Call & Response (Free Version)
The 22nd Sunday After Pentecost- Job 42:1-6, 10-17; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 10:46-52
This week’s Lectionary texts can be found here.
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This week, we are given texts which proclaim God’s familiarity with our suffering and the ways that Christ leads us into what it means to be truly human.
At the end of the book of Job (42:1-6, 10-17), in response to God’s “whirlwind” speech, Job repents. The question is: why? In his virtual tour of the edges of the universe, God had dismantled the arguments of Job’s friends while upholding Job’s case. On top of all of that, God seems to ignore Job’s repentance. Is Job right to repent for questioning God? Or was Job’s repentance is actually a mistake because wrestling and questioning God is part of what it means to be God’s people (“Israel” means “one who wrestles with God”)? Christians have read this story both ways.
The ending of Job, where his prosperity is restored (vs. 10-17), is not to be confused with the book’s conclusion. If it were, it is unsettling. Though his circumstances have improved, we are not to believe that Job’s pain has gone away. Though he celebrates his new children, he certainly still grieves those he has lost. Rather than a nice little bow on a difficult story, the epilogue is simply a way of saying that, after all of this God’s “policies” have not changed. God is not a God of simple retribution with good people receiving prosperity and bad people receiving suffering. This has never been how things have worked.
Through it all, Job is known by God and this is the most fundamental reality of the book. God is with Job in suffering and Job turns to God over and over again. In the end, Job prays for his friends and we can see that his suffering becomes their salvation. In this, Job rumors the intercessory role of a the great high priest who suffers for the other.
In Hebrews 7:23-28, we are reminded that Jesus is the new and better high priest. He has conquered sin and death and is therefore not bound by either as other priests have always been. He is both the faithful high priest and the pure sacrifice itself.
We are reminded of the grace that is present in our limitations. Christ stands as one of us, yet completely faithful. He leads us into a new humanity. He is the call and the response, and we can rest in Him.
In Mark 10:46-52, as Bartimaeus suffers, he encounters the “Son of David” who suffers and is on the road to suffering. While others are annoyed by the blind man’s cries, Jesus hears them, stops, and calls to him. Bartimaeus leaps to the call. While the disciples wanted prestige and earthly power, Bartimaeus simply wants to see and to follow. He knew that he was blind and he knew the source of his liberation. This is the essence of faith.
How might God’s liberating call be challenging our quest for power or even our beliefs about how power works? How might God’s liberating call be challenging our annoyance with the cries of the hurting on our quest for something “better”? How might God’s liberating call be mercy right when and where we need it? Finally, how might we be challenged to see the world through the eyes of the Liberator?
*Our Deep Dive this week features a more in-depth look at the various interpretations of Job. I share a personal illustration about the juxtaposition of grief and blessing. We engage with the work of Chris Green and John Walton. In Hebrews, we engage with James B. Torrance and Gregory of Nazianzus. We also include a pastoral note about legacy and limitations. In the Gospel section, we engage with an early Karl Barth sermon on on this passage as well as John Chrysostom and Augustine. We invite the hearer into a thought exercise at the end. You can sign up for this in-depth (9+ page weekly brief) here.