Word to the Wise
Friday, October 4, 2024 - Friday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 and Luke 10:13-16]Then Job answered the Lord and said: Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more. [Job]
OCTOBER 4 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
[Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 and Luke 10:13-16 These scriptures will vary at Dominican locations because St. Francis is revered among us and this day is celebrated as a "feast" and not just as a "memorial."]
The selection of portions from the Book of Job in this week's first scriptures for Mass does not do justice to the depth and beauty of the work. In addition to his losses in family, property and health, his friends come and make a well-intentioned but frustrating effort to find an explanation for his suffering. Since suffering was considered a punishment for sin by Jews then, they try to figure out what Job must have done to deserve the calamities that had befallen him. This may have been one of his greatest sufferings. Today's passage is a part of God's reply and Job's final words.
God's reply leaves us puzzled because it simply says that Job's suffering only makes sense as a test of Job. God took away and now God will give back. And that is what God did. Job is restored to his former happy way of life and with even greater wealth in family, property and health. The only "explanation" for human suffering is that all created things are finite and will suffer. One interpretation is that suffering is the inheritance of original sin in the Garden of Eden. But Job was tested, not punished. If so, why does suffering continue after the death and resurrection of Jesus? Perhaps in things created and material there is a "planned obsolescence" - subject to all forms of suffering - so that we are urged to look forward to a further life beyond death. This seems to make more sense to me. It is easy to point to mistakes that lead to suffering, but not so easy to point when there is nothing to point to!!! In the end, Job does experience a kind of "resurrection" when God restores his family, wealth and health. We are destined for a "happy ending" if we accept resurrection and live in expectation of it. AMEN