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In today's edition of "Father, Speak a Word," Fr. Gregory Jensen and Fr. Anthony Perkins talk about the temptation of betraying their own callings by idealizing a romantic vision of monasticism and either trying to impliment it in their parishes or "wagging their tales" after it. They use Fr. Gregory's "Father, speak a word" substack article "Puppies Wagging Their Tales; Some thoughts about the lack of vocational fidelity" as a springboard. There's also some rank punditry towards the end that some listeners might find interesting. Enjoy the show!
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The Way of Ascetics; Tito Colliander
Chapter Twenty-Six: ON THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE... The narrow way has no end: its quality is eternity. There every moment is a moment of beginning-the present includes the future: the day of judgment; the present includes the past: creation; for Christ is timelessly present everywhere, both in hell and in heaven. With the coming of the One, plurality disappears, even in time and space. Everything happens simultaneously, now and here and everywhere, in the depths of your heart. There you meet what you sought: the depth and height and breadth of the Cross: the Saviour and salvation. ...
Recorded at Christ the Savior, Anderson SC.
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Homily on the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt
Fr. Anthony compares the lives of the Theotokos and St. Mary of Egypt, noting that our path looks much more like that of the latter, especially given our culture's immersion in social media, consumerism, aggressive politics, and pornography. Thank God that he has given us His Way of salvation despite all this!
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In this edition of "Father, Speak a Word" Fr. Anthony Perkins and Fr. Gregory Jensen talk about the joy of evangelizing a world full of people seeking something real. Enjoy the show!
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Homily of the Sunday of St. John of the Ladder
Today Fr. Anthony riffed on this gem, found towards the beginning of The Ladder. He describes the beautiful way of perfection in Christ planned for all those who do not live in monestaries.
Step One: On Renunciation
21. Some people living carelessly in the world have asked me: ‘We have wives and are beset with social cares, and how can we lead the solitary life?’
I replied to them: ‘Do all the good you can; do not speak evil of anyone; do not steal from anyone; do not lie to anyone; do not be arrogant towards anyone; do not hate anyone; be sure you go to church; be compassionate to the needy; do not offend anyone; do not wreck another man’s domestic happiness; 3 and be content with what your own wives can give you. If you behave in this way you will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven.’ -
Way of Ascetics; Tito Colliander
Chapter Twenty-Five: ON THE JESUS PRAYER... Especially should the beginner beware of everything that has the slightest tendency to mysticism. The Jesus Prayer is an activity, a practical work and a means by which you enable yourself to receive and use the power called God's grace-constantly present, however hidden, within the baptized person-in order that it may bear fruit. Prayer fructifies this power in our soul; it has no other purpose. It is a hammer that crushes a shell: a hammer is hard and its stroke hurts. Abandon every thought of pleasantness, rapture, heavenly voices: there is only one way to the kingdom of God, and that is the way of the Cross. And to hang crucified on a tree is horrible torment. Expect nothing else. ...
Recorded at Christ the Savior in Anderson SC.
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Homily of the Sunday of the Cross
From Bishop Nicholas (DOMSE Newsletter):
The Church has placed the Cross in the middle of Great and Holy Lent, the third Sunday of the Fast, for a very specific reason!
The Church has placed the Cross in the middle of Great and Holy Lent, the third Sunday of the Fast, for a very specific reason! By the third Sunday of the Fast, most of us have been abstaining from eating prescribed sumptuous foods for three weeks, participating in many services each week at inconvenient times of the day after having worked long hours, expanding our prayer rules, and reading spiritual books. Having done ascetical deeds, some of us are weary, tired, and may feel unsettled.
Prior to Christ being crucified, the cross was a sign of disobedience, a sign of unlawful activity, a sign of damnation, and a sign of condemnation. Thieves and criminals died on the cross so that society was “cleansed.” Jesus was considered one of those unlawful people despite the fact He had healed the sick, raised the dead, and performed miracles that had not been done by anyone else prior to His incarnation. He did not fit their earthly expectations with His divine plan! Therefore, He was crucified.
But after His resurrection, the Disciples, who effectively became apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-42), began to change the common perception of the Cross as they began preaching the resurrected Jesus Christ. Having received the Holy Spirit, Peter’s sermon (Acts 2:14-39) was emotionally moving and thought-provoking to the crowds. Thousands were baptized and started following Christ and His teachings through the words of the Apostles. The faithful’s view of the Cross began to change from a condemnation interpretation to a salvational reality, from a discouraging truth to an encouraging certainty, from a despair mentality to a hope mindset, and from a life destroying event to a life-giving actuality.
Such a change in demeanor toward the Cross urged the Church to utilize its power to inspire the faithful to take up the whole armor of God that they may be able to withstand in the evil day (Ephesians 6:13). That is why the Feast of the Cross has been celebrated on the third Sunday of Great and Holy Lent.
May God bless you and may the Holy Trinity protect you all!
+ Bishop Nicholas -
Today we cover Chapter 24 of Way of Ascetics, "On an Interpretation of Zacchaeus." It has some beautiful imagery. This class was accompanied by Thai Tofu Fresh Rolls and Gypsy soup. If you are ever in the Anderson area, come and visit!
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Today Fr. Anthony wanted to share some ideas he's been playing with, resulting from his study of St. Gregory Palamas, theology (e.g. essence and energy), and relationships. Enjoy the show!
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Marriage as a Metaphor for Orthodoxy
Homily of St. Gregory PalamasToday we celebrate the life and teachings of someone who really got it? St. Gregory Palamas; he experienced God's love for him in a real and tangible way, and he reflected that love back at God and on all those around him.
That's what we are to do, as well. To open ourselves up to the deifying warmth and light of God; and then to send our thanksgiving and praise back up to Him and to use the energy of His grace to serve those around us.
The Good News of the Gospel is that this is made possible and real through the life, death, and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ.
Although this Gospel really is simple, it has been elaborated with so many words and celebrated, confirmed, and taught (if not gilded) with so many rituals and denied by so many lies that it is understandable if we sometimes end up misunderstanding, judging, and even venerating the cup rather than that which it holds.
Perhaps a metaphor will help.
I have met at least two sets of people who think they understand the joy and transformation that marriage can bring.
One set thinks they know it because, while not married, they have their own version of it that seems to enjoy some of its benefits - most notably sex - without any institutional commitment. The availability of internet porn means that this can even be done without the bother of having a partner. No one can deny the reality of such experiences, but such experiences have precious little to do with the enduring joy of marriage. Such people claim that they do not need to be married to experience the joy of sex - the physical part of "one-fleshedness"; but even when it comes to that (ie to sex), they have settled for something less satisfying than the real deal. And while intimacy is a powerful and even necessary part of marriage, it is hardly the primary source of the transformative joy that marriage brings. They think they understand things it well enough to do them their own way, but they don't, and their improper understanding leads them to accept something less than they should. Something that is actually counterproductive and harmful.
