The Punchy Epistle – James (ii) Main Course: Job
This is not a scholarly look at the Epistle of James. It’s not an investigation into authorship, manuscripts, historicity, debates over canonicity, or a re-hash of Luther’s famous dislike of its contents.
What I have in mind is a four-course meal, or more accurately, a three-course meal, with two starters.
If the Starters were Abraham and Rahab, the Main course is Job
‘…take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience - indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.’
In the previous verse, James had indulged in some straight talking,
‘Do not grumble and moan against one another lest you be condemned – Behold the judge is standing at the door!’
Earlier still, he had urged them to do the opposite,
‘If you really fulfill the royal law ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’, you do well’
It is useful to remember the context of the letter. He wrote his epistle to the ‘twelve tribes scattered abroad’; Jewish believers who had been persecuted and scattered as the Jewish authorities tried to stamp out what they considered to be a subversive threat to the state and their own privileged positions within that political system.
In addition to the normal run-of-the-mill reasons we all encounter in life, that cause us to be grumpy, complaining, or angry, even, these Christians were being hounded, arrested, excluded from the synagogue, work, and family life. If anyone had reason to grumble and moan, they had.
Their particular dose of suffering came from external circumstances that had turned against them – like Job.
In both cases, the spiritual foundation of the suffering was satanic. In Job’s case, Satan had asked permission from God to cause Job to suffer, and Satan’s request was granted. Job loses his oxen and donkeys, his sheep, his camels, and his children.
However, the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than he lost. Later, he had ten thousand sheep, had seven sons and three daughters, and lived to be a hundred and forty.
James’s meditation on Job’s life is that the Lord is ‘very compassionate and merciful’ and urges his readers to consider the purpose of Job’s suffering, that somehow it led to blessing and that however satanic was the origin of the suffering, God’s blessings were greater.
Equally, when the church (i.e. the early Jewish believers James was writing to) was harassed and scattered, suffering the loss and deprivation, it looked as if their enemies had the upper hand, but God’s plan included an encounter with Saul en route to arrest Christians in Damascus. God called Saul/Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles…and here we are, billions of believers later, twenty-one centuries later.
The Punch turns out to be a double punch. First the suffering, then the blessing.
The question James poses us, however, is one that can only be answered in our hearts. In the middle of suffering, how is your heart? Is it singing? Is it singing that ‘the Lord is very compassionate and merciful’ even if you’re singing with tears pouring down your face. Is your confession still that the Lord is good…to you. Or have you resorted to filling your days blaming others, especially brothers and sisters in Christ, ‘…don’t grumble against one another…’
In the aftermath of 9/11, Matt Redman wrote the song Blessed Be Your Name based on Job’s experience. It coincided with a particularly dark time for me. Still to this day, I can barely get the words out. Not because of the darkness, but for His goodness in it and since.
There are many versions on YouTube. This one was performed during Covid. Apt, I think.
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still, I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord