God blesses Job; God rewards Job beyond his dreams
In their book Finding God, Louis Savary and Thomas O'Connor
tell the story of a young man who had a remarkable experience of God. He knelt
down and prayed for the first time in over 20 years. In the course of the
prayer, he surrendered himself to God, totally. As he did, he suspected that
God would make his life hard and painful. But the opposite happened. God
blessed him beyond his wildest dreams. The young man wrote later:
"Since I gave up to God all ownership of my own life,
he has blessed me in a thousand ways, and opened my path in a way almost
incredible to those who do not enjoy the secret of a truly surrendered
life."
***
Have we ever experienced God's special love after
surrendering something to God? God's blessings put our wildest dreams to shame.
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Introduction
Today, we
hear the closing words of the Book of Job. In his sufferings, he has voiced his
complaints, and his friends have tried to justify God, but Job cannot fully
understand; finally, his eyes have seen, and he accepts that God is greater and
wiser and knows best. We should understand better than Job, for we have seen
the suffering face of the crucified Christ.
***
The Seventy returned from their initial preaching and
healing ministry brimming with joy and excitement over the victories they had
accomplished in Jesus' name. However, Jesus then warns them, "I saw Satan
fall like lightning from Heaven." This statement holds deep significance
and can be interpreted in various meaningful ways.
It might signify the defeat of the forces of darkness
and evil, the overthrow of Satan's stronghold, and the establishment of God's
kingdom. It could also serve as a caution against pride. According to legend,
Satan was expelled from heaven due to pride, and Jesus may have been warning
the Seventy to guard against becoming prideful despite their successes.
Jesus advised his disciples to avoid pride and overconfidence,
reminding them that their true glory lay in having their names inscribed in heaven.
It will always be true that a person's greatest glory is not in their own
accomplishments but in what God has done for them.
Christianity does not mean knowing all the theories about
the New Testament, nor does it mean knowing all the theologies
and Christology. It does not mean knowing about Christ;
instead, it means knowing Christ, which requires
not only earthly wisdom but heavenly grace. Jesus gives a simple
formula to know God: "If you want to know what God is like, look at
me." Jesus didn't just speak about God; he embodied God's character and
nature, revealing God through his words and actions.
The concept of evolution in science suggests that human
beings have gradually evolved from lower forms of life. From a faith
perspective, we can take this a step further and view Jesus as the culmination
of this evolutionary process. In him, humanity meets
God, and he is at once the perfection of humanity and the
fulness of Godhead.
“Fortunate are we to experience what we experience in the
Church, in the Word of God and in the Sacraments!”
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Opening
Prayer
Lord our God, in your bewildering wisdom you let us stand at times all alone before you with our miseries and we barely know where you are. Give us then the courage to keep our trust in you alive, as people without pretensions, humble, without illusions, but aware that you too have a Son, who all alone and disfigured, died one day on the cross for us, Jesus Christ our Lord.
