Job 4: 7 – 8
Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed? According to what I have seen, those who plow wrongdoing and those who sow trouble harvest it.
I thought we might pull another lesson out of the book of Job. The book is a series of monologues between Job and his friends. When calamity befell Job, at first his friends responded with compassion. “Now when Job’s three friends heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, they came, each one from his own place . . . and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky,” (Job 2: 11 – 12). Their shared grief was real and heartfelt. It is gratifying to see that his friends empathized with Job so strongly. Unfortunately, later, in what I believe were sincere attempts to help Job, they turned to fault finding and when they did, they laid the blame at the feet of the victim. They believed it was sin that caused Job’s trouble. In today’s Bible verse, we see Eliphaz positing that the innocent don’t suffer; he asserts that Job sowed bad seed in the form of sin and that is why this tragedy has engulfed him.
Maybe it is just human nature to blame the victim. When bad things happen, especially to good people, we begin to look around for a reason. Often, we blame God, but when that doesn’t work, sometimes we speculate there is hidden sin that is creating bad fruit. The irony here is that in suggesting that sin is Job’s problem, Eliphaz compliments himself. Since he was not experiencing all that trouble, then he, in contrast to Job, must be sin free. It is sort of humorous when you dissect it like that.
The real point, though, is to bring this dynamic to our attention. What is your experience? I am reminded that in cases of rape we once blamed the victim. In our church environment, do you believe there is a tendency for bystanders to blame victims; perhaps even blame them of sin? In what other ways do we chastise the victim? I have a little experience with this that I wish to share with you, really just for illustration purposes.
Most of you know that I broke my wrist. When something bad happens we often wonder why. In my case, like Job, I found the problem in the mirror. It wasn’t sin, though, it was negligence. Did that mean that God was not with me. No, not at all. It just means I was the one who could have prevented the accident. Immediately after my injury, my friends and acquaintances, like Job’s were sympathetic and supportive. An odd thing happened, though, when the rehabilitation wasn’t as fast as expected. People began to blame me. The funny thing was that they had no data regarding how hard I was working in therapy or what issues may exist. They just saw that the recovery was slow and thus, seemed to think I must be not be doing enough towards my recovery. In truth, I think these people cared about me, like Job’s friends. It may have been a symptom of their frustration and wanting to see me return to normal. Still, it awoke me to an issue. Since then, I have been more keen to observe whether this is common and also to police my own reactions to others’ pain and challenge.
So, my message is this, let us try not to blame victims when bad things happen to them. True compassion should prevent us from being critical. Secondly, if this is happening to you, I am sorry. Try not to react too strongly towards your friends. I know it can catch you at a bad time, but perhaps your friends really care, and they can’t find a better way to help. Forgive them and don’t let that criticism stick to you. You know the truth and you must abide in it. Together we can all try to be more generous with those who are suffering. In the meantime, keep your eyes on Christ and let him be your comfort.
