Monday, June 14, 2004
Apostles Fast
Holy Prophet Elisha; Methodios, Confessor
Kellia: Job 1:13-22 Epistle: Romans 7:1-13 Gospel: St. Matthew 9:36-10:8
Job 1:13-22, especially vs. 22: "In all these events that befell him, Job did not sin at all
before the Lord and did not impute folly to God." The author of the Book of Job describes the Prophet as "true, blameless,
righteous, and godly, abstaining from everything evil" despite all the adversities which he knew to have befallen the man.
If we read carefully, we may perceive the source of Job's beautiful, righteous soul: in addition to natural human grief - in
rending his garments and shaving "the hair of his head" - Job also "fell on the earth, and worshiped" (Job 1:20), and the
Prophet's prayer reveals unwavering dependence on God: "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" (vs. 21). Job assumed that all
things belong to God, Who gives and withdraws as He chooses - all for one's blessing (vs. 21).
St. John Chrysostom holds up Job's response as a mirror for our self-examination by speaking of "the things many
people...think when they see others enjoying happy days, while they themselves are plunged into the worst trials." He notes
that Job "has said nothing, nor has thought anything similar to men's common complaints." Rather, as St. John points out,
Job has withheld himself: "he has not accused the events of injustice. He has not said the happenings arrive without motive
or by chance; he has not said: I am righteous, and I am not conscious of any sin; those people are thriving while I am
plunged into innumerable evils, why? What injustice, what sin have I committed? Does God care about my affairs?"
Job does not accuse life of being unfair or unjust. Eschewing a litigious spirit, unlike many in America, the Prophet does
not call his attorney for legal action against "the spoilers," (vs. 15) or against the companies of horsemen (vs. 17). He
worships God, and he does "not impute folly to God" (vs. 22). Look carefully at Job's assumption: life is in the hands of
God, so that whatever happens is "of God," and so Job blesses God in the spirit that "every good and perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down...from the Father of Lights" (see Jas.1:17).
There is no trace of a resignation to fate or chance in Job. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world, and all
that dwell therein" (Ps. 23:1 LXX), and what is more, "All things has [He] subjected under [man's] feet" (Ps. 8:6 LXX).
Job's godly view of life and the world opposes all theories that depend, ultimately, upon randomness.
Crucial to all that follows in the Book of Job, the holy Prophet does not seek to associate every negative event to a specific
sin in his own life. He accepts that bad things happen to good people, having implicitly in himself the conviction which St.
Paul states explicitly: "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain" (Rom. 8:22). We live after the Fall, not in
Paradise. So Job does not agonize endlessly asking himself, "What injustice, what sin have I committed?" (Job 1:22). The
beauty of Job's person manifests itself naturally when he falls "on the earth" (vs. 20). For as Metropolitan Theoliptos of
Philadelphia says of prostration: "it provides an image of man's fall into sin and expresses the confession of our
sinfulness." Of course we are sinners! There is great loneliness in pain and affliction. A wall rears up around those held
in the clutches of suffering. The Lord Himself tasted this isolation, as He asked His beloved Peter, "Could you not watch
one hour?" (Mk. 14:37). And Job, like the Lord, knew that whatever befell him, the hand of God was upon the events. He
knew that God cared about his affairs and had not cast him aside. "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away" (Job 1:21).
There is no suffering from which God stands apart, for our God and Savior, Jesus Himself, tasted it all on the Cross.
O Lord, I am the work of Thy hands. Grant me Thy helping grace, and endow me with patience and strength to endure my
tribulations with complete submission to Thy Will.
