The Book of Job begins with an account of Satan roaming the earth and God asks him if he had considered God’s servant, Job.Satan replies that the only reason why Job is so faithful is because of all that God has given him. However, if all of this is taken away, Satan is convinced that Job would turn away from God instantly.God and Satan enter into a bet and Satan is given permission to do whatever he wants to Job as long as he does not kill him.By the end of the first chapter, Job’s livestock and children have all been killed.
This morning’s reading is taken from chapter seven. By this point in the story Job is now covered with loathsome sores all over his body. His wife has offered him less than helpful advice. She suggests that he simply curse God and die so that his suffering might come to an end. His friends also suggest to him that he must have done something to deserve what he is experiencing. Job has been sitting on a mount of ashes for seven days and he reflects upon his situation by stating that everything looks hopeless and he shall not see happiness again. Job also cries out to God for answers.
In 1886, Leo Tolstoy wrote one of his most famous stories, The Death of Ivan Illyich which tells the story about a Russian judge who believes that he was entitled to all of the benefits that he had received because he did everything that he was supposed to do. The main character is a rather cold, self-absorbed man who treats those around him very poorly.
At one point he falls off a step stool in his home, his back his the doorknob, and detaches one of his kidneys. Throughout the rest of the story, Ivan is in constant pain and goes from one doctor to another looking for some relief.He receives no compassion from his fellow judges or his wife. Over time his pain increases and he is told that his condition is terminal.
Ivan cannot understand what he did to deserve this and slowly begins to withdraw from everyone around him. He did everything that he was supposed to do. He has a good job, a nice home, an attractive wife; however, in spite of all of this, he is still in agony and has no hope of recovery. The fact that he receives no support or assistance from his wife only adds to Ivan’s pain.
It is not God’s answers, but God’s presence which sustains Job.Unlike his friends, Job is not concerned with discovering why he suffers. His only concern is feeling God’s mysterious presence before him in his journey. Job yearns to see God. This yearning to see God was not simply a wishful thought for Job, but an anxious fulfillment of a promise, which we refer to as the virtue of hope. As Job states, “For I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the last he will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God.”Some strains of classical Jewish thought maintain that God gives suffering to people in this world so that they might experience joy and liberation in olam habah (the world to come). This is the closest expression we know regarding some basic Jewish understanding of an afterlife.
Job eventually prays for his friends that they not be cursed by God for their folly and God grants Job’s prayer. God then restores to Job everything that he had lost and more. Job was given two-fold for his fidelity and the story ends, “Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, his children’s children, up to four generations. Job died; old and full of days.”
Ivan Illyich did not live to be one hundred and forty years old; however, God did provide him a source of consolation during his illness, namely his man-servant, Gerasim. Even though Ivan treated Gerasim horribly, it was Gerasim who remained with Ivan as he lay dying. Gerasim’s example of kindness and compassionate actually helped to bring about a conversion in Ivan’s life.
Where there is life there is hope. The Rule of St. Benedict instructs the monk to never lose hope in God’s mercy. We never truly know how God is working in someone’s life and when we least expect it a person can undergo a conversion experience which will profoundly change their life forever.