Above: Job and His Alleged Friends
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Merciful God, gracious and benevolent,
through your Son you invite all the world to a meal of mercy.
Grant that we may eagerly follow this call,
and bring us with all your saints into your life of justice and joy,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 52
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The Assigned Readings:
Proverbs 15:8-11, 24-33 (Thursday)
Job 22:21-23:17 (Friday)
Psalm 32:1-7 (Both Days)
2 Corinthians 1:1-11 (Thursday)
2 Peter 1:1-11 (Friday)
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Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and did not conceal my guilt.
–Psalm 32:5, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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The author of Psalm 32 had guilt and sin with which to deal. The fictional character of Job, however, did not suffer because of any sin he had committed, according to Chapters 1 and 2. Eliphaz the Temanite did not grasp this reality, so he uttered pious-sounding statements (some of which echo certain Psalms and much of the Book of Proverbs), pestering (not consoling) Job, who felt isolated from the mystery he labeled God. Job was terrified of God (as he should have been, given God’s conduct throughout the book, especially Chapters 1, 2, 38, 39, 40, and 41) and was honest about his feelings. Eliphaz, in contrast, offered an easy and false answer to a difficult question.
Yes, some suffering flows from one’s sinful deeds and functions as discipline, but much suffering does not. Consider the life of Jesus of Nazareth, O reader. He suffered greatly, even to the point of death, but not because he had sinned. Much of the time our suffering results from the sins of other people. On other occasions we suffer for no apparent reason other than that we are at the wrong place at the wrong time or we have a pulse.
May we resist the temptation to peddle in easy and false answers to difficult questions. May we seek not to be correct but to be compassionate, to live according to love for God and our fellow human beings.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 31, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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