s power and love.  For, it is God who directs our vision outward – towards those who are in need – towards those who have never encountered Jesus – towards the work that God is already doing in our world.  For, unlike Job, we have heard about God’s love for us in Jesus, and we have the Holy Spirit to empower us and guide us.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Pentecost 5 (NL summer)              Job 41:1-8; 42:1-17

July 5, 2020

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2020 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved