Chaplain's Corner: Solidarity in Job
by Ben Gowan, Student Chaplain
Last year my roommate and I overheard someone say that she was going to eat only rice and beans for a while. We asked her why, and she said it was to be in solidarity with the poor. We couldn't help but laugh; my roommate was not on a meal plan and his most common meal was ... rice and beans!
Typically, though, I try not to laugh at sincere efforts for solidarity. In this season of Lent, suffering and solidarity have been on my mind. The story of Job has good demonstrations of both. Specifically, his friends show us some of the dos' and �don'ts of how to be in solidarity with suffering. Job's companions start off well: "When Job's three friends heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was" (Job 2:11, 13 NIV).
These men intentionally got together so that they could support Job in his difficult time. Perhaps most significantly, when they met with him they didn't say anything, but just sat with him. That is solidarity. No teaching, no preaching, no trite words, no forced small talk. That's real friendship. But then Job presses the boundaries of friendship and solidarity further than most people are comfortable with: "A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty" (Job 6:14 NIV).
I have heard youth pastors deliver entire messages on keeping God at the core of friendships, and to �let go' of friends who aren't striving for God. Tsk, tsk ... how unbiblical! Rather, when people lose their faith we have a chance to extend to them love that doesn't require them to agree with us. A love that's beginning to approach the unconditional nature of the love we benefit from.
But what about being correct? What about when they say things that are just plain wrong? Zophar has a response I often feel like saying: "Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom..." (Job 11:5-6 NIV). The amazing thing is, Zophar's wish is uncannily correct: God does speak to Job, and does disclose wisdom to Job. But it turns out that, in the end, it's not about being right, it's about friendship, it's about solidarity. God rebukes Zophar along with the other friends of Job: "I am angry with you because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has" (Job 42:7 NIV).
What was it that Job was saying that was correct about God and yet frustrated his friends so much? Essentially, that his suffering was unjust and that God should be on his side. This challenged the paradigm of his friends; in their worldview righteous people were blessed, and sinful people punished. Job didn't fit their divine blueprint, so they accused him, and proceeded to �teach' him in the very midst of his suffering. They allowed their idea of how God and the world worked to trump their compassion.
Lent is a time where we can get back to the good start Job's friends had. We can focus on solidarity in suffering. We can do that simply through coming together intentionally and listening. We can even do that by eating rice and beans!