The Problem of Evil: "You Can't Handle the Truth"
As you know, nine people were gunned down this past week at Emmanuel
AME Church in Charleston. These nine
people gathered for prayer and Bible study and were senselessly killed by a 21
year old white male who claimed that he was on a mission to help preserve the
white race.
Even 150 years after slavery was
abolished in this country, 71 years after the Nazi Regime in Germany was
defeated by Allied Forces, 50 years after Civil Rights legislation outlawed
segregation, one must wonder, how does stuff like this still happen?
One thing is for sure, this shameless crusade can only be the mission
of the evil one, of the spiritual forces of wickedness who rebel against
God. This act of evil is the very thing
we as Christians denounce in our Baptismal Covenant.
Even as we boldly renounce the evil one, we are still confronted with
the terrible reality of evil in our world.
As much as we’d like to say otherwise, evil is no more or less present
in this world than it was in the beginning of humanity when cavemen roamed the
earth. And at some point, we’ve all been
pressed to say, “Why is there such suffering and evil in our world especially
when we believe in a God who is good all the time?”
Of course, we are not the first to ask the question of evil. It is a question that is as old as
humanity. And a question that we are
reminded of in today’s Old Testament lesson in perhaps one of the most famous
stories told on the subject of theodicy.
On some level, we know the story of Job or some version of the
story. Job is a righteous man who has a
farm and a nice family and a good life.
We know that Satan bets God that he can make Job curse God if everything
he loves is taken away.
Satan makes this bet because he believes the only reason that Job loves
God is because God blessed Job with wealth and a nice family. And we know that even as Job sits in ashes,
even as Job’s wife tells him to curse God and die, Job responds faithfully and says,
“Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?”
But that was only the first
chapter. There are 41 additional
chapters in the book of Job. Job goes on
to curse the day he is born. As Job sits
in grief, three of his friends visit and try to console him. And as I learned in Pastoral Care 101, his
friends do the very thing that you ought not to do when consoling the
bereaved.
Job’s friends desperately want to explain his suffering. Because if they can figure out why Job
endured such a horrible tragedy, then everything will be alright, right? I’ve learned that the only person that feels
better after suffering is explained is the person who does the explaining and
not the one who suffers. And even then,
the answer to why there is suffering leaves something to be desired.
Job’s friends are convinced that Job
must have done something to deserve this suffering. Just as Job deserved his wealth based on his
righteousness therefore Job must have deserved this new life of ruin based on
some type of sin he committed. As Job
and his friends try to answer this question, they only grow more
frustrated.
As the story moves along, we see Job
demand answers from God. We see Job grow
more self-righteous. It is becoming clearer
and clearer to Job that he has done nothing to deserve this new life of ruin. And the silence of God grows louder, but then
out of a whirlwind God speaks.
As the story inches closer to the
climax, we get what kind of reminds me of that famous scene in the movie A Few Good Men. If you haven’t seen the movie, it is a story
of how a marine was killed by two other marines after a Code Red was ordered. The movie reaches a climax in the courtroom
when Colonel Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson, is questioned by Lt. Kaffee,
played by Tom Cruise.
After the judge orders Lt. Kaffee in
contempt of court for crossing the line with his line of questioning, Col.
Jessup finally snaps and says, “You want answers?” Lt. Kaffee smugly replies, “I think I am
entitled to.” Col. Jessup asks again, “You
want answers?” Lt. Kaffee demands the
truth. And then he gets it. Col. Jessup famously says, “You can’t handle
the truth!”
Jessup
goes on to explain that he did in fact order the Code Red that resulted in the
death of a marine at the hands of two other marines. Jessup justifies his actions by saying, “You
have the luxury of not knowing what I know.
That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible
to you, saves lives.”
Yes, Jessup is more like someone with
a god-complex than someone who is like God.
However, Jessup’s reply does give us insight to the fact that God knows what
we don’t know. And as much as we’d like
to say otherwise, God uses even evil and suffering for his own purposes. God is that powerful.
God controls everything even evil and suffering. God embodies the whole truth, a truth that we
cannot handle, at least not in this life.
And that is why in the Old Testament we hear that no one can look at God
face to face and live.
As we are reminded in our burial
liturgy, we only are mortal and God is immortal. I believe this is the fundamental truth that
God is relaying to Job and to us this morning.
