Word to the Wise
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 - Wednesday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 9:1-12, 14-16 and Luke 9:57-62]"Should he come near me, I see him not; should he pass by, I am not aware of him. Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?' [Job]
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 STS. DOMINIC IBANEZ, JAMES TOMONAGA, AND LAWRENCE RUIZ AND COMPANIONS, Dominican Martyrs in Japan
It is not easy to do justice to a work like the Book of Job from scattered excerpts. Nevertheless, the lectionary does present us with a few tastes, like samples in a restaurant. Today we are given a portion of one of Job's responses to one of his friends' speeches.
The prevailing belief at the time this book was written is that suffering is punishment for wrongdoing. Job's friends try to convince him that he or his children MUST have done SOMETHING wrong, otherwise he would not be suffering so terribly. All he has to do is ask God for forgiveness. But Job is convinced of his righteousness and that of his family. If he does what his friends are asking he is basically telling a lie. He is innocent and will not plead guilty to receive a lesser sentence. In today's passage he does not even believe that he will get a hearing because he has no standing as a mere human trying to call God to account!
Job's friends become one of his sufferings! After every major disaster in this country - Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 attacks, etc. - there is a preacher somewhere who will declare that the disaster was punishment from God for the sins of the people in that location. This is a monstrous misuse of scripture and the pulpit. No wonder there are "New Atheists" around who attack faith when we hear such preaching. We have only to look at a crucifix to know that suffering spares no one no matter what they did or didn't do. God is WITH us, not AGAINST us. Job's friends mean well but they become an additional source of suffering. We can at least learn from their example and not try to convince someone that they are being punished by God when they are in the midst of pain. AMEN
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