In our reading today, there was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. We are beginning a journey in Job that will travel past the iconic cliché of a sufferer who endures without complaint. Yet, focusing on just the “patience of Job” may limit our understanding and thwart our reflection of a more complex figure. The book begins with just such a portrayal of Job as the pious, who patiently endures calamity. Remembering the type of wisdom literature provided us by God may help us recognize that Job provides us with contrasting characteristics when he rebels, confronts the piety of his friends, and boldly accuses God of injustice. Traditional interpreters have often been embarrassed by Job’s unrestrained blasphemies. In modern interpretations, our culture focuses on the dreadfulness of the suffering and adds fodder to a mindset that wants to blame God for allowing these atrocities — which is often just a projection of blame because of our own struggle with suffering. Yet an attempt to proclaim Job as the patron saint of religious rebellion creates further humiliation when God questions Job at the end of the book and Job recants his blame against God.
Job is a complex book and does not provide simplistic answers. Our job (no pun intended) is to explore the issues of the motivation for piety, the meaning of suffering, the nature of God, the place of justice in the world, and the relationship of order and chaos in God’s design of creation. Are you up for the challenge? As we begin, please read with reflection, take your time, spend a lot of time in prayer, and remember God is not giving us some easy explanation of suffering but something really to think about.
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