The Nothingness of God and Our Salvation
Justin Fletcher
ST JOSEPH’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
PROPER 23:
JOB 23:1-9,16-17
PSALM 22:1-15
HEBREWS 4:12-16
MARK 10:17-31
Upon hearing the words of today’s gospel we are prone to join forces with Job on a hunt for
God in order to give him a piece of our mind: “I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth
with arguments.” But, we probably are more willing to depart company with, “God has made my
heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.” That we would prefer one to the other is the case
because we Americans, with very little exception, have developed a couple of peculiar but
complimentary modes of speech. First there is the register by which we laud ourselves. It goes like
this: We are on the cutting edge of technology. We are the most innovative people in the world. We
possess the best education system in the world. And most of all, we are the most prosperous and
wealthiest nation in the world. But this habit of speaking doesn’t fit very well with these and other
words from Jesus, and so we submit them to our other mode of speech. That is the register of
populism: We are all blue-collar, hard-working, honest, self-made ordinary people doing the best we
can to get by. We have some things, but just enough to be comfortable, certainly not excessive.
We’re just part of the middle class.
So we acquit ourselves to Jesus’ words, convincing ourselves that, even though we are part
of the wealthiest nation in the world, we are different than the rich young ruler. And yet in doing
this, in categorizing this way, we can see how it is that we tread the path with Job, convinced that in
our argument with God “he would give heed to me.” Let us see what Job finds. If we follow Job we
will find the path of idol-crushing divine darkness. Job reports: “If I go forward, he is not there; or
backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right,
but I cannot see him.” In his search for a divine hearing, what is it Job finds? He finds nothing, no –
thing. No thing but the desire for darkness: “If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness
would cover my face.”
Does this mean, this desire for darkness, that Job’s search has been unsuccessful? He could
not find God so he gives up, deciding perhaps there is no God? No, far from it. Rather, Job points
us the psalmist who says: “You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain to it. If I climb up to heaven
you are there; if I make the grave my bed you are there also. If I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand hold
me fast. If I say surely the darkness will cover me and the light around me turn to night, darkness is
not dark to you, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light to you are both alike.”
Job leads us to the psalmist who leads us to the God that is no place, no where to be found,
for he is no thing. And this must be the case because our God is not the biggest thing in the
universe or the most powerful thing or the strongest thing. Our God is full, final, complete and
perfect in himself. There is no contingency to our God. All things, by contrast, are made up several
components, parts, atoms. Our God is single, indivisible and therefore not a thing and cannot be
found. Accordingly, the psalmist declares that we are the ones who cannot depart from God. It is
God’s hand that holds us. In our contingency upon him, we cannot escape or hide. For this reason
darkness and light are the same to our God, but the utter simplicity of God’s blinding, radiant light
appears as darkness to us. But what is this darkness and why does Job desire it?
Darkness is the place of unseeing. It is a place without perception, a place where see and
therefore own nothing, a place where all things are consumed out of sight. It alone, then, is the place
where we can see the only true God. We see God in illumined darkness. And what is this illumined
darkness? And what illuminates it? The True Light illumines the darkness for us to see the True God.
And what is the True Light? “In the beginning was the Word…what has come into being in the
Word was life and the life was the light of all people.” And how does this Word that is the True
Light illumine the darkness? By, “being sharper than any tow-edged sward, piercing until it divides
soul from spirit, joints from marrow it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And
before him no creature is hidden, but all are laid naked and bare before the eyes of the one to whom
we must render account.” The Word of God illumines the darkness through revealing and unveiling,
through true vision. But it is not just any revealing. He reveals our hearts. And why makes this so
important? As he himself says, “It is from within, from the heart that evil intentions come.” And
what is evil but the attempt to exist by things, objects, honors, thus failing to see our contingency
upon the God who is no thing but the source of all things. This is what the Word of God reveals,
our desire for things. And this is why Job desires the darkness because in it, there are no things, only
the God who dwells in light inaccessible. Let us then walk the path of darkness with the Word of
God. What does he reveal? “You lack one ting; go sell what you own and give the money to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
Are we reticent to heed this counsel? To walk this path? Why? Is it because we don’t think
these words are trustworthy words of Jesus? No, that can’t be it. A priest ordained at the hands of a
bishop who sits in the line of the apostles and Christ himself, whose charge is to preserve the true
witness of the Church, has just proclaimed these words to us. Is it because we don’t find these to be
agreeable words? No, that can’t be it. We all replied to the conclusion of them, “Praise to you, Lord
Christ.” We gave worship to Christ for speaking these words. Could it be then that we don’t find
them applicable? That is, they may be trustworthy and good words in their time, but Jesus thought
the world would end soon, and he was also know to exaggerate. Remember, the cutting of hands
and plucking out of eyes a few weeks ago? No, that won’t work either because we believe in saints.
Saints are those holy people that the Church raises up for the rest of us to emulate and view as
examples in our life of discipleship. And a great many of the saints are raised to view precisely
because they have heeded this counsel. Further, hear Christ’s reply to Peter, who both followed the
counsel and is indeed a saint: “Truly I tell you there is not one who last left house or brother or
sister or mother … who will not receive a hundred fold now in this age…and in the age to come
eternal life.” This is a promise from the True Word.
Could it be that we fear we would have no food to eat? No, our country puts enough food in
the garbage each day to feed small nations. Could it be we would have no place to sleep? No, from
the number of houses with extra space and rooms, this too seems unlikely. And it cannot be because
we are afraid of begging. Indeed, we are even willing to break the law to do so since this city has
outlawed, “aggressive begging.” And yet, here we all come, week after week, Sunday upon Sunday,
walking the path to the throne of Grace, with empty, outstretched hands, begging with all our might
for a divine provision, the bread of heaven. And this is the most important thing Christians do, beg
each week.
Jesus’ look of love and subsequent words to the rich young ruler was an invitation to
become a participant in the divine nature. For the Word of God beckons him to the darkness where
are no things, no idols, no possessions, so that he may become god and possess all things. In giving
away his things, in ending his search for a place that God might be, our Lord offers him the
darkness whereby he might inherit the impossible, the kingdom of God. Likewise, Jesus stands
before us with the same invitation: “Got any change?” The divine darkness beckons to enter the
kingdom that we might possess all things. Let us run with haste the meet our inheritance for we now
know where to find him. Amen.