Vindication

Pentecost 22, November 9, 2025

Job 19:23-27a
Psalm 17:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

One commentary on our psalm for today calls it rugged and that several verses can lead to different translations. This is because the psalmist gets caught up in the emotions that he is expressing in the psalm. What seems to be his issue is that he is being accused of acts that he did not do and is asking God to vindicate* him from the accusation. Later on, in the part of the psalm we did not read, he calls for God to punish those who falsely accuse him. Our psalmist is not the only person who calls for vindication in our lessons for today. If you remember Job underwent many calamitous things from the loss of property to the death of his family. Most of the book of Job is taken up by the conversations that he had with his three friends who come to him three times each to convince Job that he must have done something wrong in order to lose all that he had and then to confess that sin to God. Job continually claims that he has done nothing wrong. Here, in our text he proclaims that his innocence will be known because he knows that his vindicator** lives and he will be among those who see God in the end.

I do not think that Job had any idea of how this all would end. While he continued his claim of not doing anything to cause his calamitous life, God does not answer him as he hoped. Out of a whirlwind God addresses Job to ask what right he has in determining the way of the world. This is the point of Job. That the way the world works may not be how we desire it and it is not ours to ask why but to rely upon God to guide and help us through it. That is a difficult lesson to learn. We have our own desires, wants, and needs and we want God to provide them to us. We only do so forgetting that what we have is God’s gift. More importantly we so often forget the great gift that God has given us in Jesus. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we have our vindicator, our redeemer, and having that we have all we need.

The question that must be asked of us is, “What are you doing with the gift of redemption?” While the psalmist and Job have a point – calling for vindication, we already have ours. We no longer need to have God proclaim that we are God’s own. We proclaim that ourselves by sharing what God has given us. As we say in our offertory prayer, we give of ourselves, our time, and our possessions. We give it so that the whole world will experience God’s love. It is not an easy task but one that is truly needed in our world today where, it seems, we are more into hate and violence as a way of life. While you cannot change that in a day or even in the time left to you in this life, you can change a small bit of it. I challenge you this week to find places where you can share God’s love. It might be a smile or an encouraging word it might be a gift of money to a much-needed charity. It is not hard to find a place where God’s love is needed. The hard part is to share that love. Take that extra step this week. It may be hard the first time but each time you share it will become easier. 

 *The root of the Hebrew word that is translated ‘vindicate’ means ‘justice.’ 

**The root of the Hebrew word that is translated ‘vindicator’ means ‘redeem.’