A second set which is equally troubling think they understand marriage because they have submitted themselves to the institution of marriage. They have had their ceremony, they wear their rings, and they share a house. But when you start speaking to them about the joy that comes from sharing a life with another person, you learn that their experience is quite different. Shallow. Weak. Joyless. They are living the rituals of marriage, but they are missing the very thing those institutions are meant to hold and protect. They think they get it, but they don't, and their improper understanding leads them to accept something less than they should.
This is a great and wonderful mystery but, as with St. Paul, I speak not of marriage, but of the Church. (Ephesians 5:32)
St. Gregory Palamas fought against both of these misunderstandings about God.
On the one hand, there were people (like the Bogamils - basically medieval Pentecostals) who thought they could really experience God without the institution and sacraments of the Church. This is like having sex without marriage or even without a partner; it may be real in some sense, but it is not healthy nor is it real in the way that a committed sacramental relationship with God in Church is real. These heretics thought they got it, but they didn't, and their improper understanding led them to accept something less than they should have. Something that is actually counterproductive and harmful.
On the other hand, there were those (like Barlaam and the Churchians) who thought that the rituals and sacraments of the Church were the only way to know God. They did not believe that it was possible to experience God. They believed that the teaching that we are to enjoy union with God through Christ was just a metaphor for belief. And they believed that the noetic experience of God that monastic ascetics had when they opened themselves up to the Divine Nature of God was just a simple emotion and not a metaphysical or supernatural reality. They thought they got it, but they didn't, and their improper understanding led them to accept something less than they should have. It was a joyless religion, lacking the possibility of deeper union with God.
God is real and we were meant to become partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We are Orthodox Christians. We have not settled for something less than we should. We are not just going through the motions when we pray and participate in the rituals of the Church; we are opening ourselves up to God. We allow His grace to heal and transform us, and then we offer and share this transforming grace with the world.
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Today, Fr. Anthony covers Chapter Twenty-Three: ON TIMES OF DARKNESS with the faithful of Christ the Savior in Anderson SC. We changed the format a bit, having the class as we enjoyed our after-Presanctified collation of PB&J's, PB&B's, collard greens, and tobouli. Enjoy the show!
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Chapter Twenty-Two: ON THE USE OF MATERIAL THINGS
WE are made up of soul and body; the two cannot be separated in our conduct. Let the physical therefore come to your aid: Christ knew our weakness and for our sake used words and gestures, spittle and earth as media. For our sake He let His power flow from the fringe of His garment (Matthew 9:20; 14:36), from the handkerchiefs or aprons that were carried away from the apostle Paul's body (Acts I9:I2), yes, from the shadow of the apostle Peter (Acts 5:I5).
Therefore use all that is of earth as a staff of remembrance on your troublesome wandering along the narrow way. May the whiteness of the snow and the blue of the heavens, the jewelled eye of the fly and the scorching of the flame, and all of creation that meets your senses, remind you of your Creator; but make use especially of what the Church offers you to help you yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness (Romans 6:19). First of all, the Lord's Holy Communion. But likewise the other mysteries, or sacraments, and the holy Scriptures. And the Church offers you also the holy icons of the Mother of God, the angels and the saints; and prayer before them, and candles and incense, holy water and the gleam of gold, and singing. Receive all this with gratitude and use it all for your upbuilding and encouragement, improvement and benefit as you travel further.
Give free outlet to your love for the generous Lord of love, kiss the Cross and the icons, adorn them with flowers; if only evil be crushed with silence, the good will be allowed to breathe freely. If what is given in love is received with love, the scope of love is increased and enlarged, and this is the aim of your work. The greater the river, the wider the delta.
Use your own body, too, as an aid in the struggle. Trim it down and make it independent of earthly whims. Let it share your trouble: you wish to learn humility, so let the body also be humble and bow to the ground. Fall on your knees with your face to the earth as often as you can in privacy, but get up at once, for after a fall follows restoration in Christ.
Make the sign of the Cross assiduously: it is a wordless prayer. In a brief moment, independent of sluggish words, it gives expression to your will to share Christ's life and crucify your flesh, and willingly, without grumbling, to receive all that the Holy Trinity sends. Moreover, the sign of the Cross is a weapon against evil spirits: use this weapon often and with reflection.
A house is never built until the scaffolding is raised. Only the strong man has no need of outward support. But are you strong? Are you not the weakest among the weak? Are you not a child?
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Matthew 6:14-21
Romans 13:11-14:4In today’s Gospel, the Lord tells us to lay up treasures in heaven, how do we do that?
It’s not hard. And it’s, it’s actually a lot easier than fully investing in your 401k. Because the amount of love that is available to your heart, to share with others, that will then compound back into your own heart has no limit – its source is unending. The problem is that we are so often closing our hearts.
One of the things that I study as a political scientist is polarization. And there is no doubt – the data are clear – that our society is plagued by polarization. We have lost the ability to see the good in people who do not think, look, or move like we do. This is a problem.
It’s not just a problem when we’re on-line or when we’re watching the news where so much of this feeds to our hearts. The problem is that we take in this spirit of the world; we take in the spirit of division. This spirit is diabolical.
And we bring it into our own hearts where it sows confusion. We bring it into our families. We let it affect our friendships. And heaven forbid, it even affects us here [in the Church]. That is not the way it should be.
It should go the other way. We should seek peace within our hearts. We should let go of all of the words the world has given for us to judge one another. And to justify ourselves, and demonize “them”. We [should let those words] go. And then we should live in the love … and let the grace of God transform our hearts. So that then when we relate to our family, when we relate to our friends … there’s something magical that happens; there’s a transformation that occurs.
People who have suffered from the divisions of the world then find healing. The grace that you have in Christ, you bring to them and there’s a resonance of your heart with theirs. And in that time, you remember who you are. And we remember who we are collectively. All of our lives, our friendships, our families, our parishes, then become an alternative to the world. They look at us and they say; “how is it that those people despite their differences, love one another.” And they will desire the same.
Every moment gives us so many opportunities to offer this way of abundant grace. One of the words that we use to describe the mechanisms of this process. Is patience. You cannot love people that are different than you without patience.
And when we offer that patience to someone else. That’s grace. That’s God operating through you and blessing your relationship with someone else; and then when you receive that patience as a gift. I’m blessed every day with the patience of the people in my life.
Another one, though, is the one that we’re focusing on today. And relationships cannot endure without it. That is forgiveness. [I like to joke with the parishes that I serve that I just show them pretty quickly, how fallible I am. So that I can show them the ability and give them an opportunity to forgive.] So often our relationships are based on our ability to project perfection. As a priest, I convince everyone of my holiness and my ability to do everything perfectly. But it breaks down eventually; your relationship with your wife, your husband, your kids, your parents, cannot be based on that kind of artificial mask, because the mask will be shown to have no relationship to the broken person you need to allow to breath and speak in order for grace to abound. We have to allow people – people that we can trust - to see that we are vulnerable, let them see our brokenness. So that they can offer forgiveness and pour their love in. So the grace can grow. And then a mistake becomes an opportunity for God to manifest himself in this world, and for the world to become just a little bit better. Because when we forgive someone, we are acting in Christ; we are bringing his love and his way into it.
