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Sunday, April 06, 2003
Alipio: A resilient faith
By Fr. Jose Alipio
THE Book of Job is a masterful meditation on the mystery of human suffering.
There are details of the story that raise no end of theological problems if we take the story too literally. For example, what is Satan doing in heaven taunting God about one his favorite believers? And why would God enter into a bet with Satan to prove Job's faithfulness at such enormous cost of suffering to Job? Why would God not only sit by while Satan destroyed everything near and dear to job, but also give Satan permission to inflict this horrible damage?
Of course, these questions go to the heart of why good people suffer - a problem that every person faces in times of terrible loss. We can read this passage as a story of the age-old problem of evil. How could a good God let the righteous suffer?
But we can also read this passage as the story of a heroic faith. Look at what happened to Job. He lost everything in a bewildering whirlwind of death and destruction - his livestock, his herdsmen, his flocks, his shepherds, his sons and daughters, his wife, his friends, his health.
Like successive waves of the ocean, Job was battered time and again. But in the face all of those losses, he did not turn his back on God. He did not rebel against God. He did not curse God. He maintained his faith in God as the Lord of life.
He held on to the only thing that is solid in this shaky world. Finally, that is the point of the story of Job. This book is less a story of undeserved suffering and more a story of unwavering faith. Job remained loyal to God through the good times and the bad.
(April 6, 2003 issue)
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