Saturday of Week 26 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Job 42:1-3,5-6,12-17

Today we have Job’s final response to Yahweh, and the restoration of his fortunes. The reading is in two parts. In the first we have Job’s last words and they are his reply to the second speech of Yahweh (which we have not read in the liturgy).

They are a final statement of total acceptance of everything that God decides and of what happens to Job:

Job answered the Lord:
I know that you can do all things
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job now finally sees that God and his purposes are supreme and are not to be questioned by him. He says an unconditional ‘Yes’ to his Lord.

Job regrets his limitations, saying:

I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me that I did not know.
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you

He has been talking about things he did not really understand. But now he has seen with his own eyes. This is not strictly speaking an actual vision of God, but rather a graced insight into the nature of God. Previously, Job had very conventional ideas about God, mainly derived from others. But now he has had a direct experience of God’s mystery and submits totally to the Almighty. His questions have not really been answered, but he now understands that he cannot question what happens under God and that there are deeper meanings to the realities of suffering and death. He can now accept that his suffering, pain and loss are not incompatible with the wisdom and power of God.

So, in his very last words, he expresses deep regret for all the things he has said, especially his complaints against God for what he has experienced. He says:

…therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.

The second part is the final paragraph in the book, and (unlike the dialogues) is in prose form. The contest between God and Satan is over. Job has not cursed God and has come triumphantly through the most painful trials. Comments the NIV Bible:

“The cosmic contest with the accuser is now over, and Job is restored. No longer is there a reason for Job to experience suffering—unless he was sinful and deserved it, which is not the case. God does not allow us to suffer for no reason, and even though the reason may be hidden in the mystery of his divine purpose—never for us to know in this life—we must trust in him as the God who does only what is right.”

Job’s fortunes are now restored; he gains back even more than he lost. The number of animals is twice as many as he had before. His seven (perfect number) sons and three daughters replace the children he lost in the hurricane.

We do not know anything about the boys, but we are told the names of the three daughters—Jemimah, which means “dove”; Keziah (or Cassia) which means “cinnamon”; and Keren-happuch (“Mascara” in the Jerusalem Bible) which means “container of antimony”. Antimony was a much-desired form of eyeshadow. The girls were all outstanding in beauty and, contrary to normal custom, would receive the same inheritance rights as their brothers—an indication of Job’s great wealth. Normally daughters would only inherit if there were no sons.

Finally, we are told that Job, in the tradition of the true biblical patriarch, lived to be 140 years old and saw his descendants to the fourth generation.

The Greek text of the book has two additions to the end of the text (which do not appear in our reading). The first indicates that, from very early on, the book of Job was thought to contain the idea of resurrection after death:

It is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord will raise up.

The second tells us that Job lived “in the land of Ausitis on the borders of Idumaea and Arabia” and identifies Ausitis with Jobab, a king mentioned in Genesis (36:33).

The epilogue, in a way, seems to contradict the teaching of the dialogues which challenge the conventional idea that the good are rewarded and the evil punished in this life. Rather the lesson is that there is no relationship between God’s wisdom and the experiences that we have in life.

Material blessings are not a guarantee of personal virtue any more than material deprivation or sickness are punishments for sin. As St Paul will say later:

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Rom 8:28)

Paul never saw his own sufferings and hardships as a punishment from God, but rather as an opportunity and a grace to share somehow in the sufferings of Jesus his Lord.

These ideas, of course, would not come until later. The sufferings of Job are seen primarily by the biblical author as a test of Job’s virtue. Once he has passed the test, there is now every reason for his wealth to be returned to him. The idea of wealth as a concrete sign of God’s blessing has not been altogether abandoned. This notion will be radically changed when, to the astonishment of his disciples, Jesus says that:

…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. (Matt 19:25)

His Kingdom is one where the “poor in spirit” will be among the blessed.

For us, God’s blessings are seen not in our material possessions, but in internal blessings like inner consolation, joy, peace and shared fellowship.

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Saturday of Week 26 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 10:17-24

We saw at the beginning of chapter 10 how Jesus had sent his 72 disciples out to all the places where he himself would visit. Today we see them returning full of joy and satisfaction:

Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!

They discovered that, in his name, they were able to do the same things that Jesus did.

In reply, Jesus said to them:

I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.

The power of evil is being reversed and this was partly the doing of his disciples working in his name. And he further reassures them:

I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

‘Snakes and scorpions’ more likely represent evil powers and so the statement is not to be taken literally and still less to be tested (as some obscure sects have tried to do with predictably tragic consequences!). It is true that for the committed disciple nothing can really hurt them. Physically, maybe, but not their real selves. Nothing, as Paul says, can separate us from the love of God, that is, the love that God extends to us at every moment of every day.

Then Jesus tells his disciples the real reason why they should be happy. It is not because they have special powers over evil spirits, but rather:

…rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

In other words, their blessedness comes not from what they are able to do, but because they have been chosen as the instruments for God to do his work, to make the Kingdom a reality. That is the origin of our blessedness too.

Then follows a beautiful prayer of Jesus to the Father. He thanks the Father because all that is coming into the world through Jesus is being made known, not to the wise and great ones of this world, but to “the little ones”, the people who, in the eyes of the majority, are of no account:

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

And, since that day on the lake shore when Jesus called four fishermen to be his followers, he has been calling very ordinary people to know his identity, to hear his message and share his vision.

And so he can say truly to them:

Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

All of this applies to so many of us too. We, for reasons only known to God himself, have been given knowledge of the Son. We too, by means of the Church, have been given a vision denied to so many—we have heard the Word which is the Way to truth and life.

Whatever problems we may be facing right now, let us on this day count our blessings and express our gratitude for them. And the only way to do that is to say ‘Yes’ to Jesus and his gospel. Let us start doing that right now.

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