First reading: Job 38:1,8-11
Psalm: Ps 107:23-26,28-31
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

The LORD then said to Job:
Will we have arguing with the Almighty by the critic?

We don’t know:

The verse taken from Job 40:1-2, or, according to Warner Brothers and Tweety Bird, “We don’t know Him very well, do we?”

Job lost everything, and was trying to figure it out.

Job’s loss wasn’t like loosing a 401k nowadays, however grievous that may be. Job’s loss was incalculable. His sons and daughters were dead. His flocks and herds were dead or stolen. His house and all his possessions were gone. He was sitting on a dung heap covered with sores. Three of his —friends— showed up and tried to find fault with Job. Certainly he did something wrong and God was punishing him for it! Job and his friends debated, calculated, argued, and looked. They tried to find the cause. Job lamented his losses. Finally God shows up and says: You do not get it. You can’t debate me, you can’t figure it out, you just cannot know because you have no concept of Me.

Debating God’s plan doesn’t work:

One human technique that is quite common is to debate with God. We think we are engaging in a back and forth. ‘God, why did you do this?’ We hear silence. ‘God, why can’t I?’ We hear silence. We think that we are having some sort of conversation with an almighty vending machine. We ask and the machine will dispense answers. The worst part of it all is that we think we can win the argument, especially when we try to interpret the silence.

It is a fallacy to think we can win the debate. Sure, we run about thinking we can change things. We justify it by saying that we debated God and we won. Church people do that a lot. We think we have an inside track in the debate. Why, why, why? ‘God, don’t you see how marvelousness my plan is, my logic?’

If God had wanted to form a debating team I am sure He would have fashioned us into a different sort of being. God isn’t looking for a debate, He is looking for something else.

Arguing with God doesn’t work:

Another human technique is to argue. When we ask and hear silence we begin to argue. We get really angry because we think we are being ignored, that God isn’t paying any attention to our marvelous plan. Our anger takes over and we blame God as we would blame a vending machine that stole our dollar. We all want to kick that vending machine, to push it over, to get our candy…

If God had been looking for a people who would argue everything, who would subsist on anger, I am sure He would have fashioned us into a different sort of being. God isn’t looking for our anger, nor is He going to respond to it. He is looking for something else.

Calculating God doesn’t work:

Here’s yet another technique, the calculation. God, here’s the deal — and it’s such a deal — if I am good and give to charity, and don’t say mean things about my co-worker who’s only half awake, then would You…

We’re back at the machine and we want to put our four quarters in. We know that if we pay the right amount something yummy will come out.

Our interaction with God is not a give and take, payment in, goods and services out. God’s not looking for a deal. If God had wanted a deal I am sure He could have arranged for a better one, one better than dying on a cross. God’s not looking for a deal, or for people who know how to carefully calculate rules and regulations that will get us from here to heaven, He is looking for something else.

Who shows up?

The only people who show up, most especially when we are at our lowest point, are our closest family members and friends. Think about how essential, how key just showing up is. Think of our children, the look they would have on their faces if we failed to show up for graduation or recital. Think of the husband being there for his wife when she gives birth. Think of the present of a person’s companionship. They could have sent a gift, but how very special when they come in person.

Love is the motivator for showing up, for being there. What happens when we show up? Sometimes nothing. Showing up is a quiet event. It is simply our presence, our being in proximity to those we love; offering support and encouragement. We need not say anything.

Relate that showing up to our ways of interacting with God. Debating, arguing, and calculating have nothing to do with showing up. That can all be done from a distance. We can mail the check. But showing up — that’s different. That’s a step above.

God showed up:

Interesting isn’t it, that God showed up. Job and his three friends could have gone on forever, and wouldn’t have figured out anything. No answers, only questions, only debating, arguing, and calculating. God showed up and put Job to the true test. God didn’t need to explain anything. He simply pointed out Job’s position relative to God’s position. ‘Job, were you there when I created the world, when I laid its foundations, when I gave existence to the creatures of the earth, sea, and sky.’ God gives three chapters of examples — showing Job to be unable to comprehend.

God did show up. He showed up for Job, so that Job would know the truth. What was Job’s loss, his disaster, all about?

The lesson for Job and for us is that we know nothing. Rather we learn that we must acknowledge God as God, and re-orient ourselves, our thinking, to focus on what God wants from us. It wasn’t about what Job had and lost, it was about what Job had to find.

God wants us to see and live clearly:

In the end Job gets it. He says (Job 42:1-6)

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.
Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.

God, I knew a lot of facts. I engaged You in transactions, through charity and sacrifice. Now I know that You are more than facts and transactions, more than something to be debated, argued, and calculated. I know that You are God and that You want me to know and love You. I now know that You are not a vending machine that dispenses sons, daughters, oxen, sheep, gold, and jewels.

We understand that God is wisdom but He is not about wisdom. God isn’t looking for us to challenge Him on His wisdom. Rather He wants us to set aside the notion of God as someone we debate, argue, and calculate and to come into a relationship with Him.

By example and word Jesus taught us these lessons. He told us to be like children (Matthew 18:3). He called us His friends (John 15:15). Most of all, as we see today, He asked that we trust in Him.

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.

I recently read a comment that said that the only time Jesus slept, He was busy of course, was when He was in the back of the boat during a storm. What a picture, a horrific storm and Jesus asleep through it all, peaceful.

The Apostles didn’t see it that way. They panicked. Do you think they were calculating the deals they were going to make with God before they woke Jesus. Perhaps they were angry with God, or were debating with Him.

He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”

Relate this to Father’s Day. I can see the look on Jesus’ face, like an upset father being woken from a nap on his easy-chair. Jesus woke up and said what any father would say: “Quiet! Be still!” I wonder if He meant the disciples or the sea.

They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

Poor Apostles… they still attempted understanding and calculation. They were trying to figure God out instead of relating to Him. They say “Who then is this,” but it isn’t who it is or why it is, it is simply being in the presence of God who is there, who is present to them. God showed up. He’s in the back of the boat. They should have trusted Him.

So for us? For us, it is time to set aside all the worry. The debating, arguing, and calculating have gone on too long. Rather, remember, we are in the presence of God. Our God is the God who shows up. He’s in our lives. He’s home, at work, in the car, in the public square, here in church. He is with us because He wants to be with us. Let’s smile like the child whose parent showed up for his recital, like the friend who was sad before you showed up. Let’s smile because God is with us and He wants us to know Him as He is: Full of love and kindness, rich in forgiveness and compassion (Psalm 86:15). That’s what God wants from us. We shouldn’t say that we don’t know Him very well, but rather that we know and love Him. Amen.