Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 2, 2014 - Thursday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 19:21-27 and Matthew 18:15, 10]But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him, and from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing. [Job]
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014 HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS
Many of us in reading this passage today might be startled to see the word "Vindicator." Such is the fate of sublime language in the hands of translators! I prefer the wonderful word, "redeemer," and would listen to Handel's rendition of these words in THE MESSIAH over and over again: "I know my Redeemer liveth...." Indeed, these words are Job's ultimate expression of faith in the face of all his suffering.
It is one of the great challenges to faith to witness or experience personally terrible suffering. We continually ask how God can "permit" this. In the Book of Job there is no answer to the question, only the incredible faith of Job. He does "shake his fist" but he does not lose faith. God's reply to all of Job's reflections and those of his friends will come out of the whirlwind tomorrow. For the moment, we can hear his plea to his friends: "Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me! Why do you hound me as though you were divine, and insatiably prey upon me!"
I beg you all to read this whole passage today [indeed the whole book!] because it is one of the great moments in the Bible. How would we keep faith like Job? AMEN