12th Sunday Ordinay Time
Fr. Peter Robinson
Preached: June 23, 2024
Many years ago a war raged between the English and a local ruler in a region that the British Empire had colonized. During the course of that war, several English officers were taken prisoners, among them a young man named Baird. One day while in prison, the local ruler commanded that fetters (ie, iron chains) be put on each of the prisoners — including the wounded. The young man, Baird, had been severely wounded, and was suffering from pain and weakness.
A grey-haired officer, one of the British prisoners, said to the prison guard, “You’re not putting chains on that wounded young man, are you?” The prison guard replied, “I have my orders: there are as many pairs of chains as there are captives, and every pair must be worn.”
“If you do that,” replied the older British officer, “it will kill that young man. So, put two pairs of chains on me; I will wear his as well as my own.” The young man, Baird, lived to regain his freedom — but that generous, older officer died in prison.
Sadly, we are ALL familiar with suffering — we cannot know life without some measure of trials and pain. Sometimes (to be honest), we suffer due to our own fault. Sometimes we suffer due to someone else’s fault. But sometimes we suffer for no apparent reason at all.
In today’s Old Testament Reading, we meet Job. He is presented as a righteous man, who experiences great suffering yet holds fast to his belief in his right standing. He had done no evil, no deliberate wrong. Yet, when suffering comes, even his friends insist that hidden sin is the reason for Job’s suffering.
How, then, do we face unexplained suffering, which can hit like a tsunami; even when we know that we did NOT do some act of evil; and even when our friends themselves blame us in some way? This is where we see the timeless wisdom of the Book of Job. It exposes the anguish of the suffering of innocent people. It exposes the incomprehension and frustration of all those who suffer undeservedly. Think for a moment: How many times has a parent cried out, “Why should my child die young?” Or how many times has a patient asked, “Why should I be subjected to long and humiliating illness?”
The character, Job, understands: he reaches a point in his suffering when he is so wound up that he curses the very day he was born. This makes the Book of Job so relevant to every generation: Job finds himself in a love-hate relationship with God. Throughout his suffering, he wants to be free of (what seems to be) God’s persecuting hand. Yet at the same time he depends on, and he is attached to, that same protecting hand. He doggedly remains confident that there is a solution — even though he may feel at times that God is bullying him. He remains convinced that God’s love will never forsake him.
So, we have these two conflicting emotions, seething together throughout the Book of Job: what seems to be God’s persecuting hand, and what seems to God’s protecting hand.
That is, until at the very end of the Book, Job has a vision of God. Here is where it gets fascinating: because God never explains to Job why he, as God, allowed Job’s suffering. Rather, he gives Job a vision of God’s incomparable wisdom. He gives Job a glimpse of God’s power over ALL of creation. By doing so, God convinces Job that his purposes are beyond human reasoning; and that Job has to trust God, has to take him at his word.
We close with this lesson for life: when God finally responds to Job’s cries, God emphasizes his total sovereignty, and Job chooses to acknowledge God’s sovereignty. This provides you and me with a template when we face suffering, doesn’t it? God IS fully in control of your circumstances, and he IS inviting you to acknowledge his loving, fatherly hand. This understanding brought calm to Job, it brought him comfort; just as it can calm and comfort you and me, too.
By the way, in due time God restored Job’s fortunes, but only after showing Job some of the glory of his divine person. As well, God restores Job’s fortunes only after showing Job more of Job’s own heart. When the time was right (from God’s point of view), he restored Job’s fortunes.
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* Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1181.
