Job and Mark

We are on our annual Spring Break Retreat. S, the boys and I have, for the past four years, taken a few days during spring break to leave town and just be together. We're in Lexington -- only two hours away from home, but we'll be here until Sunday afternoon.

The boys are happy that the hotel has an indoor pool (it's actually a requirement for our Spring Break Retreat abode); I'm happy that the room has free wireless internet access and a nearby yarn store. (he he) S is spending some time trying to come to terms with his new phone / PDA thingee with an "expert" on the phone. Good luck to him.

I taught Sunday school last Sunday. I decided to accept the challenge and teach from the regular curriculum. The lesson was from Job (!!!) and Mark. Job and I have come to an understanding. I don't require Job to be uplifting, and Job, in return, offers me more than Ecclesiasties.

Specifically, the Job passage for Sunday school was Job 38. I've hyperlinked to The Message version of the passage, which is what I used in Sunday school. I read a pretty long passage from Job 38 -- versus 1-35. God finally (in Job's view) decides to speak to Job. God's tone in the passage is pretty sarcastic. If you've never read it, or haven't read it in a while, take a look at the passage from the Message. It paints a picture of God that is huge -- a God we could never confine to our understanding. Sometimes I think we want God at our beck and call -- we want God to answer to us. This passage, to me, is God saying, "I am GOD!"

Just because I think the language and images are beautiful, here are a few verses:

Verse 12: "And have you ever ordered Morning, "Get up!' Told Dawn, "Get to work!'

Verses 19 and 20: "Do you know where Light comes from and where Darkness lives, so you can take them by the hand lead them home when they get lost?

So, Job and I have called a truce -- I still have problems with the idea that God gave Satan permission to "tamper" with Job's life, but Job (the book) tells me that God is God, and I am not. I'll take comfort in that idea.

The other passage that the lesson used was Mark 16:1-20. This is the passage where Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome have gone to the tomb to annoint Jesus. They find the tomb empty.

My question is this --> How do you connect the two passages? What is the common theme? The best I (and the curriculum) could come up with at the time was that God did not abandon Job. He never left. The message of Easter is not, “I will remove your suffering.” The message of Easter is “I have redeemed your suffering.” Because of God’s transforming love, our suffering is not only known; it is shared and transformed. Jesus’ resurrection is the sign of the new life. God brings out of suffering and death. (Some info from the teacher and student curriculum books).

And then I went to Common Grounds on Thursday night. Carol, our associate pastor, did a terrific monologue as Mary Magdalene, ending with the line, "I know that my redeemer lives." Nicole Mullen's song of the same title was then played. Look at these lyrics. It looks to me that the person who wrote the lyrics (is that Nicole Mullens?) must have read Job and then Mark.

Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning

Who told the ocean you an only come this far?

Who showed the moon where to hide 'til evening

Whose words alone can catch a falling star?

Well I know my Redeemer lives

I know my Redeemer lives

All of creation testify

This life within me cries

I know my Redeemer lives

The very same God that spins things in orbit

He runs to the weary, the worn and the weak

And the same gentle hands that hold me when I'm broken

They conquered death to bring me victory.

Photo: lights in tree (green leaves!) at night at Pullman Square.