Embracing suffering in the fight between jealousy and
justice
Job 1:6-22
The LORD
said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on
earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?” But
Satan answered the LORD and said, “Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing?
You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the
land. But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he
will blaspheme you to your face.” Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off
his hair. He cast himself prostrate upon the ground, and said, “Naked I came
forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and
the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!” In all this Job did not
sin, nor did he say anything disrespectful of God.
I love going
to the movies, and I especially love watching the movies about action
superheroes. Did you see the most recent one called, “Captain America: Civil
War”? It’s where half the superheroes fight against the other half, and the two
sides are led by Captain America and Ironman. And these two superheroes
couldn’t be more different. Ironman is raw and rude and sometimes ruthless,
while Captain America is innocent and impeccable and virtually invincible.
The clash
between these two titans can be captured in two of their signature lines in the
movie. One day as they are talking, Ironman says sarcastically to Captain
America: “Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth.” That line
uncovers Ironman’s underlying jealousy and envy of Captain America. On another
occasion Ironman is pounding mercilessly on Captain America’s perfect teeth and
the Captain smiles and says, “I could do this all day.” In other words, the
Captain doesn’t mind suffering for the sake of goodness and right. You see, one
is driven by jealousy while the other by justice.
In the first
reading today we hear the opening lines of one of the most cryptic and
confusing books of the whole Bible, namely, Job. But if you boiled down the
message of Job, the bone at the bottom of the cauldron would be a battle
between Satan and Job, much like the “civil war” between Ironman and Captain
America. For instance, Satan says to God, “You have blessed the work of Job’s
hands, and his livestock are spreading all over the land. But now put forth
your hand and touch anything that he has and surely he will blaspheme you to
your face.” That is, Satan is filled with jealousy of Job, and feels like
punching him in his perfect teeth. And how does Job respond when Satan does
assault him relentlessly? He says: “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb,
and naked I shall go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord.” In other words, he says like Captain America,
“I could do this all day.” He remains
innocent and doesn’t curse God. You see, the book of Job is kind of a battle of
superheroes: one moved by jealousy, the other by justice.
My friends,
let me invite you to see your struggles and sufferings and sacrifices in this
light, that is, as spiritual warfare, pitting jealousy on one side and justice
on the other. In my line of work, I see the innocent suffering all the time.
Yesterday, I visited a family in the hospital whose 5 year-old daughter had
leukemia. A few days ago, I counseled a wife who was devastated when her
husband filed for divorce. I watch Dc. Greg regularly receive people in
financial and emotional distress. Sometimes Satan wants to punch us in our
perfect teeth. And what should be our response? Instead of cursing God, or
robbing a bank, or blaming others, we should say like Job and Captain America,
“I can do this all day.” “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And remain innocent. Every Christian is caught in the crossfire
between jealousy and justice.
By the way,
this is why I love going to the movies, especially those of action superheroes.
Why? Because, the life of a Christian
disciple is not much different from theirs.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment