(Optional Memorial for Saint Lawrence Ruiz, Martyr, and his Companions, Martyrs)
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“The Trials of Job”
by Leonaert Bramer, 1630s |
Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading I: Job 9:1-12, 14-16
Job answered his friends and said:
I know well that it is so;
but how can a man be justified before God?
Should one wish to contend with him,
he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has withstood him and remained unscathed?
He removes the mountains before they know it;
he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place,
and the pillars beneath it tremble.
He commands the sun, and it rises not;
he seals up the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads upon the crests of the sea.
He made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
He does great things past finding out,
marvelous things beyond reckoning.
Should he come near me, I see him not;
should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay?
Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.
If I appealed to him and he answered my call,
I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.
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Commentary on Jb 9:1-12, 14-16
This reading picks up Job’s second response to his friends (although they are for the most part ignored in his response). He focuses his response not on Bildad (Job 8), but on a comment by Eliphaz, on the justice of man before God: "Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against their Maker?” (Job 4:17)
Job reflects upon God’s omnipotence and omnipresence; the Lord is almighty and everywhere. God created all things and has power over them. Mankind has no options but to endure God’s judgment, even if that judgment seems unjust (“Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me”). “God’s justice is really his power; he can do what he chooses; none can withstand him; and if he declares a man to be guilty, then it is so. No appeal can be made, and no other standard of justice can be invoked. Yet if the man’s conscience is clear, what he suffers is not felt as justice but as divine anger; thus it is with Job.” [4] He concludes in humility that even in his situation he would be surprised if God noticed his plea.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15
R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Daily I call upon you, O Lord;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work wonders for the dead?
Will the shades arise to give you thanks?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Do they declare your mercy in the grave,
your faithfulness among those who have perished?
Are your wonders made known in the darkness,
or your justice in the land of oblivion?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
with my morning prayer I wait upon you.
Why, O Lord, do you reject me;
why hide from me your face?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15
Reminiscent of Job, Psalm 88 is an individual lament. The psalmist cries out at having been afflicted and deserted by his friends. The song implores the Lord to hear the living (feeling the hand of death the singer urgently prays) asking why God has seemingly rejected him.
CCC: Ps 88:11-13 633
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Gospel: Luke 9:57-62
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey to Jerusalem,
someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God."
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Commentary on Lk 9:57-62
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel gives us three sayings of Jesus about the requirement to place the values of Christian discipleship above all other requirements of life. Proclaiming the Kingdom of God must come before even family obligations.
In the first, “Foxes have dens,” Jesus does not deceive anyone – he lives in poverty, dedicated to his mission.
The second, “Let the dead bury their dead,” is a play on words: let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. Jesus' message is the message of life. This saying was never intended to be taken literally as filial piety is deeply ingrained in Jewish life.
In the third saying; “No one who…looks to what was left behind,” Jesus demands more than Elisha (see 1 Kings 19:19-21). “Plowing for the Kingdom demands sacrifice.” [5]
CCC: Lk 9:58 544
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Reflection:
The sheer weight of the day demands that we think about our obedience to God’s will, and to the mission in which we have been called to participate. It starts with Job, whose remarkable faith allows him to have a relationship with God that is at once submissive, and at the same time familiar. He speaks, in the ninth chapter of God’s power over all things, and how mankind is powerless to stand against the will of God. Job’s only answer is to depend upon God’s mercy and accept God’s answer to his prayer. (We later see the familiarity as Job begs God to just leave him alone.)
In front of the backdrop of God’s majesty, his Only Begotten Son comes, apparently trying to dissuade potential followers from accepting the call to follow him. The Lord makes it very clear that what he asks is difficult. He himself has no place to call home (recall he has already been rejected by the members of his hometown, and just recently by the Samaritans). To others he says that the proclamation of the Kingdom of God must be their life’s priority, above family and friends.
From a spiritual perspective, this same prioritization comes to us. If we are to be obedient, following Christ as his faithful, our efforts must always proclaim that message. Quoting St. Francis of Assisi, we are to “proclaim the Gospel always, and use words when we must.”
Pax
[1] The picture is “The Trials of Job” by Leonaert Bramer, 1630s.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 31:39, p. 518.
[5] Ibid, 44:97, p. 143.
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