Last year Jon Acuff wrote a piece about the worst guy to
invite to a Christmas party on his famous blog “Stuff Christians Like”. He
began saying to never invite this guy,
He is even more annoying than the friend who doesn’t even own a TV and tells you that constantly when you’re not even talking about TV. (And we know you watch Hulu, or Netflix or Youtube. Quit acting like you’re a 4th century Desert Father.)
Upon entering your home, the guy who tells you Christmas is a pagan holiday will proceed to do exactly that:
“Oh, you’ve got a Christmas tree? Didn’t realize you were into celebrating the winter solstice. Interesting. Are you doing that because you’re recognizing the Egyptian tradition of decorating the house with palm branches to symbolize resurrection? Or does your family swing more Northern European? Is your Christmas tree a shout out to the Germanic god Woden? Or perhaps a Roman tribute to Bacchus? Wait, don’t tell me, don’t tell me. It’s the Greeks and Adonia, isn’t it? I felt like I was getting an ancient Greek vibe in here.
What’s that you’ve got hanging over the entryway? Mistletoe? Or as I call it, “Pagan Fertility Plant.” Babylon in the house!
And do I smell ham? Are we having a Christmas ham? That will be delicious. But then you know that is a symbol of Tammuz who was fatally wounded by the tusk of a boar. Pagans started that tradition by sacrificing a boar on this pagan holiday. What do you serve with a big plate of meat heresy? Mashed potatoes? What’s the side dish in that situation?
Red and green? Occultic colors!
Yule log? A reference to the sun god!
The worst guy to invite to a Christmas party.
And some of you are thinking of that friend we all have right now aren’t you?
I can think of the second worst guy to invite to a
Christmas party.
The second worst guy would be Job, well, MAYBE the second worst is Eeyore the Donkey... but Job is a close third.
Can you imagine being one of Job’s friends at
Christmas time?
You’re at the party…
Perhaps you walk up to the table where all the finger food is...
And there he is.
“Job! How are you doing?”
I imagine his response something like,
“If only my anguish could be weighed
and
all my misery be placed on the scales!
It would surely outweigh the sand of the
seas—
no
wonder my words have been impetuous.
The arrows of the Almighty are in me,
my
spirit drinks in their poison;
God’s
terrors are marshaled against me.”
Job! Sounds… disturbing… Here, take
some deviled eggs, they came out really good this year. Maybe that will make
you feel better?
“Does a wild donkey bray when it
has grass,
or
an ox bellow when it has fodder?”
Job… I , I don’t know.
“Is tasteless food eaten without
salt,”
No… It’s not, here take some salt…
(I just asked how he was doing…)
“ or
is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?”
What’s a mallow?!
“I refuse to touch it;
such
food makes me ill.”
Now I share that as a light
introduction to a more heavy topic...
So many people run around just
wanting to throw Christmas Spirit into every dark corner of their lives. And
sometimes… well most times, they want to throw it on others as well.
Because it’s Christmas, nothing can
be sad around Christmas time!
But if you are Job at Christmas... the last thing you want is someone telling you that you need to be happy.
Job is perhaps the most synonymous person with the
idea of suffering.
He is a victim of his own righteousness… much like
Noah.
Both men are noted for their righteousness. The
Bible speaks of both of these men that there are no other people within their
generation who is like them. Noah suffered by watching the entire earth be
destroyed. Job suffered by watching his entire world be destroyed. Noah’s
righteousness condemned the world. Job’s righteousness condemned himself.
We know the story of Job, his reward for living a
righteous life is that he has everything taken from him, his health, his
wealth, his happiness, even his family is taken from him. He seems to lose
everything. It’s hard to be Job, especially at Christmas time.
There’s something about Christmas that amplifies
grief and loss.
For many the lights of Christmas can be blinding,
the songs of Christmas can be mocking, the gatherings of Christmas can be
emptying.
Christmas is really hard at Job’s house, and perhaps
there are those of you that can identify in a very real way this year:
This Christmas is going to be tough for you, because
it was during this year that family members finalized their divorce. This
Christmas is going to be very tough because this is the first Christmas without
Grandma or Grandpa.
A bad breakup.
Death of a pet.
Loss of a friend.
Financial stress.
A sickness that came out of nowhere.
We look at Job and it is hard to relate to his sufferings and loss when we have our staring us in the face... so large and so looming.
But the book of Job isn’t really about loss… it’s about
the experience of loss.
