“THE THEOLOGICAL SHOE THAT FITS”
JOB 1:1, 2:1-10

1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
3 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
4 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”
6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

I’ll tell you what you should do! When was the last time someone said that to you?
Some people are great when it comes to telling you what you should do. You’ve got a problem? They know what you should do. You need to make a decision? They know what you should do. Job’s wife was like that. While Job was sitting there scraping his sores with that piece of pottery she practically gave him an order. She basically said “enough is enough” and then told him to “Curse God and die.”

In this particular situation Job was like the soldier at Ft. Bragg who got himself into trouble one day with a lieutenant. The lieutenant wanted to buy a soda from a vending machine but he didn’t have any change. So, when he saw the private walking by he asked him if he had change for a dollar. “I pretty sure I do,” the private said. Before he could pull the change out of his pocket though the lieutenant was all over him. “Private,” the lieutenant bellowed, “that’s no way to address a superior officer. I could write you up on report but I’m going to give you another chance and we’ll see if you can do it right this time. Private,” the lieutenant said, “do you have change for a dollar?” At that point the private snapped to attention, gave the lieutenant a smart salute and shouted, “Sir! No sir!”

Over the years I’ve read the story of Job dozens of times and my attention has always been drawn to poor old Job. This time though my attention drawn to Mrs. Job and my mind was filled with all kinds of questions. For example: Who put her in charge and how did she know what was best for Job? Here’s a guy who needs a little sympathy and compassion and what does Mrs. Job give him? She gives him a tongue lashing. Curse God and die. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear that Mrs. Job had a big insurance policy out on her husband and couldn’t wait to collect on it. Either that or she wanted to dump him and go find another husband.

Job also wasn’t very happy with Mrs. Job and he let her know it. Job says to her “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In other words, “Don’t tell me what to do. I’ll decide what I’m going to say and how I’m going to handle this. Besides, you’re not the one sitting here with sores all over your body. You’re not the one who worked hard for all the sheep and cattle that are now gone. And you’re not the one who’s going to be dead if I curse God.”

When you look at what happened that day you being to realize that Mrs. Job made a big mistake. Before you judge or criticize or decide what’s best for someone else you need to put yourself in their shoes. It’s easy to tell someone what to do when it’s not your problem. It’s easy to tell someone what to do when you’re not the one who’s suffering. It’s easy to tell someone what to do when you’re not the one who has to live with the consequences. All of this is why Bill Cosby says that men need to be patient and understanding when a women is in labor. Men don’t know what it’s like to give birth. According to Bill Cosby, if a guy wants to know what it’s like to give birth all you have to do is grab your lower lip and pull it up over your head.

It’s easy to judge or criticize or decide what’s best for someone else when you’re not the one in their shoes. I saw that a few weeks ago when I overheard someone talking about the current state of the economy. The person had some less than flattering words for the television reporters and the newspaper columnists. “They’re making things out to be worse than they really are,” the man said. “Sure the unemployment rate is close to 10% but that means that 90% of the people are still working.” I thought to myself “Spoken like a person who probably still has his job. I wonder if he’d like to switch places with someone who’s lost his job?”

Yes, it’s easy to judge or criticize or decide what’s best for someone else when you’re not the one in their shoes. I learned that lesson myself a few years ago when our summer mission trip took us to the mountains of West Virginia. We spent the week working on a house that needed a lot of scrapping and painting and carpentry work. We were in the heart of Appalachia. Unfortunately some of the stereotypes were there including the five smelly hound dogs. As the week went on some of our youth and some of our adults started to get angry. They family wasn’t lifting a finger to help us help them. Not only that but they had cell phones and a satellite dish for their television and a nice pick up truck. If they could afford all those nice toys why were we giving them a handout when it came to fixing up their house? Toward the end of the week though I began to see that God brought us there for a reason. God helped me to see that poverty is a spiritual disease that goes far beyond not having money in your pocket. It’s a spiritual disease that robs you of your dignity and desire and determination and hope. I also learned why the family had all those toys while living in a house that was falling down around them. Cell phone companies and cable companies are always looking for new customers to satisfy their corporate greed. So, they’ll sign you up with no credit checks and no questions asked. Car companies will also sell you a brand new pickup truck with no money down and they’ll even give you a seven year loan that’s good for them and not so good for you. What happens though when you go to the bank and you ask them for a loan to fix up your house? The nice banker is going to look at your minimum wage income and your lack of collateral and say very politely, “Sorry buddy. No can do!”

I learned that week that when it comes to poverty, before you judge or criticize or decide what’s best for someone else you better put yourself in their shoes. If Mrs. Job had done that with Job then maybe she wouldn’t have told her husband to curse God and die.

This week as I thought about our experience in the mountains of West Virginia a poem came to mind. It is a poem that makes me a little uncomfortable but that’s okay. It goes like this:

I was a political prisoner and you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.
I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick and you knelt down and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless and you preached to me about the spiritual shelter that can be found in God’s love.
I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so close to God.
But I’m still very hungry and lonely and cold. (adapted)

Things change when you take the time to understand what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. You judge less and criticize less and you’re less likely to know what’s best for that person. You’re also more likely to feel God’s love and compassion tugging at your heart.

You might even feel yourself being nudged to do something similar to something Mahatmas Gandhi did one day. This is truly one of my favorite stories. It seems that Gandhi was getting on a train one day when one of his sandals slipped off his foot and landed on the ground. Since the train was already pulling out of the station Gandhi was unable to retrieve the lost sandal. So what did he do? Much to the amazement of the people with him he took off his other sandal and threw it so it landed beside the other one. When someone asked him why he did that Gandhi replied, “Now the poor man who finds the sandal lying on the track will have a pair that he can use.”

That, my friends, is the theological shoe that fits when your faith is true. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
October 4, 2009