The Book of Job
Then the LORD* answered Job out of the storm and said: Who is this who darkens counsel with words of ignorance? . . I will question you, and you tell me the answers! Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its size? Surely you know? Who stretched out the measuring line for it? Into what were its pedestals sunk, and who laid its cornerstone, while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God* shouted for joy? Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from it? Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have spoken but did not understand; things too marvelous for me, which I did not know. (Job 38:1-7,12-13, 42:1, 3) (Bible.usccb.org) This excerpt from the Book of Job is familiar to all of us. Job has lost everything and everyone. His body is wracked with sudden disease and pain. He is a good man. Why is this evil visited upon him? He demands answers from God. We have all been in Job’s shoes to some extent at some point in our lives. We understand Job and can empathize with his sorrow, anger, and despondency. Miraculously, God enters into a conversation with Job. The conversation does not go as Job planned. Instead of answering the question Job asks, God shows him the depth and breadth of creation – oceans, jungles, stars, galaxies. Job is overwhelmed. With humility he realizes with Whom he is speaking and how little he has appreciated everything God created simply so that man could exist. He reconciles with God, not because God answers his question, but because God answered the question buried deep in the recesses of Job’s heart that he was afraid to ask: Have you abandoned me? Do you still love me? When God entered into a conversation with Job, He was telling him that he did indeed matter. He had not been abandoned. When God showed him the entire universe in a glimpse, Job finally realized that everything was created for his benefit; everything was created to support life on this little blue-green planet, because as tiny and insignificant as we seem in comparison to the universe, we matter. We are loved. Even if God had answered Job’s original question, Job would not have understood the answer. The Incarnation had not happened yet and Job could not have comprehended the answer. We can see Job as one of us, but he is also a type of prefiguring of Christ. Job is a good and faithful man who loves God with all his heart. Jesus is perfection and loves God perfectly and completely. As Job’s fortunes go from bad to worse, he does not curse God but instead continues to bless…