And we all from time to time can find ourselves in
Job’s story. It isn’t a book about pain, it is a book about suffering and
everything that comes along with it: the alienation, the anger, the questions,
the bitterness, the sadness… the sometimes good, but oftentimes bad advice and
empty theological sayings from friends and family.
It is a book that we search in to look for meaning
in the midst of the dark cloudy days. But perhaps above all else, it is a book
that frustrates our desire for an easy, concise answer to a problem that has been
common to all people everywhere in all times.
For Job, after all the questions have been asked,
after all the insufficient answers have been given… God answers Job from out of
a storm. And God spends four entire chapters saying one thing: I am incomprehensibly
great in power and purpose.
There is nothing sympathetic or pastoral about God’s
reply. Job is not given answers to why he is suffering, instead he is
overwhelmed with a picture of a great and transcendent God. Read Job 38-40
But what does this have to do with Christmas?
After all, Christmas didn’t exist in Job’s day. In
fact Jesus wasn’t going to be coming for at least another few thousand years. What does
the story of Job have to do with Christmas?
Because Christmas is really God’s answer
for humanity’s cry for help.
In the midst of his suffering, Job cries out for
help…
In Job chapter 9, speaking of God Job says,
“He is not a mere mortal like me
that I might answer him,
that
we might confront each other in court.
If only there were someone to mediate
between us,
someone
to bring us together,
someone to remove God’s rod from me,
so
that his terror would frighten me no more.
Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but
as it now stands with me, I cannot.
Now this doesn’t sound very
hopeful. However true hope is sometimes best seen in the groans of God’s
people. Paul says in Romans 8,
“we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as
sons, the redemption of our bodies. For
in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes
for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Job feels abandoned by his creator,
by the one whom he has lived for up to this point. He speaks out of a broken
heart because he feels abandoned… He desires a mediator,
“someone who would
bring them together”
Job is looking for Christ.
Job is desiring someone to come and bridge the gap... not knowing that his name is Jesus and he was coming.
God seems absent, God seems remote,
God seems unjust and uncaring.
Job expresses this sentiment throughout the
book.
Matthew
Henry once said,
“The
God of Israel, the Savior, is sometimes a God that hides Himself, but never a
God that absents Himself; sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance.”
The problem is, sometimes, we can't tell the difference. We just feel abandoned by our creator.
If Job were here today, he would
have a bone to pick with Matthew Henry, because he certainly felt like God just left him. But the fact is, God never was far from him. Job was crying out for
someone to make God known to him.
Job doesn’t understand God, and God certainly
could not understand him.
And the cry of Job echoes
throughout the Old Testament, all the way up to the cry of Jesus being born.
If only there
were someone to mediate between us,
someone
to bring us together,
Do you hear the
Christmas story?
Christmas is really God’s answer for
humanity’s cry for help.
For to us a
child is born,
to
us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and
his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of
peace
there
will be no end,
As Job continues
in his discussion with his three friends, in chapter 16 he again gasps for some
air even while drowning in his sorrow. Here he has even more hope in his voice
as he speaks with surety:
“I have sewed
sackcloth over my skin
and
buried my brow in the dust.
My face is red with weeping,
dark
shadows ring my eyes;
yet my hands have been free of violence
and
my prayer is pure.
“Earth, do not cover my blood;
may
my cry never be laid to rest!
Even
now my witness is in heaven;
my
advocate is on high.
My intercessor is my friend
as
my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as
one pleads for a friend.
Do you hear the
Christmas story?
Christmas is really God’s answer for
humanity’s cry for help.
This is hope
above all hope, this is hope from Job’s point of view, seeing through the dark
veil, he is trusting that God will provide… God surely will not abandon his people.
Job uses words
like, witness, advocate, intercessor, friend…
He is crying out
for a priest.
Someone who will
mediate.
Church, are you
crying out for a priest this Christmas?
Since then we
have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been
tempted as we are, yet without sin. –Hebrews 4:14-15
We will have to
forgive Job for his seemingly unstable emotional outbursts… He is flipping back
and forth between cries of agony and hope for his future. We can’t expect
someone going through as much agony as Job to be the model for emotional or mental
stability.
But perhaps the
clearest expression of hope that Job clings to is found in chapter 19
“Oh, that my
words were recorded,
that
they were written on a scroll,
that they were inscribed with an iron tool
on lead,
or
engraved in rock forever!
I
know that my redeemer lives,
and
that in the end he will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with
my own eyes—I, and not another.
How
my heart yearns within me!
Do you hear the
Christmas story?
What do you get a
man who has nothing for Christmas?
The only thing
his heart truly longs for is redemption.
