Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Zorba the Greek is a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. It is about Zorba, a free thinker who is struck by tragedy. My purpose here is to narrate an interesting episode from his book.

“I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the back of a tree just as a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited awhile, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster than life. The case opened; the butterfly started slowly crawling out, and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath, in vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear all crumpled, before its time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand.” Entomologists tell us the that the struggle that a butterfly goes through in the process of emerging from the cocoon is what strengthens its wings and prepares it for its graceful, swift, and long flights. Without the struggle they never fly. On the contrary, they die.

The first reading taken from the book of Job is also about struggles. Job’s story is a story of a man of sorrow and heavy burdens. Like many of us, his suffering is an innocent person’s suffering. More significant than the suffering of Job is the reaction of those around him. His friends who have seemingly come to console him end up tormenting him. Even his wife gets upset with him and asks Job to curse God and die. But Job’s story is no ordinary story. His story is that of a man who suffers but tries to make sense of it with faith.

The OT tries to tell us in the book of Genesis that pain and suffering are not created by God but that they are the consequence of the sin. Suffering in the OT is a result of the wrong choice human beings made. In fact, suffering is considered a curse from God. No wonder Job felt so miserable because he could not understand the cause of his curse. But then, this is scripture's way of saying that suffering is a reality of life. No living creature is exempt from pain and suffering.

If in the OT suffering is a punishment in the NT suffering is transformed into a paradox. Jesus did not merely take the suffering of the world upon himself, but he transformed the very meaning of suffering. Jesus took the suffering that all human beings must embrace and transformed it into a means of salvation. If in Zorba’s story suffering is the struggle that makes the butterfly take wings and fly, in the Christian story it is struggle of the cross that leads to the resurrection.

Let me offer three practical implications from today's readings:

a) Job’s story is not just his story. It is your story and mine. Those of us who are the victims of the economic crisis, those of us who have lost jobs and houses and perhaps even families, we can perhaps identity well with Job. Job’s story is the story of every human being including Jesus. From the Christian context, however, this suffering is not meaningless. On a very human level Jesus’ sufferings look meaningless. But with the eyes of faith we know the good that his suffering achieved. Suffering is not meaningless. Even on a very human level suffering that proves character. Again, without suffering we would not know what it means to be joyful. Again, unless we have experienced pain we would have no compassion. But as Christians, the greatest good is that our pain is one way of uniting ourselves to the suffering of Christ. Our suffering too can be offered for the good of others. Our suffering too can become salvific.

b) Today’s second practical implication comes from the gospel reading. We may find the gospel thematically disconnected from the first reading. But in the strangest way it is intricately connected. The entire gospel reading today is about Jesus doing good. He cured many people, he cleansed those possessed, prayed and then went about doing good again. Like Jesus, the best posture in the face of suffering is prayer. Amidst the torture of his friends and the taunting of his wife, Job too stood firm in faith. His constancy came from his constant cries to God in prayer. Just as Jesus prayed during his ministry, during his suffering on the cross he ends up praying. He said, “Father into your hands I comment my spirit.” Here in lies the mystery of Christian suffering.

c) There was something else that Jesus did that is meaningful in the face of suffering. When speaking of the life of Jesus, one of the things said about him is that he did good. Now that seems like a small detail but it has huge implications. Jesus understands the dilemma of those people who are in pain and suffering. Unlike Job’s friends, he goes about brining healing and comfort to those who were in pain. Jesus goes about doing good.

Like Job’s friends we can be the kind of people who taunt other people when they suffer. Or, like Job’s wife we can be someone who is willing to curse God. Or, we can even be indifferent to the problem of suffering. However, we have another option. To do what Jesus did. To do good! There was not one instance where he caused pain to someone. Even to the one who caused him pain he did good. We may not be able to heal like Jesus; we may not be able to cast out demons like Jesus. But we do have the power not to inflict pain. We have the power to only do good. God did not take that power away from Adam and Eve when God expelled them from the garden. Nothing stops us from doing only good.

At the end of today’s readings Job prays:

May days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle;
They come to an end without hope.
Remember that my life is like the wind;
I shall not see happiness again.

Thanks be to the God that we who worship in this Eucharist not hopeless in the face of suffering. As we participate in the memory of the greatest good Jesus did, let us take up our own struggles and commit ourselves to prayer and good deeds.. Amen

- Fr. Satish Joseph