You Know Nothing

Job 38:1-7

Mark 10:35-45

 “You Know Nothing”

18 October 2015 St. Andrew’s Chapel Singapore

You know nothing, John Snow! If, like me, you watch Game of Thrones you probably remember that line that was repeated often to the character John Snow from the worldly character Ygritte. As I read this scripture this week alongside the news of the untimely and shocking death of a friend to a heart attack, I kept hearing Ygritte saying, “You know nothing Job, You know nothing Sons of Thunder, You know nothing Russ.” And we don’t. We like to think we’ve got this whole life thing figured out, this whole following Christ figured out, but we don’t. We never will, not on this side of eternity. Frankly, I’m ok with that. I’m not real sure I want to know what God knows.

If anyone in all of history had the right to questions God’s motives, it was Job. God made a bet with someone called the adversary that Job was the only worthy person on earth and let him endure all kinds of suffering, stuff I can’t fathom. Intellectually, I understand what Job went through, but I just can’t fully comprehend that level of pain and suffering. In rapid succession he learned that all of his oxen were stolen and his entire farming staff was killed. A fire destroyed all of his sheep and shepherds. His camels were stolen by raiders with all of his servants murdered. Then all 10 of his children were killed in a house collapse. In one moment all he had left was four messengers, a few friends, his wife, and his faith.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s more. Next he gets afflicted with painful boils on his skin. At this point, Job’s wife loses her faith and tells Job to just curse God and die. She wants his suffering to end and thinks death is the only way out. She wants his punishment to stop. Because of their way of looking at God, everyone wants to know Job’s great sin to explain all of this misfortune.

Despite his wife and friends essentially turning on him and wanting him to ask forgiveness for some great sin, Job never gives in to the peer pressure. All Job wants to know is, why? That and he wants a chance to plead his case to God face to face. Then God speaks from a whirlwind, “You know nothing Job.”

James and John think they’ve got Jesus figured out. They’ve been with Jesus every day for years. They’ve sat at the rabbi’s feet and have apprenticed with him. They were at the Transfiguration and saw Moses and Elijah and heard God speak. They think they know what is coming and they want their reward for leaving everything for Christ. Like Job’s friends and wife, they think they know how to fix the situation. The Sons of Thunder want to sit at Jesus’ left and right hand in the new political structure he will bring to Jerusalem. Jesus looks them in the eye and says, “You know nothing James. You know nothing John. But, because you asked you will drink of my cup.”

What I find interesting is the reaction of the other 10 disciples. I don’t think they are indignant because James and John asked for something they don’t understand. I think they are upset because they didn’t ask Christ that question first. It was on all of their minds, the Sons of Thunder just lived into their names by being brash and speaking what was on their minds.

On Friday night as I was crying and talking with a dear friend with a 6 month old son whose husband died the night before, we agreed there were no words. There never is, but in my mind I was asking, why? Why this family? What did they ever do to deserve such tragedy? Why does suffering always seem to strike such wonderful, Godly people? And then from the whirlwind of this devastating tragedy, I heard it, “You know nothing, Russ Ferguson.” And I don’t. I’m not even sure if I want to know anything.

Based on the responses of God and Christ, I think our ignorance is a protective measure. Faith is hard enough with our miniscule knowledge and it may be much harder if we knew something.

God responds to Job with two full chapters of beautiful poetic questions. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Do you realize the extent of the earth?” Of all the questions two jumped out at me.

In 38:17 God asks, “Have you seen the gates of utter gloom.” This means that even Job’s suffering wasn’t ultimate, that we all suffer but because we believe we’ll never experience utter gloom? Despite the heaviness and morbid nature of that question, it gives me hope. And in order for me to challenge not only God, but all that is wrong in the world I need ultimate hope, what us theology nerds call eschatological hope. A hope that all will be made right and I will have full understanding at a time and place of God’s choosing, most likely on the other side of eternity when I am looking at God face to face.

In 40:1 God says, “You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” Now this one gives me permission to criticize God. God never gets mad at Job asking why or asking for a cosmic trial. Here God acknowledges Job as a critic. Job isn’t the first, nor will I be the last to question God. God is telling Job, and us that we can be critics but we’ll never have to whole story. It’s too much for us to comprehend. From God’s perspective suffering and death have a place and don’t need justification, yet. I believe I’ll get that explanation, but only after I join Christ in resurrection.

This hope comes from the end of Christ’s life. He told the disciples that they would share in the cup. We know it was a cup of suffering that even Christ wasn’t too keen on partaking of. So, we must endure suffering as part of the bargain to participate in resurrection. We have to share in the cup of suffering just like any of his disciples.

Many times you will hear that Christ’s glory was through his suffering. And this is an odd thing to hear much less understand. Especially as Christ has called us into that suffering when we share in his cup with the disciples. Christ’s suffering wasn’t glorious, far from it when we read the passion accounts. Rather, the glory of Christ was revealed not in the suffering, but by “the reversal of fortune wrought by God through Christ’s suffering service.” (Feasting on the Gospels, Mark 330) It was only on the other side of suffering that God’s glory was revealed in Christ and that gives us the eschatological hope that we too will experience that glory when our suffering ends.

Because we know the Gospel, we know that suffering isn’t the end of the story. Not by a long shot. We may know nothing about the vastness of God. But what we know, what we believe, what keeps us going, what gets us through the suffering, what brings us motivation and energy in the face of staggering odds, what give us a longer view of pain is that Christ has already defeated evil and death and that each of us get’s to participate in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. That is all we need to know.