THE PROBLEM OF JOB:

TO BE CONTINUED

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily or thoughts for this 26^th  is, “The Problem of Job: To Be Continued.”

The first reading for today and this week - all 6 days - Monday till Saturday is from the Book of Job.

We have a reading from Job on two Sundays, the 5^th and 12^th Sundays - in Ordinary Time, Year B - and we can have Job in two other readings - one from the Mass for those Suffering Famine or Hunger - which we rarely hear and one from funeral Masses - a reading that is often picked - Job 19: 23 to 27a - and you might be familiar with that from a family funeral. That’s the text that has the message

“I know my Vindicator or Redeemer or Avenger lives

and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;

Whom I myself 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.”

That’s it. That’s all we hear from Job in the readings here at Mass - and the 6 readings from this week are every other year - and some of those 6 are bumped because of feast days - like this week.

So a  bottom line message would be to read sometime in our lifetime the Book of Job.

SUFFERING: TO BE CONTINUED

As you know the Book of Job presents the problem of suffering - a problem that is part of every life - more or less.

The title of my homily is: “The Problem of Job: To Be Continued.”

I gave it that title because sometimes we grasp answers to the problem of suffering and sometimes we don’t.

Suffering - knocks on our door - and we don’t want to answer that door.

The Book of Job has speeches, debates, comments, and questions: They are all about how we humans deal with death and suffering.

Like Job - each of us has to open our own door - and face those messengers and messages that are the Bad News. If Gospel comes from the old English word, “Godspell” - “Good News” -  Job deals with “Badspells” - “Bad News”.

Down through the centuries folks have sat with Job and talked to God about “Badspells” in life.

The Book of Job invites us - tells us - it’s okay to scream at God - yell at God, “How come” God?   Some of the Psalms as well as the movie and play, “Fiddler on the Room” tell us the same thing.

We might not get answers, but we get permission to yell - scream - and say, “God I got doubts about you!” or "Why do I have these torments!" or what have you?

The Book of Job also gives us lines - prayers - screams to make - like, “I know that my Vindicator lives” [Job 19:25] “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” [Job 13:15].

The Book of Job tells of one person’s sufferings - but then it’s put on stage - and developed - so it can deal with everyone’s sufferings. Scholars voice different opinions where the Book of Job comes from. I like the opinion that it was an ancient document from well before 1000 years before Christ - from another mid-East culture - that Israelite writers took and developed it - to help folks deal with the bad things that happen to people good and bad.

CONCLUSION

Put reading the Book of Job or reading it again on your bucket list because “suffering: to be continued.”

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Notes: Picture on top - Job and His Daughters [1800] by William Blake [1757-1827]; picture in the middle, Job's Tormentors [1793] - also by William Blake.