Thursday, August 21, 2014

Thursday, August 21, 2014
Job 1:1-22

     Today we take a small step into the book of Job, a book that probes the issue of undeserved suffering. The style of the writing lends itself to be understood as a mythological story. Throughout history commentators have thought of Job as a Gentile contemporary of figures such as Moses and Abraham, though a worshiper of the same God. Others consider Job to be a literary creation. The book is grouped in with wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible, and while it precedes the Psalms in Christian Bibles, it comes after the Psalms and Proverbs in Jewish editions of the Bible. With this latter ordering we can see how the struggling with the issue of suffering that we find in the book of Job builds upon the honest wrestling with the same issue that we find frequently in the Psalms. 

William Blake, "Job is rebuked by his friends" [http://lentengallery.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/job/]

          You'll probably note the interesting role that Satan plays in this story. The Satan ("the Accuser") in Job is depicted not as an evil spirit so much as a tester and observer of humanity, and as one who is part of God's court. Perhaps worse than Satan are Job's finger-pointing friends. 

     The presence of this interesting story in our scriptures testifies to the universality of questions about suffering, and I'd add, the input of Job's friends is perhaps a commentary on our tendency to jump to quick answers and blaming. Contemporary writings on congregational development highlight the importance of non-anxiety and creativity in overcoming challenges. I hope that in delving into this marvelous story we can learn something about approaching our problems with imagination.

- Matthew Kieswetter