Job makes his arrival in the liturgical cycle. We have been reading from the book of Job this past week. It is a fascinating story on innocence and suffering, Divine justice, retribution and the like.
In the story, Job is described as a "blameless and upright man who feared God and avoided evil." He is a man of wealth and means who always offered sacrifice for any sin his children may have incurred due to excessive partying.
As the story unfolds, Job is stricken with calamity: his wealth is stripped, his children are taken from him, and his own health gives way to boils. He is afflicted with much pain and suffering.
In some sense the book then unfolds like trial. Initially it seems that Job is on trial as he maintains his innocence and the three friends become his prosecutors. As Job maintains his innocence his wife accuses him of lying and tells him "to curse God an die," and his friends accuse him of falsifying the truth of his innocence.
But as you read Jobs dialogue you quickly discover that God is the one on trial. The three friends are the defense attorneys for God and Job is the prosecutor.
The incomprehensible reality of God's presence in the world is overwhelming. The belief that good accompanies the faithful and evil accompany the wicked is challenged.
The trial basically seeks to understand why does bad things happen to good people?
How many times have we put God on trial?
How many times in our limited understanding have we found God guilty?
In the last part of the book, God, who had been silent for a majority of the work finally speaks.
What we discover is that the trial is about humanity. God speaks as the judge, the one who determines the fittingness of the jurors.
Chapter 38 is the "voir dire" of the trial. The "voir dire" is the part of a trial where the jurors are summoned to the court house and then questioned on their suitability and ability to weigh the evidence fairly and objectively.
The book reveals to us that we are not suitable to pass judgment on God for "have we in our lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place."
God's verdict on Job is what keeps us sane in the midst of life's mystery. Job finally comes to the realization of truth, a truth we all can hang our hat on, "Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth."
Job realized he put his foot in his mouth has he accused God of wrong doing.
It is amazing what humility comes to our life when we hear the word of God for what it is.
We must remember the "voir dire", the moment when we must "speak truth" in the midstof our judgments on God, only then do we truly embrace humility and drive arrogance far from us.
In order to deepen our faith life we must always recognize the knowledge we do not have claim over. We begin to understand God when we first begin to understand what we do not understand.
Thus, arrogance flees and our humility keeps us grounded in the reality that we are creatures standing in awe of the creator.
"behold I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth."
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