Epiphany 5, 2012
Job 7:1-7
“It’s a hard knock life”
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
How many of you can recall the story of Little Orphan Annie. As the name suggests it’s about a red-headed orphan named Annie, and her fellow orphans. Annie and the other orphans describe their “hard knock life” with these words: “From all the cryin' you would think this place's a sink! Ohhhh!!!!!!! Empty belly life! Rotten smelly life! Full of sorrow life! No tomorrow life! No one cares for you a smidge When you're in an orphanage!” As many of you know Annie’s life would go from rags to riches.
Our Old Testament lesson is about a man who went from riches…to rags…to riches…the man named Job. Job is a man who is wise, rich, and good. Then suddenly terrible things happen to him. His ten children are killed. He loses all his wealth. And he becomes ill with a painful skin disease. On top of all this his friends tell him that he is to blame for his own problems and abandon him. His wife even suggests that he curse God and die. Though Job was a righteous man with a firm faith…his faith was on the brink… the pounding away by the Devil, his wife, and his friends were taking their toll.
“Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man? Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me. When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss till dawn. My body is clothed with worms and scabs; my skin is broken and festering. “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.” (Job 7:1-7)
That certainly sounds like a hard knock life. Here in our text Job turns his complaining from his friends to God. Job complains that all of his hard work is for nothing. He shows signs of depression as he suffers from sleeplessness. He is ridden with a skin disease that constantly breaks out in some places as it heals in others. Other places in the book of Job speak of Job having fever, anxiety, weeping, nightmares, putrid breath, failing vision, rotting teeth, and looked beaten and exhausted. Job suffered from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual anguish. Job certainly had a hard life.
It’s a hard knock life for us too because as we have learned life is hard. This sinful world is full of hard lives. A mother holds back the tears as her 10 year old son was found dead in Chicago this past week. Life is tough. Children grow up in neighborhoods where their friends and family are shot in drive-bys by gang members. Life is hard. Losing a loved one in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Life is hard. Worrying every time your parents go to the hospital that they may die. Life is hard. Losing a child at birth. Life is hard. Having a husband or wife come back from war after losing their limbs. Life is hard. Watching a loved one battle through cancer, suffering great pains, and hoping the Lord would take them from such misery. Life is hard.
Our lives are filled with all kinds of hardships. There isn’t one of us that haven’t felt the burden of living in this sinful world. We have members that have suffered from cancer, continue to suffer from cancer, and have lost the fight with cancer. We have members that struggle emotionally with the loss of loved ones to death. We have family and friends that have lost their jobs and homes. We suffer through physical, emotional, and spiritual pains ourselves: broken limbs, surgery, pinched nerves, migraine headaches, cancer, diabetes, worry, depression, anxiety, doubt, hoplessness and so many other ailments. Life is hard.
Where do we go for help in this hard; sinful world? Some look to drugs and alcohol. Others look to work or hobbies. We look for some kind of distraction…to take our mind off of things. We look to others and ourselves...but they can only offer so much.
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” While these beautiful words were written to describe Lady Liberty…they would do well to describe the Church.
As Christ Jesus speaks to all of us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Job would learn that in the promised Savior there is rest. There is rest for all in Christ Jesus…as he welcomes all who are weary and burdened. Christ Jesus welcomes all who are sick and diseased, all who have sinned great and small, the young and the old, the rich and the poor; everyone. He welcomes them here.
Jesus gives rest to us here in this place through His Word, His body, and His blood. Jesus gives rest here in this place by giving us brothers and sisters in Christ to weep with us, hold us up, help us, and rejoice with us. Jesus gives rest to us here in this place as He makes us children of God in the waters of baptism and heirs of life in heaven.
Here in this place God does call out saying “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.”
This world is filled with “hard knock lives” because of sin…and all of us are affected. While each of us lives with different burdens and pains…it does not mean that God doesn’t love you. Sin is the reason we suffer. Yet we ought to learn this from Job: God redeems amid and even through suffering. Let me repeat that. God redeems amid your suffering and often God redeems through your suffering. God acts in ways we will never understand for one purpose…to bring you closer to God; to build faith in you; to save you.
In the midst of suffering…of any kind…cling to Christ your Redeemer. While the problems and suffering you may have in this world may last a lifetime…our Lord promises that in heaven: “He will wipe every tear from [your] eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
This life is a “hard knock life.” But it’s going to get better. It’s going to get better on the last day when our Lord gives us rest for all eternity in heaven. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.
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