When on the other hand, we do as the world has taught us – and we see the very worst in everyone. And we focus on that and bring that up. The devil rejoices, division grows in the world a bit further, it grows; and we end up supporting the one we reject – that we ceremonially spit on and then turn around and commit to the way of patience of the forbearance of forgiveness, of looking for that good in the other, and allowing that to define our relationship. And then as they do that back towards us, we are both reminded whom we are in and in whom we live and love and life no longer becomes this drudgery of one bit of pain followed by the next with no promise of anything. And instead it becomes an opportunity to get this… [and it’s all] thanks to our own brokenness, of moving in love from grace to higher grace. This is the way that the Lord has established for us. Let us rejoice.
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Bible Study – Job
Class Six: Job 8:1-11:1; 11:1-42:22
From the Orthodox Study Bible.JOB 8: [Bildad’s nonsense]
TO THE EARS OF BILDAD, JOB’S SECOND RESPONDENT, a man even less tolerant than Eliphaz, the foregoing lament seems to be an attack on the justice of God and the entire moral order. Unlike Eliphaz, however, Bildad is able to make no argument on the basis of his own personal experience. He is obliged to argue, rather, solely from the moral tradition, which he does not understand very well. Indeed, Bildad treats the moral structure of the world in a nearly impersonal way. To the mind of Bildad, the effects of sin follow automatically, as the inevitable effects of a sufficient cause. The presence of the effect, that is, implies the presence of the cause.
If Eliphaz’s argument had been too personal, bordering on the purely subjective, the argument of Bildad may be called too objective, bordering on the purely mechanical. In the mind of Bildad the principle of retributive justice functions nearly as a law of nature, or what the religions of India call the Law of Karma.
Both Eliphaz and Job show signs of knowing God personally, but we discern nothing of this in Bildad. Between Bildad and Job, therefore, there is even less of a meeting of minds than there was between Eliphaz and Job.
We should remember, on the other hand, that Job himself has never raised the abstract question of the divine justice; he has shown no interest, so far, in the problems of theodicy. Up to this point in the story, Job has been concerned only with his own problems, and his lament has been entirely personal, not theoretical.
Bildad, for his part, does not demonstrate even the limited compassion of Eliphaz. We note, for example, his comments about Job’s now perished children. In the light of Job’s own concern for the moral wellbeing of those children early in the book (1:5), there is an especially cruel irony in Bildad’s speculation on their moral state: “If your sons have sinned against [God], He has cast them away for their transgression” (8:4). What a dreadful thing to say to a man who loved his sons as Job did!
Like Eliphaz before him, Bildad urges Job to repent (8:5–7), for such, he says, is the teaching of traditional morality (8:8–10).
Clearly, Bildad is unfamiliar with the God worshipped by Job, the God portrayed in the opening chapters of this book. Bildad knows nothing of a personal God who puts man to the test through the trial of his faith. Bildad’s divinity is, on the contrary, a nearly mechanistic adjudicator who functions entirely as a moral arbiter of human behavior, not a loving, redemptive God who shapes man’s destiny through His personal interest and intervention.
Nonetheless, in his comments about Job’s final lot Bildad speaks with an unintended irony, because in fact Job’s latter end will surpass his beginning (8:7), and “God will not cast away the blameless” (8:20—tam; cf. 1:1, 8; 2:3). On our first reading of the story, we do not know this yet, of course, because we do not know, on our first reading, how the story will end (for example 42:12).
So many comments made by Job’s friends, including these by Bildad in this chapter, are full of ironic, nearly prophetic meaning, which will become clear only at the story’s end, so the reader does not perceive this meaning on his first trip through the book. As Edgar Allen Poe argued in his review of Bleak House by Charles Dickens, the truly great stories cannot be understood on a single reading, because the entire narrative must be known before the deeper significance of the individual episodes can become manifest. As Poe remarked, we do not understand any great story well until our second reading of it. This insight is preeminently helpful in the case of the Book of Job.
JOB 11 [Zophar’s nonsense]
WE NOW COME TO THE FIRST SPEECH OF ZOPHAR, Job’s most strident critic, a man who can appeal to neither personal religious experience (as did Eliphaz) nor inherited moral tradition (as did Bildad). Possessed of neither resource, Zophar’s contribution is what we may call “third-hand.” He bases his criticism on his own theory of wisdom. Although he treats his theory as self-evidently true, we recognize it as only a personal bias.
Moreover, Zophar seems to identify his own personal perception of wisdom as the wisdom of God Himself. Whereas Bildad had endeavored to defend the divine justice, Zophar tries to glorify “divine” wisdom in Job’s case. If it is difficult to see justice verified in Job’s sufferings, however, it is even harder to see wisdom verified by those sufferings.
Like the two earlier speakers, Zophar calls on Job to repent in order to regain the divine favor. (This is a rather common misunderstanding that claims, “If things aren’t going well for you, you should go figure out how you have offended God, because He is obviously displeased with you.”)
Zophar also resorts to sarcasm. Although this particular rhetorical form is perfectly legitimate in some circumstances (and the prophets, beginning with Elijah, use it often), sarcasm becomes merely an instrument of cruelty when directed at someone who is suffering incomprehensible pain. In the present case, Job suffers in an extreme way, pushed to the very limits of his endurance. It is such a one that Zophar has the vile temerity to call a “man full of talk” (11:2), a liar (11:3), a vain man (11:11–12), and wicked (11:14, 20).
The final two verses (19–20) contain an implied warning against the “death wish” to which Job has several times given voice. This very sentiment, Zophar says, stands as evidence of Job’s wickedness.
The author of the Book of Job surely understands this extended criticism by Zophar as an exercise in irony. Though the context of his speech proves the speaker himself insensitive and nearly irrational in his personal cruelty, there is an undeniable eloquence in his description of the divine wisdom (11:7–9) and his assertion of the moral quality of human existence (11:10–12). Moreover, those very rewards that Zophar promises to Job in the event of his repentance (11:13–18) do, in fact, fall into Job’s life at the end of the book.
In this story of Job, men are not divided into those who have wisdom and those who don’t. In the Book of Job no one is really wise. There is no real wise man, as there is in, say, the Book of Proverbs. While wisdom is ever present in the plot of the story, no character in the story has a clear grasp of it. True wisdom will not stand manifest until God, near the end of the narrative, speaks for Himself. Even then God will not disclose to Job the particulars of His dealings with him throughout the story.
