The Problem of Evil and What God Is Doing About It

Sermon delivered on Sunday, Trinity 18B, October 7, 2012, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Columbus, OH.

Lectionary texts: Job 1.1, 6-22, 2.1-10; Psalm 26.1-12; Hebrews 1.1-4, 2.5-12; Mark 10.2-16.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

This morning I want us to look at the problem of evil. Taking our cue from today’s OT lesson from Job, I want us to look at the vexing problem of why evil of all kinds sometimes falls on good people. I suspect if I polled the room, everyone here would be able to tell a sad story of how evil has befallen someone you know and love—and if you doubt that, take a look at our weekly intercessions. So what does the Bible tell us about what God has done, is doing, and will do about the problem of evil? How can we live faithfully in a world created good but in which sometimes things go horribly wrong? I do not claim to offer a definitive or even comprehensive answer to these questions. I don’t have the time or expertise to make that kind of promise. In fact, at the end of the day, sermons like this may leave you more frustrated than edified. But what God is doing about the problem of evil is a massively important issue for anyone who calls him/herself Christian because it can be a faith-destroyer, even as we are called to live as people of power in the Spirit. So it is worth our best faithful thinking and reflection, and I will leave time at the end of the sermon for Q&A to address issues I might raise but didn’t cover in the sermon.

Before we look at what Scripture says about the problem of evil and what God is doing about it, it is important for us to remember to meet Scripture where it is and to grapple with it on its own terms, not the agenda set by those who are inherently hostile to the Christian faith. Enlightenment thinking and scientific advancement have simply not solved the problem of evil. Sure, we have great new toys. But with every new invention, we create new opportunities for evil people to use them in wicked ways. There is nothing wrong with airplanes, for example. There is everything wrong with flying airplanes into buildings to commit mass murder. Science gave us the airplane but science and the thinking that surrounds it have not addressed the problem of evil and we must acknowledge this before we attempt to look at what the Bible says about evil. The myth of human progress remains precisely that: a myth. Yes, our standard of living has definitely improved. But our ability to use the tools of our improved standard of living wisely and morally (end of life issues created by technology, anyone?) hasn’t always kept pace and those who remain hostile to the Christian faith have no moral high ground or inherent authority on which to stand or berate us as we seek to find biblical answers to the problem of evil.

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus responds to a trap the Pharisees set for him regarding divorce. This trap is itself an evil act, considering it is about divorce and Jesus is back on Herod’s turf and Herod had John the Baptist beheaded, in part, over John’s criticism of Herod’s marital arrangements (cf. Mark 6.14-29). In responding to the question about divorce, Jesus reminds us that Moses gave divorce laws because the human heart is hard and this was God’s way of accommodating our hard hearts, even though his original intention about marriage has remained unchanged from the time of creation (cf. Genesis 1.27, 2.24). This alerts us to the fact that somehow human sin is inextricably and mysteriously linked to the problem of evil. Apparently as long as human sin remains, so will evil remain. And just as our original sin resulted in God’s judgment on it and got us booted from paradise, so God continues to oppose evil and works to keep it in check in the context of his good but fallen creation (cf. Genesis 3.1-19; Psalm 26.1-12).

But evil is not tied exclusively to human sin as our OT lesson reminds us. In this morning’s texts—and I added some passages that are not in the lectionary so we can reflect on the entire story—the curtains are drawn back (much like they are in John’s vision in the book of Revelation) and we are given a glimpse of God and his heavenly council in action. We see the sovereign God and his angels at work, closely monitoring the affairs of God’s creation. This challenges at once the deist lie that argues God is an absent landlord who really doesn’t care about his creation or creatures, and who therefore allows evil to run its course unchecked.

Yet even as we are given a glimpse of God’s heavenly council, there are deeply puzzling and mysterious questions. Why is the accuser (Satan) there? Why does God ask Satan if he has considered righteous Job? And why does God apparently encourage Satan to test Job’s righteousness? There is much at stake here but we are not given any answers to these questions. From Satan’s perspective, if humans (represented by Job) only love God for what God gives us, then the whole project of creation is a failure because we are only in it for ourselves and cannot possibly love God or reflect his image out into the world as God intended when he created us. God would therefore be forced to give up on his project of creation and start over instead of working to redeem his project, ultimately in and through Jesus the Messiah.

From the writer’s perspective (and ours), we see the age-old question being asked. Why does God let bad things happen to good people? But again we are not given an answer. God does not let us in on the joke as to why he allowed Satan to take from Job everything he had to test his faith and righteousness. That’s why there was a second round of testing because Satan argued that if being deprived of his possessions wasn’t enough to push Job over the edge, being deprived of his health and well-being would. We are therefore witnessing an escalation of the tests. But if God is omniscient, why the need for tests in the first place (and Scripture makes it consistently clear that God does test us)? We are not given an answer to those questions either. Instead, we are reminded in no uncertain terms that there are unseen forces of evil behind the evil that besets us and tests us, but it is not God’s doing.

And despite the unanswered questions that we might have regarding this, we are also reminded in no uncertain terms that God remains sovereign over the forces of darkness and evil. Satan was not allowed to have carte-blanche control over Job. He was (and is) always under God’s sovereign control and we need to pay attention to this, even in the midst of our unanswered questions. God is not absent and God is in control, even in the messiness of the evil that sometimes afflicts us. Do you believe this? The extent you can answer yes is the extent you begin to have the ability to confront evil that afflicts you or those you love with the power of God. More about that in a minute.

