Gospel: Lk 10:13-16
Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! So many miracles have been worked in you! If the same miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would already be sitting in ashes and wearing the sackcloth of repentance. Surely for Tyre and Sidon it will be better on the Day of Judgment than for you. And what of you, city of Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead.
Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.”REFLECTION:
Today’s first reading presents a part of the conclusion of the Book of Job. In the previous chapters of the book, Job protests that he does not deserve his many trials (whereas his friends say that he does), and he challenges God to debate with him on this matter. Now God does appear, but he does not defend his treatment of Job. Instead he draws Job’s attention to the incredible wisdom displayed in the management of the universe. Just as a man’s wisdom is shown by the way he runs his life, likewise God’s wisdom is shown by the way He runs the universe. Now the universe, despite its awesome dimensions and complexity, does not fall apart and return to chaos. That is because God’s wisdom is able to overcome all paradoxes and all complexities. That is why Job should trust him instead of criticizing him.
The Book of Job does not give a speculative explanation of the problem of evil. But it gives a way to live with evil without understanding it, and that way is faith in God’s wisdom.
If God can run a universe so well, I should trust him when it comes to the ups and downs of my life.
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