Job & Philip

Thursday, August 24, 2006 -- Week of Proper 15 (St. Bartholomew)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 981)
Psalm 131, 132, [133] (morning) // 134, 135 (evening)
Job 1:1-22
Acts 8:26-40
John 6:16-27

I was a freshman in college. The class was called "The History of Ideas." Our teacher was introducing the book of Job. She knew to whom she was speaking. For the most part, we were all good boys and girls who had been raised on the buckle of the Bible Belt.

"You've all been taught that God is good. God is all good; is that right?" "Yes," we answered. (Everybody knew that.) "And you've been taught that God is powerful. God is all powerful; is that right?" "Yes," we answered. (Everybody knew that.) "So, class. Why is there evil and injustice? Especially evil and injustice that happens to the innocent, like the suffering of an innocent child. Either God is good but not powerful enough to stop injustice, or God is powerful but not good enough to stop injustice." On that day, I became an agnostic.

Today we begin to read one of the great creations of ancient literature and philosophy -- the Book of Job. It is a passionate, sustained reflection that asks: Is God's governance of the world just? Like many of us, the ancients saw justice as the activity of upholding the righteous and punishing the guilty. How do you explain God's activity in the presence of the suffering of the innocent?

The story is personalized: "There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job." The prologue which we read today lets us know something that Job's friends will not know -- Job is genuinely innocent, and God is testing him.

The testing begins. All of his possessions and his family is destroyed in a single day. What would I do?

Job mourned, worshipped, accepted his disaster and blessed God. "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing." We are in for a treat. For the next month we'll be reading Job.
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The story of Philip's witness to the eunuch from the Ethiopian court touches some of the same theme as Job. Though highly placed in a position of great trust, we sense some deep sadness in this eunuch. He is moved by the description of Isaiah's suffering servant. Maybe he too is a suffering servant. (Maybe he knows that scripture excludes people like him from the congregation of God's people -- Lev. 21:20, Dt. 23:1)

Philip tells this unnamed eunuch the story of Jesus, the cursed one who suffered and who rose to new life. The eunuch is moved: "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" Philip could have answered Leviticus 21:20 and Deuteronomy 23:1, but he didn't.

It is a major theme of the Luke-Acts narrative that in Jesus God breaks down obstructions separating people from God's kingdom. In Luke 11:52 Jesus chides the religious lawyers who interpret others out of the kingdom. In 18:16 Jesus welcomes the little children. In Acts 10-11 the door is opened for Gentiles. Those who previously were barred from full inclusion are welcome. It is a major New Testament theme. Here's the Good News -- the eunuch is welcome. Nothing is to prevent his welcome into the congregation.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR