Word to the Wise
Wednesday, October 3, 2012 - Wednesday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 9:1-12, 14-16 and Luke 9:57-62]Job answwered his friends and said: I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God? Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed?
The Book of Job stands as one of the great pieces of literature in the world even if one does not accept the Bible as God's word! In fact, the question of human suffering, especially the suffering of "the innocent," remains one of the great questions of human life and is frequently the reason given by non-believers for their non-belief. They cannot accept a God that would "allow" such suffering. For the Job, the man of faith, the question is not the power of God, but his own helplessness and "innocence." In today's passage, Job is responding to his friends who have come to sit with him.
Job's friends are the voice of guilt. For them, suffering is a punishment for sin. Job must have done something to bring God's wrath upon him. Ironically, one of Job's greatest sufferings is the barrage of interpretation that his friends offer! Yet, I believe the situation of the friends is one we can learn from. How do we feel when confronted with suffering in another person, especially a loved one or friend? Our feelings can be those of anger, pity, compassion, disgust, empathy. We may find ourselves angry with God, which Job's friends do not show. They are convinced that Job is suffering through his own fault. He knows that he is "innocent" and their interpretations of his suffering are mistaken.
We can learn from this about how we can be of help to those who are suffering. I do not think we help by telling people that they "deserve what they got." The Book of Job does not give a final answer other than to acknowledge the mystery of human suffering. Perhaps we can have the humility to acknowledge that we in our own time do not have a satisfactory answer either. AMEN
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