Rector's Reflection – 21 Pentecost, Proper 25 October 25, 2009

I'm almost sad that our readings from Job have come to an end. This is one of the richest books in the bible and nothing prevents anyone from reading and re-reading it. I, however, will have to find new reflection foci!

The end of Job almost sounds like a recitation of the beginning of Job. He is fabulously wealthy. He owns thousands of animals. He is reunited with his brothers and sisters. He has seven sons and three drop-dead gorgeous daughters. It doesn't get much better than this. Such a happy ending. As Shakespeare put it: "All's Well That Ends Well."

But if all there is to Job is "Once upon a time..." and "they all lived happily ever after," then this story should be in a Grimm Brothers' anthology. Chapter One may start like that and Chapter 42 may conclude like that, but in between are forty-some chapters of pure, unadulterated misery.

Something that has always struck me about Job is the way some folks make the leap in the end to explain or justify God's behavior... not an unimportant thing, but I don't know that it gives much comfort to people who are deeply wounded or who are suffering. Moreover, such an approach may be viewed as necessary to resolve the issues of theodicy that we have been dealing with for these four Sundays, but frankly, there is no resolution in these texts. Job's restoration is a nice note on which to end, but ultimately there is no explanation of suffering that prevents me (or anyone else, I dare say) from being angry that suffering exists at all.

Oh... and there's one other thing. There are three lines that are omitted from today's reading – three lines that pose an intriguing scenario: "After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite:

"My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done." So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer."

Remember, these are the friends whose advice and assessments of Job's predicament basically hinged on their assumptions that Job had to be guilty of something to be so miserable. These lines indicate that God knew exactly what dreadful counselors they had been and their penance was to take sacrificial offerings to Job... and Job would pray for them, as affirmed in verse 10: "And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before."

Talk about adding insult to injury. Job is expected now to pray for his misguided and tormenting friends in a way that they had never done? Job's prayer does not single-handedly bring about his restoration, but his prayer does bring together the community of which he has been a part in his good days and his ash heap days. It isn't "Job in, friends out" – it's God making care a communal endeavor.

"And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before..."

Job, of course, is a book in the Old Testament. It isn't a book like Isaiah that points us toward a Messiah or indicates what kind of Messiah might be expected. But Jesus expects his followers to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" in much the same way that God expects Job to pray for his friends. Praying for those children of God who get on our last nerve... or worse... is not a new expectation, but it is a window on what the Kingdom of God looks like.

Susan+