Christmas at
Job’s house is hard, but there is also no one who appreciates Christmas more
than Job.
The one who
introduced himself from the storm as the one who laid the earth’s foundation…
came lying in a manger, attended by shepherds, heralded by angels.
The one who asked
Job, have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn it’s place…
That very same one, emptied himself, taking the very nature of a servant and
found himself in appearance as a man.
The one who asked
Job, have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the
deepest darkness? That very same one wrapped himself in human flesh became
obedient to death, a humiliating, painful death so as to pay for our sins and
satisfy the wrath of God.
The angel told Joseph to name the baby Jesus
“because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew
1:21).
And in Luke
2:11
the angel announced to the shepherds, “Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” You will never understand who Jesus is until
you realize that he came to save you from our sins. This is why he lived, this
is why he died, and this is why he rose from the dead. He came to seek and to
save the lost (Luke 19:10). And he saves all
those who trust in him.
If our greatest need had been education, God
would have sent a teacher.
If our greatest need had been money, God
would have sent a banker.
If our greatest need had been advice, God
would have sent a counselor.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God
would have sent an entertainer.
But since our greatest need was redemption
and forgiveness, God sent a Savior, a redeemer.
The one whom Job looked at from a far… The one whom Job did not receive whilst
still on earth but welcomed him from a far.
His name is Jesus. He is Christ the
Lord, the Son of God who came from heaven to earth.
A Christmas without Job, sanitized of
suffering and the real life troubles we all face is really nothing more than a
hollow shell. After all the very first Christmas story was accompanied by cries
of anguish and pain. King Herod made sure of that. Every Christmas since has
spoken words of comfort and words of Joy to the weak, the broken, the
suffering, the alienated… Christmas is for all the Jobs of the world. And we
aren’t all together different from him are we?
Whether you are dealing with a specific hurt
or tragedy or not, we are all like Job. We all desire reconciliation, for
things to be made right, we all crave justice.
N.T. Wright once said that he believed that
every person has been created with a deep longing for justice… the residue left
over from the Garden of Eden. We long for things to be made right, for
brokenness to be renewed, for redemption. And praise be to God that the vague
hope of Job has become our reality… with Christmas.
And that brings us right back to Incarnation.
Who is that baby born on Christmas day? As the familiar carol puts it, “This,
this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; haste, haste to
bring him laud, the babe, the Son of Mary.” He is the divine Son of God from
heaven who in his earthly birth took on a fully human nature. All that God is
and all that man is meet in perfect union in Jesus Christ. He is fully God and
fully man—the God-man who came to earth to save us from our sins and gives us
hope in the midst of our sufferings.
For those who face loneliness, hurt, grief,
or depression during this season of the year, take comfort in this fact: God’s
answer to you is not a theory or an abstract doctrine or a book to read or a
seminar to attend. It’s not an answer to your “why?”. It’s not a better job,
more friends, another movie to watch or another song to sing. And it’s not even
the beauty of a sunrise or a sunset. God’s answer to you is wrapped up in a
person—Jesus Christ. He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is the
only one who will never leave you or forsake you. Loneliness and hurt can be
overcome through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know him?
Job never received the things promised. Job
never got an answer as to why. Job never got filled in on the fact that he was
a cosmic test between God and Satan. Job just lived faithfully.
And when Job was confronted by this great and
powerful God… He worshiped. That’s all.
Because Christmas is really God’s answer
for humanity’s cry for help.
All that God has to say to us can be wrapped
up in one word: “Jesus.” And not just any Jesus, but only the Lord Jesus Christ
revealed in the New Testament. He alone is the Lord from heaven. He alone can
save us. All that God has for you and me is wrapped up in his Son. No matter
what difficulties we face or the decisions we must make, in the end God leads
us back to that simple one-word answer: “Jesus.”
In an interview with David Frost on PBS,
Billy Graham said he hoped the last word he uttered before dying was simply
this: “Jesus.”
We can’t do any better than that.
So can we this Christmas season, say with
confidence,
I know that my redeemer lives, and
that in the end he will stand on the earth.
Because Christmas is
really God’s answer for humanity’s cry for help.
*(This post is adapted from a sermon by Chad Ragsdale at Ozark Christian College.)
-----
Nathan Bryant
Is a student of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. Majoring in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology, he has a combined passion for unity and discipleship in the global church. Nate is a crazed sports fan, he enjoys college football and playing fantasy football. He also enjoys watching baseball with friends. He works as an Admissions Counselor at Ozark. Nate is unashamedly a Starbucks addict. Yay Coffee!
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