Not All Stories End Like Job’s

Blessing, suffering, and the road to Holy Week

I wanted one more day with Job 42. This will be it.

I almost wish Job ended differently. If the guy ever actually existed historically, I’m very glad he got a great ending. Happy for him. Mean it.

But so many situations like Job’s do not end well. Yet I believe that God is still sovereign, compassionate, and loving all at once at the same time.

Maybe that’s part of what we’re meant to sit with at the end of Job. The restoration is not a formula. It’s not a promise that everything will be doubled if we just hang on long enough. It’s a story that points beyond itself. Job does not receive answers, and neither do we. What he receives is God. Somehow, in his story, that is enough for him to relent, to rest, and to live again.

In Luke, Jesus speaks of those who have seen and still do not see, and those who receive what others miss entirely. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. Job’s story, in a way, moves him from hearing to seeing. Not seeing everything, not understanding it all, but seeing God. And Jesus suggests that this kind of seeing is not about intelligence or control, but about openness, humility, and grace.

So maybe the hope at the end of Job is not that everything will turn out well in the way we want, but that even when it doesn’t, God is not absent.

Whatever we want to take about good, evil, suffering, and blessing from the book of Job, Jesus defines even more clearly by his life and story. Jesus had no wife, no kids, and no gathered riches. Yet no one who believes in him would say he wasn’t blessed. No one would say he didn’t do the very will of God. Yet he didn’t have those worldly “blessings.”

As we begin Holy Week, the suffering of humanity will come center stage in Jesus’ passion and death. We know the end of the story - it ends in glory and resurrection. But we necessarily go through the pain and death first.

Like Job.

Luke 10:13-24

“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin. How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida. If the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives long ago. They would have sat around in funeral clothes and ashes. But Tyre and Sidon will be better off at the judgment than you. And you, Capernaum, will you be honored by being raised up to heaven? No, you will be cast down to the place of the dead. Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

The seventy-two returned joyously, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit themselves to us in your name.”

Jesus replied, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Look, I have given you authority to crush snakes and scorpions underfoot. I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, don’t rejoice because the spirits submit to you. Rejoice instead that your names are written in heaven.”

At that very moment, Jesus overflowed with joy from the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and shown them to babies. Indeed, Father, this brings you happiness. My Father has handed all things over to me. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him.” Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Happy are the eyes that see what you see. I assure you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see and hear what you hear, but they didn’t.”

Job 42

Job answered the Lord:

I know you can do anything;
no plan of yours can be opposed successfully.
You said, “Who is this darkening counsel without knowledge?”
I have indeed spoken about things I didn’t understand,
wonders beyond my comprehension.
You said, “Listen and I will speak;
I will question you and you will inform me.”
My ears had heard about you,
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore, I relent and find comfort
on dust and ashes.

After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz from Teman, “I’m angry at you and your two friends because you haven’t spoken about me correctly as did my servant Job. So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and prepare an entirely burned offering for yourselves. Job my servant will pray for you, and I will act favorably by not making fools of you because you didn’t speak correctly, as did my servant Job.”

Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar from Naamah did what the Lord told them; and the Lord acted favorably toward Job. Then the Lord changed Job’s fortune when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord doubled all Job’s earlier possessions. All his brothers, sisters, and acquaintances came to him and ate food with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him concerning all the disaster the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a qesitah and a gold ring. Then the Lord blessed Job’s latter days more than his former ones. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named one Jemimah, a second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. No women in all the land were as beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave an inheritance to them along with their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years and saw four generations of his children. Then Job died, old and satisfied.

Prayer

God,

Thank you for the story of Job. It is so very helpful. And yet, even in its inconclusive nature, I take comfort. I know that some are still waiting. Some are still hurting.
Some are still asking questions that have not been answered.

And yet, I choose to believe you are still here.

Teach me to trust you not because everything makes sense, but because you are present. Give me eyes to see you, even when I cannot understand what you are doing.

As we enter this Holy Week, help us to walk the path of Christ, through confusion, through suffering, through surrender, trusting that you are at work even there.

Form in us a faith that does not depend on outcomes, but rests in you.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.