我們是說故事的人 (約伯記)

星期二，一家五口就會到韓國一行．相信，我們眾人都渴望這日子．照舊，手上還有千百樣事未處理．生活就是這樣．以下是今日講道的內容．

No matter whether you can tell good stories or not, we are storied people. On the one hand, we are shaped by different stories, such as, our family story and the Hong Kong story. To a large extent we do not have much choice among them, for we are created from them. On the other hand, we have the ability to re-interpret the stories that are shaping our lives, and from there, we write the ending. Since we are not able to choose stories for our own, my focus today is on how to re-interpret the stories, good or bad, that we are inherited.

I recall a biblical figure named Job. Job was a truly good person, who respected God and refused to do evil. (1:8) At that time, there was a general belief that God punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous. This is something like karma (the law of moral causation). However, Job's coming experience was inconsistence to this belief. He had no idea why misfortunes heavily came upon his life. He not only lost his wealth and children, but also painful sores broke out all over his body--from head to toe. (2:7) His misfortune did not gain sympathy and support from his wife, but on the contrary, his wife said to her, 'Why do you still trust God? Why don't you curse him and die?' (2:9) Job did not have the freedom to choose what kind of story he wanted, but misfortunes just came in its time. Despite this, he was not completely passive, for he was free to interpret his tragic story, and interpretation might bring release. This was exactly what Job's friends wanted to offer to him.

The hermeneutical skill that Job's friends offered was that Job's tragedy was the result of his unrighteousness and sin. Since God was righteous, he only punished those who deserved it. It was impossible that God would make the righteous suffered, for this was against God's character as well as their belief in God. However, this interpretation did not help Job, not because he did not believe in the logic of karma, but because the logic karma was not able to explain his experience. He defended by saying that 'I am desperate because God All-Powerful refuses to do what is right. As surely as God lives, and while he gives me breath, I will tell only the truth. Until the day I die, I will refuse to do wrong by saying you are right, because each day my conscience agrees that I am innocent.' (27:1-6) His defense generated further attack and criticism from his friends.

We did not know how long Job had been suffered, but God was silence for some time. Till chapter 38, God finally spoke to Job and his friends. Surprisingly, God did not explain to them why Job was suffered. Rather God showed them his mystery of creation and his providence. In Chinese, we call this 遊花園. It means hanging around, and does not address to the issue. According to chapter 1-2, Job's suffering is the result of the bet between God and Satan. But God does not tell Job and his friends. Why? Firstly, it is because if they know the truth, they would completely lose their faith in God. It is better not to mention about this. Secondly, the bet between God and Satan is not part of the original text. It is a later addition, because the readers are not able to accept God's response to Job's suffering, that is, 'no reason' for his suffering. In fact, Job no longer insists to find out the reason behind his suffering when he has listened to God's saying. Job said, 'Who am I to answer you? I did speak once or twice, but never again.' (40:4-5) Later, he repeated again, 'No one can oppose you, because you have the power to do what you want. You asked why I talk so much when I know so little. I have talked about things that are far beyond my understanding.' (42:2-3) In the midst of God's mystery of creation and providence, the importance and desire to find out the reason is suspended.

The mystery of God makes Job learn to be silence in uncertainty, suffering and frustration, but have faith in God. Besides, it makes Job learn to re-interpret his story not in a mode of karma, but in a paradoxical way, that is, the co-existence of God and suffering, righteousness and suffering. Perhaps, the great discovery of Job is to go beyond the unexplainable tragic in his life, not stuck in his past. This is especially true when you open your hearts to God's creation, you are aware of how little we are. Our problems and difficulties (relational, financial and physical)are real, but they are not as serious as we think.

How can the mystery have such transformative power? I cannot explain it fully, but I can share with you a story. A friend of mine whose child aged 16 is seriously mental handicapped. He is not able to move around, and even he may not be able to know the one who takes care of him is his parent. Till now, my friend does have a lot of questions in my mind. Why did God allow his child to be mental handicapped? Why didn't God prevent medical mistake happened? Someone come to comfort him by saying that you will know it on the resurrected day. I do not know whether he will know the reason finally, because this is Job's experience. Despite this, I share with Job's experience of that the mystery of God's creation and providence has sustained our lives till today. Tragic feeling is still there, but we are still able to live with it. More importantly, we are able to write our unfinished story. The mystery of God's creation and providence provides us a hindsight to re-interpret the past

We may have many bad experiences coming from our family, friends, church and work. And the most tragic is that we may be too occupied by them, and lose the ability to write our own stories. I am not asking you to forget the past, but I do pray that you can experience God's mystery of creation and providence so that you are able to write your stories with joy and passion.