Perhaps the Lector at Mass today should advise parents to put their hands over the ears of their children before reading the passage from Job. It certainly is a grim reading, (“… I have been assigned months of misery… I shall not see happiness again.”) When we adults hear the reading will we respond at the end of it as we usually do, “Thanks be to God”? Does that seem strange to us in the light of the grim news we have just heard?
When tragedy afflicts a person sometimes their response is, “What did I do that God is punishing me so?” It’s a normal response and it ties in with an ancient reaction people have made in one way or another. Our religious predecessors might have said, “The gods are punishing us.” Then they would have lighted a fire and made a human sacrifice to get the gods off their backs.
People who offer pious platitudes certainly are of no help at all in the face of overwhelming grief. “Every cloud has a silver lining.” “God never gives us more than we can bear.” Please!
The Bible presents us with the tragic figure of Job today. He was prosperous and had a large family. He lost just about everything: children, servants and possessions. To make things worse he developed a loathsome disease and wound up sitting on a dung heap. Sorrow has weighed down his soul. Who can say they have it worse than Job? The wisdom of the day would comment that he must have done something very bad to warrant such punishment. But he didn’t do anything terrible at all; he is the model of an innocent person who suffers.
His friends show up (“Job’s Comforters”) to console him. They insist he must have sinned and invite him to repent. But Job protests his innocence. He curses the day he was born and longs for death. Even Job’s wife, who won’t accept his protestations of innocence, urges him to “Curse God and die!” Which is a logical reply, for without hope in dire circumstances we might prefer death.
Job surmises that looking for a rational reason for suffering gets us nowhere. Nor will he take his wife’s suggestion because, despite his loss and grief, he will not let go of God. He then turns to God to voice his complaint. God doesn’t respond to solve the suffering he is undergoing, but gives a majestic speech about human limitation and God’s sovereignty (“the Lord’s Speech,” chapters 38-41 is an eloquent poem on God’s majesty).
Like Job we want answers to life’s important questions, especially why the innocent suffer. But no answer is given. After Job’s bitter argument and complaint to God, he surrenders to the mysterious and majestic God with whom he has been doing battle. Their relationship grows deeper and stronger. But the Book of Job does not end with a definitive answer to the questions it raises about suffering. Along with Job we are left with mystery and are called to trust.
We turn to the Gospel and find no easy answer to the questions Job and we raise. The “answer” we have received is Jesus himself. In Jesus God’s addresses our questions and our needs. He quickly begins to show us God’s response to us in his ministry, by first healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and those “who were ill or possessed by demons.”
There were other wonder workers in Jesus’ time and so, in the people’s eyes, these healings did not make him unique. When he goes off to pray Simon and his companions “pursued him.” The original language suggests hunters tracking down their prey. These first disciples must have seen Jesus as a wonder worker — a cure-all remedy for human needs. They probably thought they had latched onto a good thing, a bright future for themselves with Jesus. They go looking for Jesus because there were more miracles to be performed in the place where they were. But Jesus tells them they must go on to other villages. They must leave behind the excitement Jesus has aroused by his cures and the light of popularity they shared with him. He has more work to do and they still have much to learn.
Throughout Mark’s gospel Jesus is constantly misunderstood, especially by his own disciples. While he is a healer and can cast out evil spirits, the question for them and us is, “What do his spectacular deeds tell us about who he is? What do they tell us about God, especially in the face of our suffering and need?” Jesus’ disciples only saw a wonder-worker. As we travel with him through Mark’s gospel, listen to Jesus’ teaching and observe his mighty deeds, will we come to accept the God of salvation Jesus is revealing to us? Will we hold on and hope in this God, even in the midst of life’s shadows?
All the evidence won’t be in until after Jesus’ death and resurrection. If he just worked miraculous deeds and died we would list him among the world’s great healers. But if he performed great deeds, died and rose from the dead, then he is one with God and through him we can enter into the mystery his life has revealed.
In Jesus and through his miracles we discover that God’s reign has broken into our lives. We discover in Jesus that, though we don’t have answers to the sufferings we and our world undergo, nevertheless they aren’t punishments God has inflicted on us for some misdeeds we have committed. Jesus reveals God’s concern and healing presence to us. It gives us hope that, while we don’t have answers, we have assurance that evil will not ultimately triumph and that through Jesus God is on our side.
Jesus himself suffered greatly, but like Job, he did not give up but maintained hope in God as he faced the forces of evil. Because of Jesus we too are anchored in hope and look forward to the resurrection to eternal life. Unlike Job’s comforters Jesus has revealed the true nature of God to us. Ours is a loving God who, even in our suffering and dejections, won’t let go of us.