"In Spite Of Everything", Judith 8

 

Rev. George Miller

August 8, 2021

Judith 8: 4-5, 7-12, 15-17

 

“In spite of everything.”

 

“In spite of everything let us give thanks to the Lord our God.”

With those words, the hero of our story emerges as a force to be reckoned with-

 

A smart, sly, unapologetic, resourceful, sensual, prayerful woman of faith.

 

This Judith.  This hero, a savior of her people at a time when it was assumed all she could do was hope for rain.

 

Today we step further into a journey through the Apocryphal book of Judith.

 

This is a book not found in the Protestant Bible, which is a shame because it is filled with so much truth.

 

Though this is a work of religious fiction with little basis in historical fact, it is still a story rich with lessons to be learned and questions to be pondered.

 

Though this is a book that’s been “left out”, it is a book that features an extravagant sense of prayer, recounts what it means to be among the faithful, and asks an important question-

 

“Who is Lord?”  God or the King?

 

“Who is Lord?”  God or your enemy?

 

“Who is Lord?” God or some idol you fashioned with your hand?

 

Who Is the Lord?  For Judith, the Lord is God, who in spite of everything, has been there through it all.

 

So, let’s recap. 

 

The big, bad enemy king is upset that no nations will stroke his ego, so he sets out destroying each and every one.

 

The big, bad king has his horrid henchman, Holofernes go out with 132,000 soldiers, destroying every community he sees.

 

The people of Judea hear about this.  They refuse to become victims and to worship anyone else but God.

 

They take action.  They pray. They sob.  They wear sackcloth and lay before the Temple. 

 

They close up the mountain pass, set up barricades, fortify the city.

 

When General Holofernes and his army gets close, the Israelites respond to show they mean business.

 

So the General comes up with a plan.  He knew their source of fresh water lay outside the walls of the nation, so he takes control over their water supply. 

 

He knows that if he and his army just wait it out, eventually the Israelites will run out of water, they’ll run out of energy, they’ll be too weak to fight.

 

So Holofernes waits and he waits. 

 

The Israelites have enough water reserved for 34 days.  34 days come and go, and all the water is gone.  The children are listless; their parents faint in the street.

 

The people, dying of thirst come to their King and say “Let God be the judge, but you have failed us as a leader.  Let us proclaim defeat to the enemy and let them ransack this whole town.”

 

“We would rather be their slaves than to die.”

 

To which their King says “Have courage. Let us take 5 more days to see what happens.  God will not forsake us.”

 

But the King and the military leaders have no idea what to do, and no plan…

 

…And that’s when we finally, finally meet the hero of our story, Judith.

 

And what a way she is introduced. 

 

When we first meet Judith, she is a beautiful woman of a certain age who is up on the roof of her home, inside a tent she has set up for herself.

 

Judith is the queen of her own dominion.  A wealthy widow, she has silver and gold, slaves and servants, livestock, and field.

 

But unlike the big bad king, she does not need to boast about it.

 

Judith is beautiful, stunning to behold. 

 

She is a widow.  It’s been 40 months since her husband unexpectantly died.

 

Instead of becoming a penniless widow dependent on the kindness of other; instead of marrying her husband’s next to kin as widows often did, Judith took to a life of prayer and solitude.

 

Like a monk, Judith prayed, fasted, observed the religious holidays and changing of the seasons.

 

She had a maid she was very close to her, a woman who would be by her side throughout.

 

Well, Judith gets word about how none of the leaders are doing anything about the water shortage, so sends her maid straight to the King and summons them to her abode.

 

The men come to her, and Judith, beautiful, rich, mature, says to them-

 

“Listen here!  What you said makes no kind of sense.  Who are you to speak on behalf of God?  Who are you to force God onto your timeline?”

 

“God is not a human to be threatened.  Remember- that when we stayed true to God, God stayed true to us.  Our problems arose when we thought we could create God with our own hands.”

 

Judith tells the king and elders “it is times like these when people look upon us a role model on how to act.”

 

“Remember Abraham?” she asks.  “Remember Jacob?  Remember all that God has done for our ancestors.”

 

34 days into a drought, with no rain in sight, surrounded by 132,000 military, with 5 days left to go before death by thirst, or death by war,

 

Judith, whose husband died just 40 months before, has the tenacity to say-

 

“In spite of everything let us give thanks to the Lord our God…”

 

…and what does the King say?

 

“That’s a nice speech.  But the people have given us an ultimatum.  Now, be a good lady and hurry home to pray for rain.”

 

Question- and this is just between us and all those watching from home,

 

How many smart, intelligent, BEAUTIFUL women here today have ever been told “That’s nice, now go back to being quiet.”?

 

What the king probably doesn’t realize is that Judith is at that age where she doesn’t give two figs, and she’ll wear purple is she wants to.

 

“Listen to me,” she says.  “I’m about to do something about this.  You can stay behind these walls, but my maid and I are going to do what you’re unwiiling to.”

 

Judith says “Wait and see how the Lord will deliver us.”

 

And there, our reading for today ends.

 

“In spite of it all…”

 

What a timely line. 

 

“In spite of it all.”

 

Here Judith is like the woman in Song Of Solomon 8, reminding us that even though there are

flames and floods,

death and wilderness,

there is something else.

 

2 weeks ago we talked about the importance of dependence.  We talked of a woman emerging from the wilderness leaning on her beloved.

 

It’s as if right now Judith is showing us exactly what that leaning looks like.

 

Judith is not naïve.  She knows the sting of death.

 

Judith is not powerless.  She runs an entire estate.

 

Nor is Judith alone.  She has her maid, she has her God, and she has the memories of her ancestors.

 

Judith is role modeling a way to respond to adversity as a person of faith.

 

She is a woman who prays but she is also a woman who acts.

 

She is a woman who listens, but she is also a woman who speaks.

 

She is a woman who stands in the moment, but it also rooted in all those who came before.

 

Judith recalls Abraham.  She recalls Jacob.  She recalls how it was when people did not worship other gods. 

 

She even recalls what it was like when they were in exile, so far from home and unable to worship together in the sanctuary.

 

Even with that knowledge, Judith says “In spite of everything let us give thanks to the Lord.”

 

Friends, this is such a powerful statement; it is such a wonderful word.

 

Because, what Judith does for us today, is to set the tone for the rest of the month, perhaps even the year.

 

That no matter what goes on, no matter what happens, we know that we can call upon God, and we know that God is right there.

 

Even when things seem unsure.  Even when things are at the scariest.

 

Even when our faith is dry, God is able to rain down upon us the water of life.

 

For that, we can say “Amen.”