Latest / Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast / Endings

Transcript

Endings · Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: You are listening to the Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Please visit online at backwardmutters.substack.com.
• 0:08
  There you can subscribe via your favorite podcast player and
• 0:11
  read the newsletter.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Randy Edwards.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:18
  Today is February 26,
• 0:21
  2025,
• 0:21
  and today's poem is inspired by the ending of the Book of Job.
• 0:26
  I began writing poems inspired by the book of Job in the fall
• 0:30
  of 2020 when I
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: preached a series through that book,
• 0:34
  a book I had avoided because I couldn't imagine how one could
• 0:37
  preach 40 chapters of
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: poetic dialogue.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thankfully,
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: there are smarter people than me,
• 0:43
  and I was helped by the books and the preachers who have
• 0:46
  commented on and preached
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: through the book before.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there are many opinions about the book of Job and how to read it.
• 0:54
  My take is that one of the great themes of the book is coming
• 0:58
  to terms with the
• 0:59
  inadequacy of a religion that merely views justice as
• 1:04
  retributive and success,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: the reward of a life well lived.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: These are not in themselves wrong.
• 1:12
  All you have to do is read through the book of Proverbs to see
• 1:14
  that these ideas are
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: commended and encouraged.
• 1:19
  You cannot have hope,
• 1:20
  though,
• 1:21
  that things will be set right if wickedness is not punished.
• 1:26
  And neither can you thrive if you don't believe that a person
• 1:30
  reaps what they have sown.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is that neither of these explain Job's circumstances.
• 1:39
  A person is only two-thirds right when they only believe that
• 1:42
  one gets what they
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: deserve and that a person reaps what they have sown.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: But this two-thirds theology is all the theology Job's friends have.
• 1:52
  They believe that Job must have done something very wicked to
• 1:56
  suffer the way that
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: he has been suffering.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: However, there's another.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: There is a third thing that these friends can't seem to imagine.
• 2:08
  through the book job gets glimpses of that other piece when
• 2:12
  with confidence and
• 2:13
  hope in the face of all the circumstantial data he says i know
• 2:17
  that my redeemer
• 2:18
  lives and in the end he will stand on the earth he gets another
• 2:23
  glimpse in his
• 2:24
  apprehension of the existence of wisdom that can bring him to
• 2:28
  understand and
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: navigate the complexities of life
• 2:33
  But Job never does get the answer to why these things have
• 2:37
  happened to him.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: The reader of the book of Job knows more than he does.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Though Job doesn't get an answer, God does come to him.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And in coming to Job, Job is able to behold the Lord.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in beholding the Lord, his anger and his bitterness fall off of him.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And get this, none of his circumstances change.
• 3:02
  Yet he sees something,
• 3:04
  and that something answers and suffices for all of his questions.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is what C.S.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis points to at the end of his book,
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Till We Have Faces,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: when Aurel says,
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know now why,
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: when asked,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: you utter no answer.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is because you yourself are the answer.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Here's my poetic supposal of Job's response to seeing the Lord.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The poem is titled Endings.
• 3:37
  There was nothing left to do but put my hand over my mouth,
• 3:42
  not speak another word.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You are right and strong.
• 3:49
  And though I still believe I did nothing wrong,
• 3:52
  I know you did not either.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: For now my eye sees you,
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: sees all that you have done,
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: perceives something you will do,
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: and it is too wonderful for me.
• 4:08
  For not only can you do all things,
• 4:12
  but you will do everything that needs doing.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: I see the work of your hands and something of their stretched span,
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: something more than getting what's owed,
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: someone in between,
• 4:28
  in between merely getting the reaping of that which was sowed
• 4:34
  and the strong arm
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: which can work or hold or let go.
• 4:43
  Somewhere between the span of those two hands is a heart that
• 4:48
  will be betrayed and broken,
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: broken open in an effusion of blood and water and love.
• 5:00
  I had heard of you,
• 5:02
  but I have spoken of things I did not understand,
• 5:05
  things I did not know.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And though I still sit on this heap of ash,
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: and though I have more questions I could ask,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I am at peace,
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: am comforted,
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: and at rest.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: For I am yours, and you are mine, and that is best.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, whatever good you send will not be first, but only the rest.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And resting in you shall never end.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to the Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Randy Edwards.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.