For I know that my Redeemer lives (Job 14:7-15; 19:23-27)
14 7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11 As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13 O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
19 23 “O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer[a] lives,
and that at the last he[b] will stand upon the earth;[c]
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in[d] my flesh I shall see God,[e]
27 whom I shall see on my side,[f]
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
–Job 14:7-15; 19:23-27 (NRSV)
July 17, 2016 Sermon Notes
This week’s sermon began by asking people what they hope for. There are so many things we hope for as individuals and families. Some people mentioned that they hope for health. Some hope for jobs and education for their children. Some hope for healing, or for peace in the world.
There are many things that people hope for, but no matter what a particular individual hopes for, hope itself is critical for human existence. Hope is the thing that gets us out of bed in the morning. Hope is the thing that allows us to keep moving when grief, illness, and injustice weigh us down.
One of the saddest things in the world is when we see people who have lost hope. Sometimes that occurs following the death of a spouse, ending up in the nursing home, or being diagnosed with a terminal disease. Sometimes people in such situations see no future for themselves and have nothing to hope for. Often people without hope simply give up on life. They may stop eating, bathing, and socializing. This the very reason that so many widows and widowers die within a year of their spouse passing away.
In today’s passage Job found himself clinging to hope, but just barely. He saw himself as a tree that had been cut down. He was hurting in ways that his friends could not even begin to understand. Everything and everyone that he had known had been stripped from him and he was struggling to hang on. He was crying out to God asking for a reprieve from his suffering and for a reminder of the redeeming work of God.
The sermon talked about the ancient Hebrew concept of a redeemer. Every family had a redeemer who was responsible for taking of the family’s debts, honor, and obligations. The redeemer would be a person who redeemed land or persons that had been sold to meet financial obligations. As a modern parallel I asked the congregation to imagine an older sibling who came to pick you up as a teenager from an underage drinking party, or an aunt who bought back your mother’s wedding ring you hocked at the pawn shop.
The slim thread of hope that Job is hanging on to in today’s passage is the fact that he know he has a redeemer. He has a God who will offer to him redemption from all his suffering. Job will eventually meet his redeemer face to face.
The reason that he knew his redeemer lived was because of everything that he had seen God do in the past. Because Job had seen that, he had faith that redemption would eventually work in his favor again. That is also the reason that we are able to know that our redeemer lives. Job asks for a pen and a book in which to inscribe the source of his hope.
His story shows us what redemption looks like and helps us recognize it in our world today. Even in the midst of all the suffering and grief that we see in the world today, we have also seen redemption and healing in our own lives. Whether we recognize it at the time or not, all of that healing is a gift from the God who loved us enough to send the ultimate redeemer, Jesus Christ himself. That shared memory of redemption is what we need to provide us with the hope enough to continue pressing on even when we we feel like our lives have been cut down to a mere stump.
