In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. Amen. Today, we have begun the book of Job, one of my favorite books. I can understand it, more or less. Which reminds me of the Penny Catechism.
You'll see the connection I'm sure right away. The first question in that little old catechism, which is a collector's item now, was who made you? I think think that's it. Anyway, it's very close to it. And the answer was God made me.
And then, fairly sure of this. The second one, why did he do it? In other words, why are you here? What is the answer to life? And the answer was, God made me to know him, to love him, notice that, intellect, and will, and service.
God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world. In this world, not the world to come or the past one or tomorrow's world, in this world, in order to be happy with him forever in heaven. That's fulfillment. Now, you'll say, what's the connection here? Well, I hope to bring that extremely clearly.
The great problem of Job is the problem of evil. How account for it? Now, you have to realize that back of Job is the Semitic idea of retribution. That if you live a good life, God rewards you here and now. Remember, in the old testament of the bible, there's very little basis there for any conviction or persuasion or expectation of a future life.
That is retribution beyond this life. It's only in the in the most recent books of the Old Testament that you find that, of course, you do find it in the time of Christ. Now, you see, here's the problem. If you say, and you'll find this in almost any part, you can open up the old testament almost any place, that do good, keep the law, and and you will prosper. Break the law and you'll get clobbered.
Good and proper. And there was plenty of evidence. Remember, these people weren't a bunch of fools. This was an idea that had endured for centuries. So there had to be a certain pragmatic There had to be a certain positive evidence for it.
That that that such a crazy idea would endure. If it was crazy, if it was irrational, if it was wrong. So, there had to be some downright evidence from daily living to justify this this profound conviction that good deeds, living for God, keeping his law, you will prosper. And by prosper, I mean prosper, With a great big bank account. Having yourself a Rolls Royce or something.
Now, the book of Job is the it presents the problem. That that's not the way it was with Job. He gets Here's a man who is is presented again by the text as a good man, who has kept the law, he's in every way, and he and he's prospering. He's prospering. Everything's going his way.
He's got a fine family, God herds, the works. And he's a good man. Remember that. He's a good man. We know that.
The text tells us that. And then what happens? Wham. His world falls apart. He loses everything.
So the great question is, why? Why? Why me lord? Why me, Lord? This is the perennial question.
Just yesterday, I met a gentleman who had just been to a funeral out at Saint Elizabeth, where a friend of a mutual friend of ours had been buried. This is Smith, and I wish you'd remember her and her husband in your prayers. This is Lee Smith. And we got you, died of cancer. Only heard about it three months ago.
And we got talking about this problem. And he was telling me in his experience how people accept this terrible news that they've got terminal cancer. And this gentleman told me how in his experience people fall apart for the most part. You see, because if the great question is, God, I've been living a good life. I've been trying to do what's right.
And and I've Look, look at the record. Look what I've tried to do. And here's the way you treat your friends. This is the problem. And let's face it.
And it has never been more dramatically, eloquently expressed than the book of Job. And that's not just something I've discovered. If you haven't read the book of Job lately, take it in your hands and it's a very short book. It's not difficult reading. It's extremely dramatic.
It has been dramatized. But read. Don't go to the dramatization. Don't go to some contemporary read the original. By that, I mean, get get a good translation of the book of Job and read it.
Because this problem has never been so dramatically, eloquently, persuasively presented. Now, I wanna come back to the Pentateuch. You see, the great question we When we get When things go badly for us, as we think badly, I'm using that from my point of view. When the whole world seems to go wrong, That everything seems to be out of joint. That you can't reconcile what you see happening around you with a good, just, and benevolent God.
Now these are the facts of life. If anyone who keeps an open mind and doesn't bathe themselves in some kind of a retreat, getting out of it all in one way or another is bound to face up to this. So we keep asking ourselves the question, why? Why? Why?
Why me Lord? Why me? Why does this happen to me? Now, the point I would like to make, listen, I am not up here giving you a solution to this problem. But the older I've gotten, the more I see of this problem.
And it's a philosophical problem, but it's much more than that folks. This comes right down to the nitty gritty everyday living of all of us. It isn't so much a question of trying to get the why of it, as an acceptance of it, which will make sense. Now, this this was the great thing that many a man and woman in the concentration camps had to face. And Frankl brings this out very well.
He was one of them. But he didn't create his psychological theories after he was in the camps. He had this idea, this philosophy of life before he went into them. And But then he picked up a lot of evidence for it. When it wasn't it wasn't to explain why this was happening, but how can I accept it?
Which will make it acceptable to me, and which will make the question why unnecessary. And I maintain, you see, that that's in that little answer to the second question in the Penny catechism. Why did God make You say, made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in the next. Now the question is, how do you get from here to there? How?
Who chooses the means? Who teaches me how to live for eternity? Who? Well, if this is God's world, then I know who's doing it. If God is running the show, and if I'm part of the show, then I know who's running, me.
And it isn't that I can come up with all the whys and answers to all the whys and the wherefores. In many instances, it's a matter of blind faith. And now let's not be afraid of this. Faith by definition is blind. By definition, faith is blind.
Faith is an acceptance of something I don't see. Meaning, I can't feel it, I can't see it, I can't touch it, I can't taste it, I can't hear it. So by definition, faith is blind. But it is not irrational. If I'm engaged if a quarterback calls a signal or the coach, whoever calls these signals in a football game, does he have to come out and explain it to the all the 11 men?
Well, there are people today who say that's the way it should be. I'm not going to get in into any war unless I am personally convinced that this is a good and just war, non needed, etcetera etcetera etcetera. The virtue of patriotism is obsolete. It's been buried with a dote over. So that the thing is, I cannot be going around and asking why why why expecting answers answers answers.
That's the whole point of Job. Here these people, all of Job's friends, including Job, saying, why is this happening? They can't reconcile what they're seeing with what they believe and hope and and have trust in God Almighty. They can't put it together. Indeed, they could not.
Because the answer is not in the Old Testament. There is no answer to this problem in the old testament, only in the new which completes it. And that second question of the Penny Catechism gives it in a nutshell. It tells you where you're from. It tells you where you're going, and it tells you how you're going to get there by serving God.
And you are not calling the shots. If God put me here for a certain destiny, and if he's running the show, he is the one who's telling and calling the shots, as we say. He is give calling the signals. And in many instances, I will not see. I will not understand.
Who says in on God's name that I should understand? Where do we get this attitude? That I the whole world should be open to my understanding. We can't even understand how we get that light burning when we throw a switch. And yet, we're supposed to understand the whole world.
Why me Lord? So, we come back. Who made me God? Why did he make me? To have a glorious paradise in this world?
There's not a word like that in the New Testament. There's nothing like it in the teaching of the holy Roman Catholic church. You find that in our so called Christian Marxists. He made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world, to be happy with him forever in eternity. Who's going to give the definition of that service?
He is. He made me. The name of the father, son, and spirit, amen.