Of course, on one level, much of this narrative is unsatisfying. We want our God to be strong, to swoop down and destroy the evil in our midst in some awesome and spectacular way, not unlike the ways superheroes do in movies. But in wanting that kind of resolution we often forget that we are part of the problem of evil. Remember those hard hearts and the sin they produce and the evil they encourage that Jesus talked about in today’s gospel lesson? It seems that if God were to use shock and awe to zap away evil, most of us would be zapped in the process and God is working very hard to prevent that outcome.

So what has God done about the problem of evil and what is he doing now? We see part of the answer in this morning’s epistle lesson. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that God has defeated evil in the death of Jesus. We have seen before that God has chosen to rescue his fallen world and its creatures through his people Israel but that they were part of the problem instead of part of the solution. So God became human to represent Israel in the person of Jesus the Messiah to atone for our sins and rescue us from the power of evil and death (cf. especially Colossians 2.13-15). In language that is designed to remind us Jesus is Lord, the writer of Hebrews tells us that after Jesus overcame sin and death on the cross, he ascended into heaven where God has put all things in creation under his authority. To be sure, Jesus’ victory on the cross is not yet fully consummated. We will have to wait until his Second Coming and the promised new creation for that. But that day is coming and in the meantime, Jesus is no absent king who has gone into heaven to enjoy a well-earned rest from all the dirty work he had to do while he walked on earth. No, Jesus is Lord and the powers and principalities are under his authority and control, just like Satan is under God’s control in today’s OT lesson.

To be sure, this takes great faith on our part. But this is the biblical answer to what God has done, is doing, and will do about the problem of evil. Yes, there are deep mysteries and ambiguities involved. There are many unanswered questions about why bad things continue to happen to good people. But the biblical answer to these questions is this. God judges evil and works to prevent its spread in the context of creation. But the God who has defeated evil is a crucified God who has defeated the powers and principalities by condemning sin in the flesh and nailing it to the cross. And he calls his redeemed people, those who are in Jesus the Messiah, to be his light-bearers and visible signs of new creation to bring healing and hope to the world to signal that while evil still exists in the present creation, its day is ultimately done because Jesus is Lord and the God who reigns is a sovereign God, not an absentee landlord.

And in the meantime until Jesus returns to finish his redemptive and rescuing work, we are promised God’s Spirit to live in us so that we are given hope and strength and power to confront evil in the way Jesus our Lord did. Do you believe this? Do you believe this even in the midst of all the ambiguity and unanswered questions about evil and the messiness of God’s solution in defeating evil through his Messiah and his people? If you do, are you living your life like you believe it? Are you living as visible signs of Jesus’ light and new creation? Don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about putting on a hap, hap, happy face in the midst of evil. There is real sorrow and affliction when evil strikes us. But even in the darkest valley, we remember in the power of the Spirit that Jesus is Lord and the love of God will never abandon us if we do not reject it–that was the test of Job. And so we have real hope that not even evil can overcome. And if you don’t agree with how God is dealing with evil (or believe he is dealing with it at all), what is your solution to the problem of evil and what gives you the moral and intellectual high ground so that you are able to claim you know better than God in these things?

Of course there are some things we can do to help us bolster our faith. I have given you a very broad overview of what the Bible says God is doing about the problem of evil. But I’ve also left out huge chunks of the story, including the story of God’s people Israel and God’s prophets. Learn the story of how God is rescuing his world and us from evil, sin, and death. Get on a reading plan and start reading the Bible to learn the particulars of this overarching story.

Second, pray everyday for God’s kingdom to come on earth as in heaven and ask the Lord to show you how he wants to use you in that fight (and make no mistake, if you are serious about following Jesus, you are going to be in for the fight of your life because the powers and principalities want to destroy you and your faith so that you will curse God and cut yourself off from the Source and Author of all life). So get to work. But don’t fight alone. Fight alongside your fellow Christians and let God use you to encourage and support each other. If you don’t have a story of how God’s people have come to your aid in real times of trouble, either we are failing you as a church or you have not trusted God to work in and through his people to help you confront evil with hope and Jesus’ light in the power of the Spirit. Think of the good the Church has done over the ages, things like building hospitals and advancing education and feeding the hungry, and how in doing so Jesus has used his people to fight evil of all kinds. And then think about the good that we as a parish do. Think on these things and remember–and then get to work. Don’t ever hesitate to ask for the prayers and tangible support of God’s people and if you need help above and beyond that, come see one of the priests and we will anoint you with oil that has been consecrated to drive away the evil that besets and dehumanizes you. Take advantage of the power of the Spirit in and through God’s holy Church.

Last, come to the table every week and feed on our Lord’s body and blood. Not only will you be taking in Jesus in a real way, you will also have a tangible reminder of the Table that awaits you in the new creation where you will feast with Jesus and his saints and where there will be no more suffering, sorrow, sickness, death, or any kind of evil. I would love to offer the eucharist everyday so that you would never have to go a day without it. Perhaps that will be a reality someday for St. Augustine’s, but in the meantime, come to the table each week!

Think on these things, then. Remember that God is sovereign and intricately involved in his creation and creatures. Look for signs of God’s love in everyone, especially in God’s people. Believing that God has defeated evil by becoming a crucified God is not an easy thing to do. But when by God’s grace we are also given the wisdom and faith to see that God is sovereign and Jesus is Lord, and when in faith we believe we are given the power of the Spirit to help us fight evil in Jesus’ powerful name by following him, we will know what it means to have Good News, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.