God is love. […] You cannot even remotely imagine how He suffers.  – Søren Kierkegaard

The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. – Dorothy Day

There are no facile answers vis-à-vis ‘the metaphysical origins of evil’. Job, as Jacob who was rechristened ‘Israel’ (lit. ‘He who struggles with God’), in his own way, ‘wrestled with The Angel of Adonai’; and, as Jacob, Job somehow perseveres, prevails…

The unadorned, most brutal reality of what is named ‘history’ is so astonishingly –  and even, at its worst, unbelievably – Cruel – (& exclusively The LORD Himself can approach comprehension vis-à-vis the full/real extent of any given tragedy) – thus, therefore, the sole ‘appropriate verbal response’, as it turns out, becomes the very ‘wailings’ (& oft, at face value, self-contradictory) of The Prophet Job (–James 5:10-11), who mourns all of our plight,  effectively, and in earnest..

The maximally stark depiction of unutterable vulnerability before The Incomprehensible. Human beings rather completely misreading God and each other more-often-than-not – no matter ‘how hard we try’, or how ‘pious’ we aspire to be, how miserably we have tended to fail, in the most essential thing (–Isa. 26:17-18 appears to speak beautifully and presciently to the truth of our shared fragility, fallibility). 

The ‘friends of Job’ uncomfortably remind us of the hollow & harmful realities of our own present ‘Christendom’; we all, collectively, have become (albeit to varying degrees): the apostate church, rather obviously living in a state of rebellion, in a kind of real, undeniable de facto opposition to Him – albeit to varying degrees, of this there can no longer be any lingering doubt..

The one thing we apostates are surely capable of: not recognizing Messiah in our midst. We are certain to treat Him harshly & contemptuously, to condescend to Him, to prefer He not enter into our church buildings (& much, much worse).. to misappropriate His Name & Cross for a plethora of material gains/prestige/for our this-worldly security, ‘prosperity’.. &, it goes without saying: summarily ignoring & setting aside His pleas for justice & for humanity; even, as we have been most regrettably witness to: oft ignoring & setting aside the minimal need for a modicum of basic decency, a sense of common dignity (–Ps. 82:3-4; Prov. 21:13; Matt. 25:31-46; Luke 10:30-37, et al.), towards His brothers and sisters..

O earth, do not cover my blood; and let there be no resting place for my outcry! (–Job 16:18)

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  (–Ps. 22:1)

Job’s ‘keening’, ‘jeremiads’, ‘ululations’ (Chs. 3-31); & arguably the most efficaciously ‘Powerful Prayer’ ever enunciated –  Messiah’s ultimate exclamation to Abba Father, from The Cross (–Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34; Ps. 22:1) … They appear to be one. 

Deliverance is seemingly wrought via such prayers, great deliverance; deliverance which may have efficacy to save us all, to this very day and hour.. 

[T]here the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. […] And the servant is free from his master. (–Job 3:17-19)

Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. (–Job 29:12)

Job is haunted by the anguish of those whom many of us choose to be ‘unaware of’; or have heard of in passing, but now forgotten; or even – unthinkingly, unfeelingly – blame for ‘their own plight’ (!) – … Job’s grief is linked to theirs, & to ours. ‘What is life?’ Indeed.

Foreshadowing Messiah: Job laments the anguish of all of humanity, not exclusively his own (though no one could fault him for as much); and from the very beginning of his discourses, Job advocates powerfully and forcefully in behalf of ‘the least of these’ (–Isa. 61:1-3; Jer. 5:28; Ps. 82:2-4; Prov. 31:8-9, Job 29:12-17; 31:13-23; et al.).

Within his oceanic, bottomless and insoluble grief – there is unpretentious humanity, compassion: for those very ones ‘respectable society’  (e.g., Job’s ‘companions’) had discarded & daily tramples, with an awful callousness, inconsideration (‘the prisoners’, ‘the servants’, ‘the blind & the lame’, ‘the widow & the orphan’, ‘the poorest of the poor’, ‘the stranger’, ‘the homeless wanderer’ – all do find a mighty and fearless advocate within these pages, in The Prophet Job); Job is troubled by the torments they are made to suffer, suddenly remembers the least of Messiah’s brothers and sisters at his own darkest hour, cries out for His true justice which always would necessarily  involve grace and mercy towards ‘the least of these’ (Ps. 72:12-14) – and despite what Job himself is in the very throes of.

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (–Eph. 5:30)

His disciples, then, are to be ‘people of The Cross’, preferring others to themselves (Php. 2:3; John 13:34-35).. I.e., His witnesses are to grasp the redemptive potential & concrete value of ‘suffering in love’ – &, never to deride such sufferings, never to claim a kind of superiority over ‘those who struggle’ … To succumb to such temptations after the witness of Job – would arguably be not only callous, but blasphemous.

I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. (–1 Sam. 1:15)

(–Job 6:8-9.) Job wishes to be finished with this life, yet he waits with a kind of singular patience and perseverence (–James 5:10-11), as he pleads –  transparently, honestly, wholeheartedly – with He who is still the God that Job worships, whose Hand Job refuses to let go of, his God (– Ps. 42:8). Dissimilar to his companions, Job resists being false to his Lord and Father. What he could not bring himself to say in times of security, rushes forth like a mighty stream (– Ps. 62:8) – and, as we shall see (–Job 38-42), Elohim is not unmoved, but comes …

Do you intend to rebuke my words, and the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind? Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you undermine your friend. Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; for I would never lie to your face. Yield now, let there be no injustice!  (– Job 6:26-29)

My eye will never again see good. (– Job 7:7) 

And yet, impossibly, Job is ‘raised again’ (– Ch. 42); he is ‘vindicated’ (– 42:7-8); turmoil, apparently, has been relieved – although there are certain to be marks of the unutterable catastrophe he and his beloved ones endured, analogous to ‘a stigmata upon the soul’ (– Job 42:11; John 20:25-29; Matt. 5:4; Luke 6:21) inscribed on his person.. Job’s wholly unforeseeable restoration subsequent to these incommunicable terrors and unfathomable tragedies (1:6-2:9), makes no sense to us, & neither does The Resurrection, which The Book of Job seemingly speaks of …

For He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. (– Job 9:17-18)

– The Cross. The ancient Book of Job may have foretold The Passion, as no other. 

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(– Beatitudes; Ps. 34:18; Isa. 49:13; Micah 4:6-7; Zech. 12:10; Job 13:7-12, 19:25-27; et al.)

Here’s a ‘novel idea’ –  God favors the afflicted (For how else could He prefer Job’s ‘self-contradictory and incoherent’, even occasionally ‘blasphemous-sounding wailings’ – to the ‘far neater’ and ‘safer theological statements’ of Job’s companions?). At any rate, The Gospels and The Book of Job appear to both convey: that every disciple is to embrace his cross, and keep following after him unconditionally (–Job 1:8-11; Mark 8:34).

Correspondingly, His assembly of called-out ones – His Body – are an afflicted & unpretentious people, characterized by singular empathy, singular love (–John 13:34-35); at present, ‘sorrow is better than laughter’ (–Eccl. 7:3; Matt. 5:4; Luke 6:21).

Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best? Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” When God becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery here which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore. – C. S. Lewis