From St. Gregory the Great
Ver. 3. Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
xxxvi. 59. These things blessed Job had neither in speaking denied, nor yet was ignorant of them in holding his tongue. But all bold persons, as we have said, speak with big words even well known truths, that in telling of them they may appear to be learned. They scorn to hold their peace in a spirit of modesty, lest they should be thought to be silent from ignorance. But it is to be known that they then extol the rectitude of God’s justice, when security from ill uplifts themselves in joy, while blows are dealt to other men; when they see themselves enjoying prosperity in their affairs, and others harassed with adversity. For whilst they do wickedly, and yet believe themselves righteous, the benefit of prosperity attending them, they imagine to be due to their own merits; and they infer that God does not visit unjustly, in proportion as upon themselves, as being righteous, no cloud of misfortune falls. But if the power of correction from above touches their life but in the least degree, being struck they directly break loose against the policy of the Divine inquest, which a little while before, unharmed, they made much of in expressing admiration of it, and they deny that judgment to be just, which is at odds with their own ways; they canvass the equity of God’s dealings, they fly out in words of contradiction, and being chastened because they have done wrong, they do worse. Hence it is well spoken by the Psalmist against the confession of the sinner, He will confess to Thee, when Thou doest well to him. Ps. 49:18. For the voice of confession is disregarded, when it is shaped by the joyfulness of prosperity. But that confession alone possesses merit of much weight, which the force of pain has no power to part from the truth of the rule of right, and which adversity, the test of the heart, sharpens out even to the sentence of the lips. Therefore it is no wonder that Bildad commends the justice of God, in that he experiences no hurt therefrom.
60. Now whereas we have said that the friends of blessed Job bear the likeness of heretics, it is well for us to point out briefly, how the words of Bildad accord with the wheedling ways of heretics. For whilst in their own idea they see the Holy Church corrected with temporal visitations, they swell the bolder in the bigness of their perverted preaching, and putting forward the righteousness of the Divine probation, they maintain that they prosper by virtue of their merits; but they avouch that she is rewarded with deserved chastisements, and thereupon without delay they seek by beguiling words a way to steal upon her, in the midst of her sorrows, and they strike a blow at the lives of some, by making the deaths of others a reproach, as if those were now visited with deserved death, who refused to hold worthy opinions concerning God.
We have heard what Job, his wife, and his three friends have to say. They cycle through similar things several times. Next week, we will briefly see what a new speaker, Elihuh has to say and spend most of the class – the last one before Great Lent – to look at God’s conversation with Job. During Great Lent, we will work through chapters of Tito Coriander’s Way of Ascetics.
Scriptural review
Mentioned historically as Jobab in Genesis (4), Joshua (1), and 1 Chronicles (5)
Ezekial 14:20. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
James 5:11. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Liturgical review
Mentioned (through James) at Holy Unction; “You have heard of the patience of Job.”
From the Funeral for a Priest
Beatitudes: Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Why do you lament me bitterly, O men? Why do you murmur in vain?” he that has been translated proclaims unto all. For death is rest for all. Therefore, let us listen to the voice of Job saying, “Death is rest unto man.” But give rest with Thy Saints, O God, unto him whom Thou hast received.
Ode Six:
I remind you, O my brethren, my children, and my friends, that you forget me not when you pray to the Lord. I pray, I ask, and I make entreaty, that you remember these words, and weep for me, day and night. As said Job unto his friends, so I say unto you: Sit again and say: Alleluia.
Forsaking all things, we depart, and naked and afflicted we become. For beauty withers like grass, but only we men delude ourselves. Thou wast born naked, O wretched one, and altogether naked shall you stand there. Dream not, O man, in this life, but only groan always with weeping: Alleluia.
If thou, O man, hast been merciful to a man, he shall be merciful there unto thee. And if thou hast been compassionate to any orphan, he shall deliver you there from need. If in this life thou hast covered the naked, there he shall cover thee, and sing the psalm: Alleluia.
Triodion
Wednesday of Cheesfare Week; Matins Canticle Eight
Let us preserve these virtues: the fortitude of Job, the singlemindedness of Jacob, the faith of Abraham, the chastity of Joseph and the courage of David.
Saturday of Cheesefare Week; Matins; Canticle Two
… a second Job was Benjamin in his constancy …
Thursday of Clean Week (and Thursday of the Fifth Week); Great Canon Ode 4
Thou hast heard, O my soul, of Job justified on a dung-hill, but thou hast not imitated his fortitude. In all thine experiences and trials and temptations, thou hast not kept firmly to thy purpose but hast proved inconstant.
Have mercy on me, Oh God, have mercy on me.
Once he sat upon a throne, but now he sits upon a dung-hill, naked and covered with sores. Once he was blessed with many children and admired by all, but suddenly he is childless and homeless. Yet he counted the dung-hill as a palace and his sores as pearls.
Have mercy on me, Oh God, have mercy on me.
A man of great wealth and righteous, abounding in riches and cattle, clothed in royal dignity, in crown and purple robe, Job became suddenly a beggar, stripped of wealth, glory and kingship.
Have mercy on me, Oh God, have mercy on me.
If he who was righteous and blameless above all men did not escape the snares and pits of the deceiver, what wilt thou do, wretched and sin-loving soul, when some sudden misfortune befalls thee?
Have mercy on me, Oh God, have mercy on me.
I have defiled my body, I have stained my spirit, and I am all covered with wounds: but as physician, O Christ, heal both body and spirit for me through repentance. Wash, purify and cleanse me, O my Saviour, and make me whiter than snow.
Read at Vespers/PSL on Monday of Holy Week: Job 1:1–12.
Read at Vespers/PSL on Tuesday of Holy Week: Job 1:13–22.
Read at Vespers/PSL on Wednesday of Holy Week: Job 2:1–10.
Read at Vespers/Vesperal Liturgy on Thursday of Holy Week: Job 38:1–21; 42:1–5.
Read at Vespers on Friday of Holy Week: Job 42:12–17 (LXX ending)
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Job 38 FROM FR. PATRICK REARDON
NOW THE LORD HIMSELF WILL SPEAK, for the first time since chapter 2. After all, Job has been asking for God to speak (cf. 13:22; 23:5; 30:20; 31:35), and now he will get a great deal more than he anticipated. With a mere gesture, as it were, God proceeds to brush aside all the theories and pseudoproblems of the preceding chapters.
… [Whirlwind, Lord] …
At this point, all philosophical discussion comes to an end. There are questions, to be sure, but the questions now come from the Lord. Indeed, we observe in this chapter that God does not answer Job’s earlier questions. The Lord does not so much as even notice those questions; He renders them hopelessly irrelevant. He has His own questions to put to Job.
The purpose of these questions is not merely to bewilder Job. These questions have to do, rather, with God’s providence over all things. The Lord is suggesting to Job that His providence over Job’s own life is even more subtle and majestic than these easier questions which God proposes and which Job cannot begin to answer, questions about the construction of the world (verses 4–15), the courses of the heavenly bodies (verses 31–38), the marvels of earth and sea (verses 16–30), and animal life (38:39–39:30). Utterly surrounded by things that he cannot understand, will Job still demand to know mysteries even more mysterious?
If the world itself contains creatures that seem improbable and bewildering to the human mind, should not man anticipate that there are even more improbable and bewildering aspects to the subtler forms of the divine providence? God will not be reduced simply to an answer to Job’s shallow questions. Indeed, the divine voice from the whirlwind never once deigns even to notice Job’s questions. They are implicitly subsumed into a mercy vaster and far richer.
