Word to the Wise
Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - Wednesday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 9:1-12, 14-16 and Luke 9:57-62]"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 in a thousand times. God is wise and heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed....How much less shall I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him! Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me. If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words." [Job]
SEPTEMBER 28 ST. LAWRENCE RUIZ OP AND COMPANIONS, martyrs in Japan - 17th cent.
Job's words today are in reply to one of his "friends" who have come to sit with him in his suffering. Their efforts to find him in the wrong before God may be one of his greatest pains! In today's passage, Job replies to the advice that he should argue with God and beg for restoration. He believes that God is too powerful for a mere mortal like himself to appear and ask for mercy. He considers himself too insignificant to ask.
I have heard Job's reply in my pastoral experience when someone says to me, "What's the use? God has better things to do than listen to me!" It is a way of saying that even if God does exist, God is beyond my reach.
The dialog with Job's friends will continue and we will hear other "explanations" for his situation and his replies to them. The whole human situation before God in suffering is laid out. More to come! AMEN