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THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE : JOB 2:11-13

PREPARATION

You will need to tape ‘islands’ on to the floor for the opening game and get big pieces of paper and pens for the friends activity.

ISLANDS

10 mins 

For this game you will need to mark lots of ‘islands’ on the floor (tape or chalk both work for these, depending on your floor surface). These need to be close enough together that people can move from one to another but small enough so it’s tricky for two people to pass each other on the ‘islands’ without stepping off. Place them around the space so that it is possible to get from one end to the other on these islands.

Divide your group into two teams and start each team at opposite ends of the hall. Explain that the aim of the game is for the whole team to get from one end of the hall to the other without stepping off an ‘island’ (into the ‘sea’) and without touching a member of the opposite team.

Each team takes it in turns for one player to move one step: they have to land cleanly within an island and if they overbalance, take another step to steady themselves, or put a limb outside of the island, they have to go back to the start. Equally if they touch a member of the other team in this move then they must again go back to the beginning.

Get each team to nominate a captain to make the final choice over each turn and put a time limit on each move.

Say: You may have heard the phrase ‘no man is an island’, and it’s in our time of need, our times of pain and suffering, that this statement is most true. In the island game, although we stood alone on the spaces, we needed our teammates to help us out and ultimately, to win. We’ve been looking at Job for the past few weeks, and we’re going to look today at how his friends came to support him.

THE PASSAGE

10 mins 

Read Job 2:11-13 together and ask:

• Why do you think the three friends barely recognised Job?

• Why did they wail, tear their hair and throw dust into the air?

• The passage says they sat on the ground with Job for seven days - would you be willing to do this for a friend?

• Can you think of a time in your own life when a friend came to help in an hour of need?

Say: What happens next is a series of back and forths between Job and his three friends. Job declares that he is innocent, while his friends challenge him saying that he must have sinned against God to deserve the punishment he has received. Job makes a speech, Eliphaz responds, Job replies to Eliphaz, Bildad replies to Job, Job responds to Bildad, Zophar says his piece, and then Job replies to Zophar. This cycle repeats three times, taking up much of the rest of the book of Job, as the friends attempt to reason with Job and encourage him to repentance. But still Job believes his innocence and blamelessness before God, and ultimately presents his case to God at the end of the book.

ELIPHAZ, BILDAD AND ZOPHAR

30 mins 

Divide your group into three, and give each group a very large (or long) piece of paper. Give each group one of the three characters and ask them to draw their character onto their big piece of paper, leaving space to add things around the edges. To the group with Eliphaz, give them Job chapters four, five, 15 and 22, to the group with Bildad give eight, 18 and 25 and to the group with Zophar give 11 and 20. Their task is to summarise in a few words or sentences what these friends are saying to Job each time, and write it on their sheets of paper. They could also give their character an ‘encouragement’ score – marking how encouraging they are to Job – and also a ‘challenge’ score – depending on how much they challenge Job. Give the group 20-30 minutes to do this, in order to give them time to read through the passages properly in their groups.

Once the groups have finished ask them to present their characters and their summaries to the rest of the group.

DO FRIENDS KNOW BEST?

5 mins 

Say: The overwhelming message of the three friends to Job is that it is Job’s sin that has caused his suffering; they believe that Job, or someone in Job’s family, is to blame for what has happened. Ask the group to reflect on the passages from the last two weeks, is this true? Job’s friends simply cannot believe that a truly innocent man could suffer. And yet Job seems to realise that he is innocent. Read his replies in Job 6:29-30, 9:21, 12:1-4 and 16:2-5.

WHO KNOWS BEST?

5 mins 

Job’s friends started out by encouraging Job and mourning with him, but quickly turn to challenging him and condemning him. In this instance, friends don’t always know best! As we saw two weeks ago, God commended Job as the finest man in all the earth, saying that he was blameless, a man of complete integrity. Get your young people back into groups and ask:

• Have you ever been in a situation where you have ignored the advice of close friends?

• Do friends always know best?

Say: For Job’s friends, blessing equalled righteousness and God’s favour, and suffering equalled sin, yet if this story tells us anything, it’s that Job suffers because he is innocent. This is a hard thing to stomach. Job is certain of his innocence, and proved right at the end of the story. Read Job 42:7-9 and ask: how do you think the friends felt at this point?

CLOSING PRAYER

5 mins 

Ask your young people to find a space alone in the room. Ask them to reflect quietly on what you’ve looked at today, and to present their thoughts, questions, concerns, anger and fears to God. If it’s helpful, read out the following prayer:

God, I don’t understand. I don’t understand why there is suffering, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and I will believe you. I don’t understand why you allow suffering, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and so I will praise you. I don’t understand why you give things and take them away, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and so I will trust you. I don’t understand why innocent people suffer, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and so I will not blame you. Help me to understand. Amen.