Implicit in these questions to Job is the quiet reminder of the Lord’s affectionate provision for all His creatures. If God so cares for the birds of the air and the plants of the fields, how much more for Job!
39 - 41. On the Behemoth and the Leviathan
Both behemoth and Leviathan are God’s household pets, as it were, creatures that He cares for with gentle concern, His very playmates (compare Psalms 104[103]:26). God is pleased with them. Job cannot take the measure of these animals, but the Lord does.
What, then, do these considerations say to Job? Well, Job has been treading on some very dangerous ground through some of this book, and it is about time that he manifest a bit more deference before things he does not understand. Behemoth and Leviathan show that the endeavor to transgress the limits of human understanding is not merely futile. There is about it a strong element of danger. A man can be devoured by it.
It is remarkable that God’s last narrative to Job resembles nothing so much as a fairy tale, or at least that darker part of a fairy tale that deals with dragons. Instead of pleading His case with Job, as Job has often requested, the Lord deals with him as with a child. Job must return to his childhood’s sense of awe and wonder, so the Lord tells him a children’s story about a couple of unimaginably dangerous dragons. These dragons, nonetheless, are only pets in the hands of God. Job is left simply with the story. It is the Lord’s final word in the argument.
42. Finale
THE TRIAL OF JOB IS OVER. This last chapter of this book contains (1) a statement of repentance by Job (verses 1–6), (2) the Lord’s reprimand of Eliphaz and his companions (verses 7–8), and (3) a final narrative section, at the end of which Job begins the second half of his life (verses 9–17). The book begins and ends, then, in narrative form.
First, one observes in Job’s repentance that he arrives at a new state of humility, not from a consideration of his own sins, but by an experience of God’s overwhelming power and glory. (Compare Peter in Luke 5:1–8.) When God finally reveals Himself to Job, the revelation is different from anything Job either sought or expected, but clearly he is not disappointed.
All through this book, Job has been proclaiming his personal integrity, but now this consideration is not even in the picture; he has forgotten all about any alleged personal integrity. It is no longer pertinent to his relationship to God (verse 6). Job is justified by faith, not by any claims to personal integrity. All that is in the past, and Job leaves it behind.
Second, the Lord then turns and deals with the three comforters who have failed so miserably in their task. Presuming to speak for the Almighty, they have fallen woefully short of the glory of God.
Consequently, Job is appointed to be the intercessor on their behalf. Ironically, the offering that God prescribes to be made on behalf of the three comforters (verse 8) is identical to that which Job had offered for his children out of fear that they might have cursed God (1:5). The Book of Job both begins and ends, then, with Job and worship and intercession. In just two verses (7–8) the Lord four times speaks of “My servant Job,” exactly as He had spoken of Job to Satan at the beginning of the book. But Job, for his part, must bear no grudge against his friends, and he is blessed by the Lord in the very act of his praying for them (verse 10).
Ezekiel, remembering Job’s prayer more than his patience, listed him with Noah and Daniel, all three of whom he took to be men endowed with singular powers of intercession before the Most High (Ezekiel 14:14–20).
The divine reprimand of Job’s counselors also implies that their many accusations against Job were groundless. Indeed, Job had earlier warned them of God’s impending anger with them in this matter (13:7–11), and now that warning is proved accurate (verse 7). Also, ironically, whereas Job’s friends fail utterly in their efforts to comfort him throughout almost the entire book, they succeed at the end (verse 11).
Third, in the closing narrative we learn that Job lives 140 years, exactly twice the normal span of a man’s life (cf. Psalm 90[89]:10). Each of his first seven sons and three daughters is replaced at the end of the story, and all of his original livestock is exactly doubled (Job 1:3; 42:12). St. John Chrysostom catches the sense of this final section of Job:
His sufferings were the occasion of great benefit. His substance was doubled, his reward increased, his righteousness enlarged, his crown made more lustrous, his reward more glorious. He lost his children, but he received, not those restored, but others in their place, and even those he still held in assurance unto the Resurrection (Homilies on 2 Timothy 7).
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Saint Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, vol. 1 (Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; J. G. F. and J. Rivington, 1844), 83.
Robert Charles Hill. St. John Chrysostom Commentaries on the Sages, Volume One – Commentary on Job. Holy Cross Orthodox Press.
Patrick Henry Reardon, The Trial of Job: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Job (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2005), 22.
Manlio Simonetti and Marco Conti, eds., Job, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 4–5.
Orthodox Church, The Lenten Triodion, trans. Kallistos Ware with Mother Mary, The Service Books of the Orthodox Church (South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2002), 222.
Mother Mary, Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, trans., The Lenten Triodion: Supplementary Texts, The Service Books of the Orthodox Church (South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2007), 60.
Orthodox Church, The Lenten Triodion, trans. Kallistos Ware with Mother Mary, The Service Books of the Orthodox Church (South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2002), 559.
St. Tikhon’s Monastery, trans., The Great Book of Needs: Expanded and Supplemented, vol. III (South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2002), 283.
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Homily – Prejudice, Objectivity, and Grit
St. Matthew 15.21-28Gospel: Then Jesus left and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried; “have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; for my daughter is severely possessed by a devil.” But Jesus did not answer her at all. So his disciples came and pleaded; “send her away, for she is crying after us.” Jesus replied; “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and knelt before him saying; “Lord, help me.” And Jesus answered; “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Then she said; “yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.
Are we ashamed of the Christ? Should we be?
If you were not jarred by the language of this Gospel lesson, then I am not sure that you were paying attention. Did you hear what Jesus said to this poor woman? She came to him with a terrible problem, and how did he respond? First, he ignored her! Then, as if that was not bad enough, he told her that he did not come to help “her kind.” And then, to top it off, he pretty much called her a “dog” and told her that she was not worthy of his help! How can we deal with this? How are we to understand the rudeness that Christ exhibited to this brokenhearted and suffering mother?
It is a point of fact that when the Scriptures surprise or offend us (and it often does… or should!), that we should react with joy rather than sadness, anger, or disbelief – for we are about to have our understanding enlarged! That is certainly the case with today’s lesson. The fact that Christ’s words are so offensive is part of the point, part of the lesson. So what are we to learn from it?
Some theologians would explain that we have to look at the cultural context of the reading: Jesus was a Jew, and that this was how Jews thought about and treated the Gentiles. This is what some theologians say, but they are wrong. In charity, I should give them more credit: they are only mostly wrong. They are right in teaching that we should look at the cultural context of scripture, but they are completely wrong in believing that Jesus was shaped by it: Christ is utterly BEYOND culture. Remember: he was the Logos before time began. As a human, he was affected by his time and place, but as the source of wisdom he transcended the bigotries and prejudices of the world. Ironically, it was this very transcendence that led to his offensive treatment of the Canaanite woman. Let me explain.
Jesus recognized that there were aspects of worldly cultures that were literally demonic (e.g. Psalm 81; Psalm 95:5 1 Corinthians 10:20) and, as such, they were a serious obstacle to satisfying his desire that all men be saved. Through his language, he was awakening his audience to the absurdity of treating people based on their group rather than as unique persons in need of our love and attention. The disciples could not help but notice the huge gulf between what morality required and the way their prejudices would have them act. There is no room for prejudice or division in God’s love. Those who serve him must rise above their worldviews and see the world in the light of pure love and objectivity.
