Readings for today: Job 14-17
The hope of a Christian is resurrection. Our physical bodies rising from the ground. A life after death. Even more, a life after life after death. A day that dawns when our souls indwell our bodies once more and God raises us imperishable and indestructible once and for all. Without this hope, death wins. Without this hope, it is tough to endure the struggles of this world. Without this hope, we despair if we’re completely honest. And this is where Job finds himself this morning.
“But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he? As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up, so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.” (Job 14:10-12)
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me…My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart….If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,' where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?" (Job 17:1, 11, 13-16)
The Bible is written as a progressive revelation. God doesn’t reveal everything about Himself and His plan on the first page. As God’s people interact with God over time, they learn. They grow in their understanding of who He is and what He’s about. They also come to an understanding of who they are and what they are about. Resurrection is a later development in Jewish theology. It doesn’t truly come to it’s fullest expression until the “intertestamental“ period or the period between the Old and New Testaments. The apocryphal books of the Maccabees bear witness to a growing belief by the Jews as they face severe persecution under the pagan Antiochus Ephiphanes that if Yahweh chooses not to rescue them in this life, it’s because He is planning to rescue them in a life to come.
Resurrection was a matter of debate even in the 1st century. It was a particular point of tension between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection which is why they are “Sad U See.” :-) The Pharisees, on the other hand, held to a robust belief in the resurrection of God’s people. When Jesus rose from the dead, it sent shock waves through the Jewish community. The empty tomb and the post-resurrection appearances combined to launch a new Jewish sect called Christianity. Unlike the Sadducees, Christians believed in the resurrection from the dead. Unlike the Pharisees, Christians believed Jesus was the “first-fruits” of the resurrection to come and those who followed Him were filled with His resurrection power.
Why does this matter? What difference does it make? Well, if you don’t believe in the resurrection, it makes suffering unbearable. Useless. Pointless. If we are just atoms and dust then there is no meaning or purpose to life. Not really. There is no such thing as good or evil. Not really. Such ideas are merely cultural constructs that carry no eternal weight. The Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection so they became the primary collaborators with Rome. Active participants in the oppression of their own people. The Pharisees did believe in the resurrection so they did everything they could to keep the Law of God and remain ritually pure. They were some of Rome’s fiercest critics and refused to compromise lest they put their eternal fate in jeopardy. Christians knew the resurrection was real and therefore willingly laid down their lives for the sake of the poor and marginalized and sick and dying. They understood this life was but a shadow of the life to come and didn’t hold onto the things of this world. They freely gave away all their wealth. Freely shared all they had. Freely gave of themselves.
The reading from Job today presses the question…where do we find hope? Is it in this life? Or the next? Do our lives reflect a deep and abiding trust in God to redeem? To rescue? To save? How tightly do we hold onto our health and wealth and reputation? Do we see these things for the temporary realities that they are and dare we live for eternal rewards?
Readings for tomorrow: Job 18-21