Lectionary # 457 and 458, Reflection for Oct. 1, Oct.2, 2008

Scripture: Wed. of 26th week. Oct. 1. Job 9:1-12.14-16. Psalm
88:10-11.12-13.14-15. Psalm 88:10-11. 12-13.14-15. Luke 9:57-62. Lectionary
# 457:

Continuing to listen and follow the ups and downs in the life of Job,
we are helped to understand how great and deep was his trust in God as his
Creator. We see him seated on his dung heap speaking to his friends and
doing some "faith-sharing" with them. Indirectly his words address their
questions too, but he is more focused on his own confidence and absolute
trust in God. God is certainly transcendent in the words that Job expresses
in his thoughts and prayers. Like ourselves he does not see God but does
recognize God's work in the creation of the stars and even names two of
them -- Orion and the Bear! He admires the mountains and reveals to us the
depth of his own heart with its faith-filled sighs and expressions.
We are fortunate in discovering that the Psalm and its response is
practically an echo of Job's outcry in prayer coming from his heart. For
sure, all psalms come from the heart. "Let my prayer come before you, O
God. Daily I call out to you, to you, I stretch out my hands."
Our journey with Jesus is a long one in Luke, but on it we are
learning how to be his disciples. In fact, Luke is unique in developing a
journey narrative which lasts almost ten chapters in his twenty-four
chapter Gospel. We find it in Luke 9:51-18:28. Here Luke's Christology is
developed as we become called and formed into his journey partners as
disciples. Thus we have a handbook for our discipleship in these special
journey chapters which will lead us up to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Demands are made if we wish to be journey partners with Jesus; they
are simplicity of life, detachment, and being single-minded when it comes
to the ultimate goal in life--living the life of Christ now and hereafter.
Amen.

Lectionary # 458. Job 19:21-27. Psalm 27:7-8.8-9.13-14. Luke 10:1-12.

Do you wish to pray from the depth of your heart like Job does? Are
you tired of your regular routine of prayer? Do you prepare for prayer or
for liturgical celebrations? Surely we all desire to pray better and want
to progress in our prayer life. We have a good example of how to express
ourselves in prayer in the selection from Job today and from the Psalm that
follows upon it. Once again the Psalm resonates with the prayer of Job
One of the verses is even a possible thought about the Resurrection
of the body and the afterlife. Something that was not so clearly expressed
in the Bible until the last writings that come from the Hebrew writers. We
know that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the body. Perhaps,
Job expesses this in these words: "For I know my Redeemer lives, and that
at last he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has thus been
destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!" (Job
19:25-27). There is an interesting difference in the word used for
Redeemer. The New American Bible has Vindicator; the New Jerusalem has
Defender. A footnote to the last term reads, "Technical term for the
closest relative, the avenger of blood. Having no belief in life after
death, Job, yet bursts the bounds of his belief and asserts that he will
somehow see his vindication by God himself. 'Rise up' is a technical term
for the action of the defender or judge."
Psalm 27 has echoes of Job's prayers. The response is "I believe that
I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living."
Praying as does Job, we then can follow Jesus in his teaching on the
way up to Jerusalem. We are symbolically represented by the seventy-two
disciples who take up his work of going from town to town bringing the
Gospel to others. We like Job go beyond the evidence of this life to the
eternal realities of the resurrected life and we share this good news with
others. To accomplish the task of such a call to discipleship we need to
continue pursuing a simple life, be detached from things and persons that
would hold us back from the mission Jesus gives us, and finally focus on
the thoughts and plans of God that we discern in the ordinary happenings of
each day. Job is a Wisdom book and to be wise we must think the thoughts
of God who gives us the bigger picture of life and shares with us the role
of an apostle. Job risks beyond his ordinary routine of faith and prayer
and leads the way for us. Amen.