Again, Christ was using this encounter to teach his audience that love requires that we serve everyone who comes into our midst, regardless of the color of their skin, where they or their babas were born, or how much money they make.
So what about the poor woman? What if she had given up? Remember, we are not dealing with a common man here, but with the eternal God incarnate. He knew the woman’s heart in its entirety; not just the love she had for her daughter or the trust she had in the power of God to heal her, but also her grit. He knew that she would do anything within her power to save her daughter. She would persevere. She would overcome.
This is the second lesson I would have you learn today: the virtue of perseverance and grit.
On perseverance.
[Persistence – examples from regular life (including studies on the relative importance of “grit”)]
If perseverance matters for all these other parts of our lives, why shouldn’t we expect it to affect our spiritual life?
If we are persistent, if we persevere, then the changes we make in our lives – eating well, exercising, being more patient with our families, dealing properly with our addictions, praying and worshipping more, being more serious in our Orthodoxy – will become less about the goals we want to achieve and more an expression of who we are.
We would no longer eat well because we wanted to become healthy, we would eat well because we WERE healthy. We would no longer exercise regularly because we wanted to become more fit, we would exercise regularly because we WERE fit. We would no longer be more patient and loving with our families because we wanted our family life to be more enjoyable, we would be patient and loving with our families because our family life WAS more enjoyable. We would no longer be more diligent in our prayer and worship life because we wanted to reduce stress and help others, but because we WERE LIVING stress-free and helpful lives. We would no longer be more serious in our Orthodoxy in order to get into heaven or to become more holy, but because, through Holy Orthodoxy, we WERE ALREADY BECOMING holy and more worthy of a place in heaven.Then we will have been transformed:
From dieters to health eaters. From out of shape to fit. From casualties of broken families to beneficiaries of healthy ones. From stressed out and powerless, to peaceful and powerful. From part-time Christians into saints.While each of these begins with a single decision, a decision on its own is not enough. In order to change our habits we have to exhibit enough grit and determination to make our decisions real in our lives. People who are serious about making changes rededicate themselves to their decisions every morning, then take stock of their efforts every evening. Moreover, they constantly ask God for his strength and support and that he remove the stains their weakness has caused. This is true whether we are talking about food and exercise or the even more important decision to give our lives over to The Way Christ established for the healing and salvation of all his people; it takes grit to make it real. It takes determination.
A Warning
We have to be careful: the world is full of snake-oil salesmen who will try to sell us shortcuts to health and perfection, and our egos are the most convincing charlatans of the lot. But there are no shortcuts. A pill cannot make up for laziness. We cannot eat junk and lay around all the time and expect to be healthy. We cannot ignore your family and be a blessing to them. We cannot skip prayer and find lasting peace. We cannot forsake The Way of Orthodoxy and live a holy life. And we cannot do anything worth doing without grounding ourselves completely in Jesus Christ, the very source of all power and perfection. Anyone who tells us differently – to include our own egos or “consciences” – is setting us up for failure. We have to ignore them, roll up our sleeves, and get serious.
Conclusion
It takes a lot of effort to gain anything worthwhile. In his interaction with the Gentile woman in today’s Gospel, Christ was showing us that salvation and the qualities needed to obtain it are not limited to any race, class, or nationality. It is ours to take no matter the color of our skin or where we were born. Christ came to save us all. In him and his love – that is to say, in his Holy Orthodox Church – there are no Gentiles or Jews, no Americans or Syrians, no rich or poor. Only those who are alive in Christ. Remember, God is not a respecter of persons. He desires that all be saved. He is knocking at the door of every heart. We must all let him in. We must accept him as our Lord, God, and Savior. And this is more than a one time promise. We cannot just say a “sinners prayer” and expect to be saved. The kingdom of heaven is taken by force and we must constantly strive – dare I say “work!” for our salvation. But do not despair: through Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we all have access to the strength we need to persevere.
And the road that we must walk, the very “Way” that the persistent must follow is found in its fullness here at this parish and in this community of Christ the Savior in Anderson, SC.
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Bible Study – Job
Class Five: Job 2:16-7:14
The trial of ideas begins. -
Homily on the Talents
Main point: What do we with the riches God has given us? Multiply them! How? By investing all those riches in spiritual activities that provide a strong return on investment and having enough self-discipline not to waste them on activities that cause spiritual harm.
There are many kinds of riches that the Bible and Tradition teach about; today we’ll talk about spiritual and monetary riches.
How to Get a Good Return on Spiritual Riches
• Baptized Christians have all received riches (the grace of Baptism – a life in Christ!): what do we do with them?
• We do not all start with the same – we all have abilities and weaknesses
• But all are called to grow that which God has planted in our hearts
How do we grow them? It’s all about Orthopraxis. Discipleship. Evangelism. Everyone has to be involved in the ministries of the Church – and our parish must be set up to enable and encourage this.
How do we bury our talents? Not just by squandering them, but by refusing to develop and use them. By sitting on our hands. By seeking the minimum standard.
We need to grow the grace God has put into our hearts so that it overflows and brings comfort, joy, and healing to all those around us. We have to grow the investment of grace God made within our hearts. Orthodoxy is not about rules – Americans hate rules – it’s about getting a good return on the spiritual investment God made in us. Americans understand investments (and, while it may seem crass, it follows from the parable that Christ gave us). So…
• Encouraging us to pray in the morning and evening and at every meal time is sound spiritual investment advice;
• Encouraging us to come to services every Sunday and Feast Dayis sound spiritual investment advice;
• Encouraging us to read scripture and edifying literature everyday is sound spiritual investment advice.
• Encouraging every parish member should offer up their time in both worship AND ministry is sound spiritual investment advice.
• Extolling the benefits of tithing is giving us sound spiritual advice.
• Warning us that things like gossip, pornography, self-indulgence, hard-heartedness, and adultery are wicked sins and to be avoided, is sound spiritual investment advice.
Some people hear this – and I mean good people! – and they say “but Father… I don’t need to do all these things to be good. I’m nice. I already love people. I know that it is my duty to help my friends and my family and that is what I do. It comes naturally. I don’t need fasting and all that other stuff.” I LOVE hearing this! It is great to meet people who are born with such wonderful gifts. But being born with gifts doesn’t get them off the hook. My response to the way they rationalize their slothfulness goes something like this; “wonderful! God gave you FIVE TALENTS instead of just one or two – now you need to fast and do all that other stuff to invest those five and get five more!”
No one should mistake a naturally pleasant disposition or other natural attributes as some kind of grace they earned: these things are gifts from God and they must be developed. That’s what he is telling us today about getting into heaven. God expects more from those to whom He has given more – so get to work!
