Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 3, 2024 - Thursday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 19:21-27 and Luke 10:1-12]But as for me, I know that my vindicator lives, and they will at last stand forth upon the dust; whom I 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]
These words are perhaps the most quoted from the Book of Job. They are Immortalized in the King James translation as "I know my redeemer liveth." The fundamental element is Job's conviction that he has done nothing to deserve punishment, as his friends think. He is being tested and this strains his relationship with God but does not rupture it. He expresses hope and confidence in being "vindicated." The early Christian community saw a foretelling of Christ in this passage.
It is this hope of "vindication" that finds its roots in our faith in resurrection as given to us by Christ. In one well-known prayer, the "Hail Holy Queen..." we speak of "this vale of tears." Life does not have to be that way, but sometimes it is. As God's response to Job will show tomorrow (Oct. 4), all things created have hope but the material part of human creation is subject to any number of tests simply because it is material and not meant to be immortal. Job's confidence in the midst of his suffering is perhaps the central part of this great scripture. AMEN