The ill and those possessed by demons, whom were brought to Simon and Andrew’s house to see Jesus certainly could relate to the saying of Job in today’s first reading, “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” They were suffering — physically, psychologically, emotionally — how could their life be anything but a drudgery? They were desperate and they had heard that Jesus was a miracle worker. Of course they wanted him to work a miracle for them.
Why were they suffering? Why were they sick, blind, deaf, lame, possessed by a demon? Why was Simon’s mother-in-law sick with a fever? Was it because of something that they had done? Were they being punished for their sins, or the sins of their parents? Was it all just because of random chance? This is the so-called “problem of evil,” why is there bad in the world? To put it a bit more formally, if God is all-good, all-loving, and all-powerful why is there evil in the world?
We only read from the Book of Job twice in the cycle of Sunday readings, which is a shame because it has a lot to say about these issues. The Book of Job is structured like a drama — in fact it has been turned into a play. In a nutshell it starts by telling the reader how prosperous Job is — he has a large flock of sheep, cattle, and camels, and a beautiful family. Job himself is a very holy man, fearing God and acting uprightly. Satan says to God that of course Job is upright, everything is going well for him, but if he experienced hardship, Satan says that Job would curse God. So God allows Job to lose his property, his children are killed, and he is afflicted with boils. Then some of Job’s friends come to grieve with him, but mostly to tell Job that he must have sinned, and if he would just acknowledge his sin, then God would forgive him and make things right for him. Job insists that he has not sinned. I’ll leave the conclusion of the Book for you to read.
The Book of Job looks at the doctrine of divine providence; that is, the way in which we understand God’s sovereignty over creation and history, and how God guides all things to a good end. For much of the ancient world, it was believed that everything was governed by chance. In fact, it seems that much of the world today has gone back to that belief, that everything is random. St. Thomas Aquinas used the Book of Job to demonstrate why such a belief is wrong. He said that “this opinion . . . is found to be especially harmful to the human race, for if divine providence is taken away, no reverence for or fear of God based on truth will remain among men.” (The Literal Exposition on Job: A Scriptural Commentary Concerning Divine Providence, #68).
As St. Thomas correctly recognizes, before we can be led to praise God and to pursue wisdom, we must first deal with the question of why there is suffering in the world. Is a God who permits such suffering just and worthy of our praise? There is also the question of how does suffering relate to sin. There is a sense in which suffering and evil is related to sin: if our First Parents did not disobey God and Fall, there would be no evil and suffering in the world. However, it is wrong to view suffering as a punishment from God for our personal sins. Such a view would run counter to God’s love for humanity.
St. Pope John Paul II wrote on this question, “To put an end to this petty and unjust way of thinking, it was necessary to reveal in its essential profundity the mystery of the suffering of the Innocent One, the Holy One, the ‘Man of Sorrows!’ Ever since Christ chose the Cross and died on Golgotha, all who suffer, especially those who suffer without fault, can come face-to-face with the ‘Holy One who suffers’ and find in his passion the complete truth about suffering, its full meaning and its importance.” (“The Meaning of Suffering in the Light of Christ’s Passion” nos. 6-7, General Audience of November 9, 1988). In other words look towards Jesus — he was totally sinless yet he chose to suffer for the redemption of the world. Suffering is not punishment for sin, rather it is an opportunity to participate in Christ’s redemption.
OK, so what can we learn from the Book of Job? First, and this is probably the most important lesson, that our first response to the classic “problem of evil” is NOT a philosophical explanation. Rather our first response should be personal empathy with the suffering person. This was the problem with Job’s friends — they first tried to explain to Job why things were going so wrong for him. They should have first empathized and loved Job.
Looking more specifically at our first reading, Job first complains about life seeming like a drudgery, almost like a form of slavery. From this we can learn that we should not settle for a job where we are working just for money. We should, through discernment, look for a job that will give our lives meaning. A well paid slave is not as happy as a poor artist doing the work they love. Any job has its bad times, we need to remember our reasons for choosing the job in the first place to recapture our motivation and purpose.
Job also complains about time. He longs during the day for sleep, but at night he longs for the day. In other words, he is restless. That really is a good thing because as St. Augustine said, “my heart is restless unless it rests in thee.” The world is NOT enough, and it is not meant to be. Our ultimate happiness is not in this time or any time, no matter how meaningful our work is. Our ultimate happiness is in eternity with God.
Job also complains about death. Job is tired of living, but he is also afraid of dying because he is not sure about the next life. What Job needs to learn, and we as well, is hope. Hope is one of the three greatest things that last as St. Paul writes; the other being faith and love. Nothing we have in this world will last forever. Everything in this universe is going to end in death — even the sun in the sky, and the entire universe.
If there is no life after death, our hearts are restless for something that simply does not exist. But how could that be? Every other need can be met, even if just for a while, like hunger for food. Well if there is a hunger for life in the human heart than there must be a way of satisfying that need, that hunger. If all ends forever when we die, then even the most glorious, happy and meaningful life is hopeless in the end. Our hero Job proclaims later in the Book, “I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; Whom I myself shall see” (Job 19:25-26). Faith and Hope — they are what got Job through the suffering in his life, and they are what will get us through our sufferings and life.
Finally there is a lesson in Job’s complaints themselves. God approves of them. Let me say this very clearly — it is not a sin to complain. In fact it can be more of a problem if we do not complain about evil — whether it is physical, emotional, or moral evil. God does not what us to passively sit back in the face of evil and say “Oh well, whatever will be will be.” God does not want us to be doormats or disarms. We just need to be honest about our complaints, and then patient and open to God’s response.
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