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Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Job 1:6–22
Today we begin reading the Book of Job.
This book asks one of the deepest questions of the human heart:
Why do innocent people suffer?
Many people in the ancient world had a simple answer.
If you do good, God blesses you.
If you do evil, you suffer.
But the Book of Job challenges this simple answer.
Job is introduced as a blameless and upright man.
He fears God.
He avoids evil.
He is not suffering because of some hidden crime.
There is no clear reason for what happens to him.
But behind the question of suffering,
there is another question,
perhaps even deeper:
Why do we worship God?
Do we serve God because we love Him?
Or because of what He gives us?
Satan appears like an accuser.
He says to God:
Does Job fear God for nothing?
In other words:
Job is faithful because You bless him.
You protect him.
You give him family, wealth, and success.
Take those gifts away,
and he will curse You.
That is the accusation.
Human beings love the gifts,
not the Giver.
So Job is tested.
He loses his possessions.
He loses his children.
Later, he will lose his health.
Everything collapses.
And yet Job says:
Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I shall return.
The Lord gave,
and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
These are not easy words.
They are not words spoken from comfort.
They are words spoken from ashes.
Job does not understand.
Job suffers.
Job grieves.
Job will ask hard questions.
But he does not curse God.
Satan is proved wrong.
A human being can love God even when the gifts disappear.
Job teaches us to love the Giver more than His gifts.
He teaches us that faith is not a contract:
I obey You,
and You give me a comfortable life.
Faith is deeper than that.
Faith can stand even in darkness.
Job also points us toward Christ.
But Christ goes further.
Job suffers and remains faithful.
Jesus suffers for the sake of others.
He gives His life for sinners.
He shows us sacrificial love.
It is one thing to speak about suffering.
It is another thing to suffer.
But when suffering comes,
Job can teach us steadfastness.
And Christ can give us grace.
May we learn to love God Himself,
not only His gifts.
And may Christ teach us to offer our lives
for the good of others.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Content License
© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
(Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial).