From Job To Jesus
Homily by Father Robert Chiesa, SJ 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today is the only time Job appears in the 3-year cycle of readings. We see him facing directly the problem of suffering as an innocent victim. At the very beginning of the Book of Job God declared Job's innocence. So Job asks, and we ask: Why all this suffering, especially of innocent children or helpless people? Of course, much suffering can be blamed on our inconsiderate treatment of one another. All suffering caused by war can be put at humanity's doorstep, and many natural disasters as well come from how we have disturbed the ecosystem. But putting these aside, the big question remains: Why so much suffering if God is so good?
There is a showdown between God and Job toward the end of the book, where God challenges Job saying: Who are you to question my wisdom with your ignorant, empty words? Stand up now like a man and answer the questions I ask you. Were you there when I made the world? If you know so much tell me about it. Who decided how large it would be? Have you any idea how big the world is? Answer me if you know. Job, you challenged Almighty God. Will you give up now, or will you answer? Then Job says: I spoke foolishly, Lord. What can I answer? I have already said more than I should. The moral of the story seems to be that God made the world as it is and what right have we to complain? Since we exist as limited human beings in a limited world, there will be suffering and trials.
Suffering is part of the reality of being limited, but Jesus himself suffers along with us. He is our companion and strength in our sufferings. In today's gospel we see Jesus' hand raising up Peter's mother-in-law and welcoming all who come to him. Peter's house in Capernaum is like a clinic. Jesus raises the sick, touches lepers, welcomes children, gives support and encouragement, blessing and companionship to all. But his healing does not directly extend to the whole world, to all people of all times. It works through us in various ways. Surely, medical science and various technologies have brought humanity great health and happiness, but there are still many physical and spiritual miseries that we have to take care of. We are the hands and feet, the eyes and smiles of Jesus in our world today. I felt this when I spent 6 weeks in a hospital 5 years ago and felt Jesus working for me through the professional knowhow and compassionate hands of the doctors and nurses, of the cleaning and maintenance staff.
Christian charity is a response to immediate needs: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, help the homeless. They do not need explanations or sermons. They need our presence, our nearness, and whatever help we can give them. We can give them our time and our respect so as to take them seriously and encourage them in their struggle against sadness and grief. We may have to bear with their irritability and frustration, their anxiety for the future, their frustrated hopes. It may not be easy to listen, but if we put ourselves in their place and listen to what they say or do not say, we may help them come to terms with themselves, strive for interior peace, and come to believe in the bigger healing Jesus brought about through his own suffering and death-the assurance and healing power of his resurrection! Those limited miracles that Jesus performed point beyond death to the Father of mercy and compassion, who shares our suffering when Jesus suffers with us and for us to give us eternal life.
Eternal life does not mean some future afterlife sitting forever on fluffy clouds. Eternal life means that God is with us here and now, giving us his Son in the Eucharist and filling us with his Spirit to guide us. God loves us so much that he made himself able to live and rejoice with us, to share our suffering and death so as to show us the way to eternal life and ask us to be associated with him in healing the many wounds of the world.