Because we are mortal and God is mortal we cannot handle the truth. But since Job insists on knowing, God makes
his reply.
God begins his reply to Job’s questions by saying, “Gird up your loins
like a man.” In other words, get ready
because you are going to wish you had said nothing at all. We only get 11 verses of God’s humbling
response, but the book of Job reports that God’s monologue goes on for 129
verses.
(A powerful retelling of the story of Job by Rob Bell)
If you have never read these verses, I suggest you go home and read
them aloud, chapters 38-41. And perhaps,
like Job, by the end of the monologue, you will know just how small you are
compared to the glory of God. And
perhaps, like Job, you will be driven to your knees and confess that God is
doing for you far better things than you can desire or pray for. And perhaps, like Job, your confession will
open your eyes to a life that is far better than you deserve, a life that we
all get to experience in Jesus Christ.
And perhaps you have figured out by know that unlike Jessup, God doesn’t
ever answer why to the question of
suffering. In fact, nowhere in scripture
are we given the insight to the purpose of suffering. Instead, we are only given the knowledge that
suffering and evil is a reality of our world.
Scripture reminds us that we
live in a broken world. Scripture
reminds us that we are complicit in the suffering of this world. However, this knowledge alone won’t do
anything about it. Instead, it is the very
confession that we can never know why that will ultimately give us life. It is the very confession that only God can
take something horrible and turn it into something good that will help us move
past the question of why.
Now, I am not saying that it is an abomination to question or doubt the
purposes of God. As we see in the book
of Job, these questions do in fact lead Job to an authentic encounter with the
Almighty. Remember that God uses even
our weakest moments to bear much fruit.
As we heard last week, God turns the smallest of all seeds into a lively
and active faith.
But even more than answering the question of why, God is interested in
helping us answer the question of how.
How can we live in a world that is filled with so much pain and
suffering? Ultimately, the answer to
this question is boiled down to faith.
Where do we put our trust? In
whom do we put our trust? Do we trust
that our ways are better than God’s ways?
Or do we surrender and trust that God’s detours are far better than our
most direct routes? Do we trust in our
righteousness or in the righteousness of God?
Does the world revolve around you or does the world revolve around God?
In today’s gospel lesson, the disciples are admonished for their lack
of faith. Call me human, but I think
Jesus gives them less credit than they deserve.
These disciples know they know they can’t turn away this storm. On some level, they know that this storm will
destroy them left to their own devices.
So they turn to Jesus, they have enough faith to turn to Jesus—remember
the mustard seed? Quite literally, they
confess and repent that they can’t do this without Jesus. They admit that they aren’t at the center of
the universe. In response, Jesus doesn’t
try to explain the storm. Instead, Jesus
helps the disciples endure the storm.
Jesus says, “Peace, be still.”
The one whom the world hung on the cross to die speaks to the wind and
the waves and says, “Peace, be still.”
The one who has endured the greatest suffering of all can stare a storm
in the face and command it to be still. Y’all,
God has answered the question of suffering.
No matter how great your suffering, no matter how much this world has
taken away from you, you have a God who knows the depth of your suffering.
You have a God who can meet you in your despair because you have a God
who has been there too. You have a God
who knows you better than you know yourself.
You have a God who has the faith to whisper, “Peace, be still” even in
the face of the most violent storms because you have a God who is risen from
the dead. You have a God who has said
that evil does not have the last word over you or over the world and we know
this truth most fully in Christ Jesus who lives among us even today, even after
he was crucified over 2,000 years ago by you and by me.
So yes, it is scary to think about the future of the human race
considering all that has happened even over the last year. But there is hope, our God holds the future
and says, “Peace, be still.” And because
we have confidence that God holds the future then we can do something about the
present time. We don’t have to stand
around paralyzed in the wake of tragedy because ultimately there is nothing to
be afraid of—sin and death are powerless over love and compassion.
We can live into our Baptismal Covenant and renounce the evil powers of
this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. We can recognize that the present time, no
matter how terrible, is only a road bump compared to God’s future glory. We can live in the confidence that while
darkness is all around, a light shines through the church and in the world
because of Jesus Christ. May we have the
grace to be that light in the darkness until that last day when we can all
stand face to face with God and live.
Amen.
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