How to Get the Best (Spiritual Return) on Monetary Riches
But the Lord isn’t just teaching us about how to grow the grace He has given us. There is a lot to learn here and throughout the scriptures about what to do with our money. He tells us that everything that we have was given to us is for one purpose: growth in perfection. Growth in Christ. The healing of this world. The spreading of the Gospel. The increasing and superabundance of grace in our lives, our parish, and this world. As with spiritual gifts, not all of us are given the same gifts … but we are all called to grow what we have been given to the glory of God.
• Ten talents: These people have the possibility/ability to give up all their money and possessions and follow Christ. (e.g. the holy disciples and apostles). Not everyone has the ability to do this. Not everyone is strong enough. Thank God that some are. The witness of monks.
• Five talents: These people have too many God-blessed responsibilities to give up all their money and possessions, but they can offer up a large proportion of their income. Not everyone is strong enough to do this. This is only possible for people who have made a discipline of simplicity and budgeted towards giving and either have a large salary proportional to their needs or – much less likely - who have come into a windfall (joke about the lottery). Examples: Saint Joachim – 2/3; Zacheous: half plus; (and lest we think this is just for the rich) the widow’s mite.
• One talent – done right!!!: “what must I do to be saved” Orthopraxis! Follow the law and live a life a love. Give proportionally according to your income. Make sacrifices for the Gospel. Offer what you can and grow that grace!
Important caveat: for most of us, Orthodoxy requires balancing competing commitments. When it comes to money, it really comes down budgeting and making every dollar count. Family responsibilities and paying debts are Christian obligations. Duty done well is done to the glory of God. Our God is not a God of irresponsibility. We have to find the balance – but in finding that balance, we need to let Christian morality – and not vices like laziness, self-indulgence, or fear – be our guides. Saint Paul makes this clear in his second letter to the Corinthians (8:8-12 & 9:6-9; glossed a bit):
Now I want to tell you what God in his grace has done for the churches in Macedonia. Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, they have mixed their wonderful joy with their deep poverty, and the result has been an overflow of giving to others. They gave not only what they could afford but far more; and I can testify that they did it because they wanted to and not because of nagging on my part. They begged us to take the money so they could share in the joy of helping the Christians in Jerusalem. Best of all, they went beyond our highest hopes, for their first action was to dedicate themselves to the Lord and to us, for whatever directions God might give to them through us.
[This reminds me of the statistics that show no correlations between wealth and the proportion that is given to charity – just look at the faithfulness of the people in “poor” churches!]
The people in this other church were so enthusiastic about helping out through sacrificial giving that we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to visit you and encourage you to complete your share in this same ministry of giving. You people there are leaders in so many ways—you have so much faith, so many good preachers, so much learning, so much enthusiasm, so much love… Now I want you to be leaders also in the spirit of cheerful giving.
I am not giving you an order; I am not saying you must do it or how much you should give … But this is one way to show that your love and dedication is real, that it goes beyond mere words.
You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus was: though he was so very rich, yet to help you he became so very poor, so that by being poor he could make you rich.
You were enthusiastic when you started down this path. Now let your early enthusiasm be equaled by your realistic action now. But hear this: if you are really eager to give, then it isn’t important how much you have to give. God wants you to give what you have, not what you haven’t.
But remember this—if you give little, you will get little. A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much. Everyone must make up his own mind as to how much he should give. Don’t force anyone to give more than he really wants to, for God loves the cheerful giver. God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others. It is as the Scriptures say: “The godly man gives generously to the poor. His good deeds will be an honor to him forever.”
God loves a cheerful giver, one who offers up gifts of his own free will – without compulsion. Our lives – and the life of our parish – have to be modeled around this fact. We don’t do dues. Dues are compulsory, whether they are a few hundred dollars or an imposition of the more biblical tithe. The extortion of income is the work of highway robbers and governments – not the parish. So while some of us have the ability, discipline, and JOY to budget around a tithe, not everyone can. The command is to offer up what you can to the glory of God and building up of joy in your life.
Let me conclude:
The point is that all we have been given – both our spiritual and material gifts – has been given to us one purpose: the one thing needful.
If we invest all those things that have been put into our care: our time, our abilities, and yes, our monetary treasures, into the service of the Most High, then in the day when we are called to account for the way we lived lives here on earth, we will hear those words that we know so well, “well done good and faithful servant – receive now your crown!’
And if not? God cannot force us into paradise against our will. If we decided in our lifetime to follow the example of the servant who hid his talent, then we will receive the same reward he did. That’s the Gospel.
No matter how much – or little - we have been entrusted with, we have a choice; it is the same choice all people of all places and times are given. Here is how Joshua put back in his day (Joshua 24:14-15; with glosses):
So revere the One True God and serve Him in sincerity and truth. Put away forever the idols of your ancestors. Worship the One True God and Him alone. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the false gods your ancestors served or the false gods of the land in which you now live. It is your choice. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
The Christian parish must be full of men and women – no matter their station, sinfulness, or abilities – who have made that same choice.
“As for me and my household – that is to say, as for me and all of you – I know that we will serve the Lord.”
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In this episode of "Father, Speak a Word," Fr. Gregory Jensen, PhD and Fr. Anthony talk about why we should celebrate our shortcomings (as we repent of our sin). The conversation is based on Fr. Gregory's substack article "It's Complicated; Thoughts On Falling Short of the Glory of God." [The audio has been corrected.]
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Bible Study – Job
Class Four: Job 1:13 – 2:15From the Orthodox Study Bible.
Job Loses His Children and Property
13. Now there was a day when Job’s sons and daughters were drinking wine in the house of their elder brother,
14. and behold, a messenger came to Job and said, “The yokes of oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were feeding beside them.
15. Then raiders came and took them captive and killed the servants with the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
16. While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep, and likewise consumed the shepherds; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
17. While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “Horsemen formed three bands against us, surrounded the camels, took them captive, and killed the servants with the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you!”
18. While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “Your sone and daughters were eating and drinking wine with their elder brother,
19. and suddenly a great wind came from the desert and struck the hour corners of the house; and it fell on your children, and they died; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
20. Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved off the hair of his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped, saying,
21. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it seemed good to the Lord, so also it came to pass. Blessed by the name of the Lord.”
22. In all these things that happened, Job did not sin against the Lord or charge God with folly.
Let’s break this down.
St. Gregory the Great.
On the compounding of affliction.
Lo again, lest any thing should be wanting to his grief for the adversity that came of man, he brings tidings that bands of the Chaldeans had broken in, and lest the calamity that came from above should strike him with too little force, he shews that wrath is repeated in the heavens…
He who is not laid low by one wound is in consequence stricken twice and thrice, that at one time or another he may be struck to the very core. Thus the blow from the Sabeans had been reported, the Divine visitation by fire from heaven had been reported, tidings are brought of the plundering of the camels, by man again, and of the slaughter of his servants, and the fury of God’s displeasure is repeated, in that a fierce wind is shewn to have smitten the corners of the house, and to have overwhelmed his children. For because it is certain that without the Sovereign dictate the elements can never be put in motion, it is covertly implied that He, Who let them be stirred, did Himself stir up the elements against him, though, when Satan has once received the power from the Lord, he is able even to put the elements into commotion to serve his wicked designs.On the timing of the attacks
We ought to observe what times are suited for temptations; for the devil chose that as the time for tempting, when he found the sons of the blessed Job engaged in feasting; for the adversary does not only cast about what to do, but also when to do it. Then though he had gotten the power, yet he sought a fitting season to work his overthrow, to this end, that by God’s disposal it might be recorded for our benefit, that the delight of full enjoyment is the forerunner of woe.On Job’s response.
