A God who suffers
Job 3: 1-3, 11-17, 20-23; Lk 9: 51-56
The readings today have a very different kind of a message to give us! James and John wish to bring fire down from heaven to punish the people who did not accept Christ. Job's friends pressurise Job to curse God and get done with God, for all the suffering that God has caused him! Jesus rebukes James and John and Job refuses to give into the counsel of his friends. Job is presented as the prefigurement of the suffering servant that Jesus was to be!
It is not just a suffering servant's figure that we see here, but the image of a compassionate God who suffers on our behalf. It is not true that it has happened just once in history...it had always happened, and it keeps happening that the Lord feels so much when we are adamant, arrogant and whimsical: a compassionate God who is so madly in love with us!
It is 'Christ'ian maturity and 'Christ'ian mindset, to endure our suffering not blaming God or complaining to God, but seeking to find God during those moments of suffering. When we seek God, we will find God so close to us that we would understand that even God suffers along with us! "When you search for me you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart I will let you find me, says the Lord" (Jer 29:13). Our God is not a God who makes us suffer, but a God who suffers, when we suffer! Let us learn to feel the Lord's presence and draw strength from it, during our moments of struggle!