job 14 1-6

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2012REVDDR LUTZACKERMANNFRIEDENSKIRCHE,HILLBROW

Third Last Sunday after Trinity 11 Nov 2012

Dr Lutz Ackermann (Friedenskirche, Hillbrow)

Earthling

(Job 14:1-6)

Grace be with you and peace of the one who was and is

and is to come. Amen.

Dear Congregation, dear guests, friends; brothers and

sisters: good morning.

I have brought this plant with me. It grew from an

avocado seed, but when winter came it dried up and lost

all its leaves. I was hoping that when only it would get

enough water, it would live again but so far it doesnt

look like I am lucky. I am afraid it is probably dead.

I want to read us a passage from the book of Job:

We are all born weak and helpless. All lead thesame short, troubled life. We grow and wither

as quickly as flowers; we disappear like

shadows. Will you even look at me, God, or put

me on trial and judge me? Nothing clean can

ever come from anything as unclean as human

beings. The length of our lives is decided

beforehand--- the number of months we willlive. You have settled it, and it can't be changed.

Look away from us and leave us alone; let us

enjoy our hard life---if we can.

(Job 14:1-6)

[prayer]

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Earlier this week we heard that one of our long standing

church members, Fred Merbold had died. We know that

he has had an operation recently and that he was still

weak recovering from that, and yet we were all taken bysurprise. When a person dies at the age of 65, often we

find that was an untimely death. And so, if Job in his

lament starts off by stating that human life is short, in

this and in many other cases we would agree.

Now, of course, there are many who live a more

advanced age. My father is now approaching the age of

eighty and my grandmother was in her nineties when shedied. But it has to be said, whether one only reaches 60

or 80 or even 100, if one compares it to the time spans of

history or even to the age of our planet earth, human life

is indeed short.

Behind an expression of sorrow, as it comes out in our

Old Testament reading stands, of course, the expectation

that a good life, a blessed life is a long one. In the book of

Genesis you can find that the patriarchs like Abraham or

great leaders like Moses were blessed with a long life,

well beyond the age of 100.

And consequently, a short life is seen as something sad,

something to be lamented. Not only was it like that in

the biblical times, but the same is true with us today, andI guess, most of you would agree, if you maybe think of a

beloved person, who passed on while they were still

young.

In his speech, Job compares human life to that of a

plant. It can grow quickly and wither quickly. While it

is growing and blossoming and bringing fruit it is a

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lovely sight. And it is lovely to see human life unfold.

Last week we celebrated with nine young people their

confirmation in this church. They are already full of life,

expressing talents and character, but just imagine whatwill become of them in ten, twentyyears time! Each one

of them in his or her own way will have grown and we

may be surprised to see, what they will have achieved by

then. It is wonderful to see growth, to see fruitful lives.

It goes quickly, says Job, and I think he is right. If I think

of our own children, it seems like it was just yesterday

when they were still young; and now some are gettinguniversity degrees and prepare to get married. Even the

youngest will be in school for only two more years. How

quickly that went!

Life is like a plant, says Job: it grows quickly but it also

withers quickly. We human beings share this with all

living organisms: this cycle of coming into existence,

growing up, being fruitful and productive; but then also

deteriorating and coming to an end.

When we lay to rest our dead we say that they return to

the earth from which they have been taken: dust to dust,

ashes to ashes. I once had an argument with someone

who felt that this should not be part of a Christian

funeral. Words like that, he felt, do not reflect the gloryof resurrection.

Well, one might say, indeed throughout the Old

Testament any ideas of an afterlife, where they exist at

all, are rather gloomy, and a concept of resurrection is

not very well developed, before we come to the New

Testament. So it may not be too surprising to find, that

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the book of Job speaks in these terms about life and

death.

But I think, if we take a closer look, maybe this image of

a plant can help us, to get to terms with our ownmortality. Because the whole idea of our connectedness

to the earth is not something that applies to our final

stage, death, only. No, even when talking of the origin of

life, the Bible uses this image.

Remember, in the book of Genesis, in the second

creation story we are told how God forms the humanbeing from soil. Like a potter creates something out of

clay, so God shapes Adam. And here is a little word-play,

which is not easy to translate into English, because in

Hebrew, the human being is called Adam because he is

made from ha_adama, from the earth. Maybe one

could say: humans are earthlings or creatures of the

earth.

But if we know: one day we will return to the earth just

as we have come from the earth; if both in our origin and

in our destination, in our birth and in our death we are

connected to the earth: maybe we should get used to

being part of this earth, even in the few years in between,

while we are alive? Maybe our problem lies in the fact

that we would like to deny our origin and ourdestination. Maybe we are just too alienated from our

being a creature of the earth?

If I think of it like that, the thought loses some of its

gloominess. I then think of earth as something valuable.

At home, my father used to have a heap of compost, and

once a year, usually in spring, that had to be turned

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around, which used to be my job. I remember the smell

of the fresh earth, which had come from rotting organic

material: rich and fertile.

Yes, our lives may be short. Job already says what Jesuslater confirms: we cannot add to the length of our lives,

no matter how hard we try. Now it may be true that at

least statistically the human lifespan does depend on

efforts and achievements in the field of medicine, we still

have to admit: how long one particular individual will

live, no-one can predict with absolute certainty. I am

healthy, I am alive and yet tomorrow I might be dead.Or in thirty years I might still be alive. I do not know.

Yes, our lives may be short as compared to the age of this

earth that we are part of. But if my live reflects: I am an

earthling, I am part of this earth, then going back to the

earth as I die one day may almost be a bit like going

home.

I am still unhappy, that my avocado tree apparently died.

I would have liked to see its fruit. But when it comes to

our human lives, that is only part of the story. Yes, like

the avocado tree, like every living organism we come into

existence, we live and we die.

But there is more. In a few weeks time we will celebrate

Christmas: God becoming flesh in the human being

Jesus of Nazareth. If it was possible for God to become

one of us, one of these earth-creatures, how dignifying is

that! In Jesus he walked with us, suffered with us, bleed

with us and died with us!

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Yes, life may be short, indeed. But as we walk and live

our lives with Jesus, there is a new quality to it.

Connected to Jesus and to his body through holy

baptism, in faith we have access to this new life! Andmake no mistake, this new life is for us now and here. No

matter how much or how little of my lifespan still awaits

me here on earth: I want to live it with Jesus. Every

moment! I want to live life in all its fullness.

If Godself could not be contained in heaven but had to

live as an earthling, die as an earthling, so do I want to

live and one day die as a creature of the earth withhim at my side. Or, as the Apostle Paul wrote:

We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not

die for ourselves only. If we live, it is for the

Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord

that we die. So whether we live or die, we

belong to the Lord. For Christ died and rose to

life in order to be the Lord of the living and of

the dead.

(Rom 14:7-9)

Amen.

And the peace of God, which is far beyond human

understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in

union with Christ Jesus now and forever. Amen.

job 14 1-6

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