Bryan Richardson

Terror

Re:Verse passage – Job 2:11-13, 22:5-6, 9-11 (day three)

“Sudden dread terrifies you,
or darkness, so that you cannot see.”

The desire for order runs deep within you. A chaotic universe is a terrifying universe. When you suffer, you might think one of two things: that your suffering results either from some evil you enacted, or from some error in the cosmic workings which God will fix when you voice your complaint to him. Either way proceeds in an orderly, logical fashion. This is the paradigm in which Job’s friends and Job himself seem to operate. But for there simply to be no discernable reason and no remedy on the horizon – this gives rise to alarm. Total darkness and total silence looks and sounds an awful lot like an empty, impersonal universe. Job discovered that very problem long ago. And that’s why we need to explore this book.

Reason

Re:Verse passage – Job 2:1-10, 3:11, 20-26 (day three)

“Why is light given to him who suffers,
And life to the bitter of soul,
Who long for death, but there is none?”

Whoever put the account of Job together took actual events and expressed them in poetic form because of poetry’s power and economy of language. Poetry sometimes has a (false) reputation of being somewhat out of touch with reality. But the question in this passage is most assuredly a real one, and it most certainly arises from a heart that has seen hope disappear. This book is so honest that Job isn’t asking this question rhetorically. No, he’s really wondering: what’s the point to the shining of the sun and the beating of the heart when he’d rather be dead? This book is for everyone – everyone – who asks if there is a reason to go on.

Find

Re:Verse passage – Job 1:13-22 (day three)

“Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.”

The emotional equivalent of a tsunami occurred in Job’s life; horrific personal disasters crashing in wave upon wave against one lone man. He remained unbowed. Job faced staggering tragedy with a stalwart confidence that God – his puzzling authorization of these events notwithstanding – was going to take notice of Job’s righteousness soon, and some kind of redress of grievances would happen. As hopeful as this stance seems, Job finds out that such a posture isn’t strong enough for life in this world. He finds something strong enough eventually, but the rest of the book is far from a straight line from disaster to renewal. That’s because this book isn’t a platitude. It’s not a pep talk. It’s life as it actually is. That’s where you’ll find God. Job did.

Blurt

Re:Verse passage – Job 1:1-12 (day three)

“The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”

Nobody knows for sure what is meant by “the sons of God.” Fallen angels, mysterious divine beings, righteous individuals, and, in Genesis, the sons of Seth — all of these suggestions and more have been advanced as possible explanations of this puzzling phrase. Does this kind of meeting still happen? Are conversations like this going on right now? Do God and Satan keep in touch? Well, Jesus kept company with a shady crowd, and that’s an earthly example of what it seems was already happening in heaven. One thing is for sure. No evil will startle God. And apparently, the devil isn’t good at keeping his own plans hidden from the Lord. Don’t you worry.

Surprise

Re:Verse passage – Luke 18:9-14 (day three)

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”

Is God interested in comeuppance? Aren’t you? You know that feeling you get when you see some insufferable people get theirs? The German-language word for that feeling is schadenfreude, and that vibe is strong with this parable. I mean, look at this guy. He thought he was so great, and then the cosmic rug gets pulled out from under him. He leaves unforgiven and he doesn’t even know it. It’s such poetic justice. Isn’t it great to know you’re the kind of person that can see how flawed this Pharisee is? Hey, wait a minute. Who exactly is the real Pharisee here?

Wily

Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day three)

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.”

Establishment types thought Jesus played fast and loose with the law of Moses, as in this story whose sympathetic central character was an ethics-challenged accountant emerging not chastened but rewarded. Missing the point entirely – that believers must become as expert in the ways of the light as worldly people are expert in the ways of the dark – the Pharisees could hardly contain their disdain: Do we really want our people hearing morally questionable content from one who has such little regard for the law? Knowing the Pharisees’ own attempts to reimagine the law, Jesus responds, “Who’s the real lawbreaker, the one telling stories about wily scoundrels, or the ones trying to make marriage the domain of actual scoundrels?”

Ending

Re:Verse passage – Luke 15:11-24 (day three)

“And they began to celebrate.”

There are two types of people in the world: the cynics who like Ecclesiastes, and the optimists who like Ruth. I’m kidding. Or am I? This parable has something for all comers, fortunately. Wherever you find yourself on the life spectrum – world-weary or hopeful – has Jesus got a story for you. The wow factor here, when you consider that Jesus isn’t talking about rainbows and unicorns, but about the God who actually exists, is overwhelming. But when you linger on that last phrase – “they began to celebrate” – the atmosphere grows heavy as foreboding clouds seem to move in. You could stop there (and our assigned text indeed does) but if you can proceed, you’ll discover unfathomable sorrow as Jesus reveals how the heart of God is wrenched by all who will not rejoice with him.

Search

Re:Verse passage – Luke 15:1-10 (day three)

“What woman…does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

Everybody understands that some things command attention and some things simply don’t. So ingrained is the giving or withholding of attention that people adjust their level of attentiveness without giving much thought to it. It’s common to find a penny on the ground; pennies receive little attention. It’s rarer to find a hundred-dollar bill on the ground; that currency receives considerably higher attentive care. And when someone finds a briefcase containing 2.3 million dollars, that’s…only in the movies. At any rate, you don’t care about the penny, and you care much more about the hundred. And it really hurts when it goes missing. You will search hard. This is what heaven’s going through right this moment.

Invitation

Re:Verse passage – Luke 14:12-24 (day three)

“Go out into the highways and along the hedges…”

There’s a party happening somewhere to which you’re not invited, an A-list somewhere on which your name does not appear. Conversely, you’ve never planned an open house that’s completely open. There are always parameters. Whether it’s finances or social standing or affinity drawing the lines, everybody knows that invitations have limits. The story Jesus tells here upends that convention. It’s unimaginable, really, because nobody’s that rich. And if the host is that rich, the company kept by that host tends toward exclusivity in the extreme. But here we have in this parable a host who’s unfathomably wealthy and, by the end of the story, tearing down the gates to the mansion lest anyone be hindered from partaking in the feast. Will you still insist the host needs you as a bouncer?

Turn

Re:Verse passage – Luke 13:1-9 (day three)

“Let it alone, sir, for this year too.”

As “the end is near” stories go, this one stands out for its reassurance of God’s compassion. Clearly, Jesus aims to do more than just issue a sword-of-Damocles warning to those who tell themselves that God’s going to have mercy on them because they’re not as bad as some people. The story takes a turn with the introduction of the vineyard-keeper, who seeks a delay in the tree’s destruction. Both you and the worst person you know have remained alive because of the mercy of God. You’ve received no more of that graciousness than anyone else. In the meantime, when will you let others in on the truth of why they’re still around – that Christ loves them too much to leave them without an opportunity to turn to him?