But in that it is added that he worshipped, it is plainly shewn that even in the midst of pain, he did not break forth against the decree of the Smiter. He was not altogether unmoved, lest by his very insensibility he should shew a contempt of God; nor was he completely in commotion, lest by excess of grief he should commit sin. But because there are two commandments of love, i. e. the love of God, and of our neighbour; that he might discharge the love of our neighbour, he paid the debt of mourning to his sons; that he might not forego the love of God, he performed the office of prayer amidst his groans. There are some that use to love God in prosperity, but in adversity to abate their love of Him from whom the stroke comes. But blessed Job, by that sign which he outwardly shewed in his distress, proved that he acknowledged the correction of his Father, but herein, that he continued humbly worshipping, he shewed that even under pain he did not give over the love of that Father.But be it observed, that our enemy strikes us with as many darts as he afflicts us with temptations; for it is in a field of battle that we stand every day, every day we receive the weapons of his temptations. But we ourselves too send our javelins against him, if, when pierced with woes, we answer humbly.
Christological Interpretation
When his sons were destroyed in the ruin of the house, Job arose, because when Judæa was lost in unbelief, and when the Preachers were fallen in the death of fear, the Redeemer of mankind raised Himself from the death of His carnal nature; He shewed in what judgment He abandoned His persecutors to themselves. For His rising is the shewing with what severity he forsakes sinners, just as His lying down is the patient endurance of ills inflicted. He rises then, when He executes the decrees of justice against the reprobate. And hence He is rightly described to have rent his mantle. For what stood as the mantle of the Lord, but the Synagogue, which by the preaching of the Prophets clung to the expectation of His Incarnation? For in the same way that He is now clothed with those by whom He is loved, as Paul is witness, who says, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot nor wrinkle; (for that which is described as having neither spot or wrinkle; ALLEG. Eph. 5:27. is surely made appear as a spiritual robe; and at once clean in practice, and stretched in hope;) so when Judæa believed Him as yet to be made Incarnate, it was no less a garment through its clinging to Him.Job Loses His Health
2.1. Then again as it so happened another day, the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the devil also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
2. The Lord said to the devil, “Where did you come from?” Then the devil said before the Lord, “I came here from walking around under heaven and going about all the earth.”
3. Then the Lord said to the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job, since there is none like him on earth: an innocent, true, blameless, and God-fearing man, and one who abstains from every evil thing: Moreover he still holds fast to his integrity, though you told me to destroy his possessions without cause.”
4. Then the devil answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin. Whatever a man has he will pay in full for his life.
5. Yet truly, stretch out Your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he will bless You to Your face.”
6. So the Lord said to the devil, “Behold, I give him over to you; only spare his life.”
7. Thus the devil went out from the Lord and struck Job with malignant sores from head to foot.
8. So he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge and sat on a dunghill outside the city.
9. When a period of time passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you hold out, saying,
10. ‘Behold, I will wait a little longer, looking for the hope of my salvation’?
11. Listen, your memory is wiped out from the earth; your sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, which I suffered in vain and with hardships.
12. You yourself are sitting down, spending the nights in the open air among the rottenness of worms;
13. and I go about. As a wanderer and a handmaid from place to place and from house to house waiting for the setting of the sun, so as to rest from my labors and pains that now beset me.
14. But say a word against the Lord and die!”
15. Then Job looked at her and said, “You have spoken as one of the foolish women speaks. If we accepted good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not endure evil things?” In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips against God.
Let’s break this down.
St. John Chrysostom. The angels. Why does the author describe the angels in the act of presenting themselves daily before the Lord? He does so that we might learn no actual event is overlooked by God’s providence, and that the angels report what happens every day. Every day they are sent to settle some question, even though we ignore all this. That is the reason why they were created; that is their task, as the blessed Paul says, “They are sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” “And the devil,” the text says, “also came among them.” You know why the angels are present. But why is the devil present? The latter is present to tempt Job; the former, in order to regulate our matters. Why is the devil questioned again before the angels themselves? Because he had said before them, “He will curse you to your face.” What a shameless nature! He has dared come back!
St. John Chrysostom. On the wife. Notes that a long time passed, and she was not able to handle the temptations. The devil hopes this will be like Eve.
Fr. Patrick Reardon.
Indeed, we do perceive a change in Job at this point. If he does not curse God, Job also does not explicitly bless God as he had done in his first affliction (1:21). Instead, he humbly submits to God’s will (2:10). In each case, nonetheless, God’s confidence in Job is vindicated. Satan has done his worst to Job, but Job has not succumbed. Like Abraham in Genesis 22, Job has met the trial successfully. Having done his worst, Satan disappears and is never again mentioned in the book. The rest of the story concerns only God and human beings.St. Gregory the Great. On temptation.
The old adversary is wont to tempt mankind in two ways; viz. so as either to break the hearts of the steadfast by tribulation, or to melt them by persuasion. Against blessed Job then he strenuously exerted himself in both; for first upon the householder he brought loss of substance; the father he bereaved by the death of his children; the man that was in health he smote with putrid sores. But forasmuch as him, that was outwardly corrupt, he saw still to hold on sound within, and because he grudged him, whom he had stripped naked outwardly, to be inwardly enriched by the setting forth of his Maker’s praise, in his cunning he reflects and considers, that the champion of God is only raised up against him by the very means whereby he is pressed down, and being defeated he betakes himself to subtle appliances of temptations. For he has recourse again to his arts of ancient contrivance, and because he knows by what means Adam is prone to be deceived, he has recourse to Eve. For he saw that blessed Job amidst the repeated loss of his goods, the countless wounds of his strokes, stood unconquered, as it were, in a kind of fortress of virtues.On the nature of evil.
See the enemy is every where broken, every where overcome, in all his appliances of temptation he has been brought to the ground, in that he has even lost that accustomed consolation which he derived from the woman. Amid these circumstances it is good to contemplate the holy man, without, void of goods, within, filled with God. When Paul viewed in himself the riches of internal wisdom, yet saw himself outwardly a corruptible body, he says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels. 2 Cor. 4:7. You see, the earthen vessel in blessed Job felt those gaping sores without, but this treasure remained entire within. For without he cracked in his wounds, but the treasure of wisdom unfailingly springing up within issued forth in words of holy instruction, saying, If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive evil? meaning by the good, either the temporal or the eternal gifts of God, and by the evil, denoting the strokes of the present time, of which the Lord saith by the Prophet, I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. Is. 45:6, 7. Not that evil, which does not subsist by its own nature, is created by the Lord, but the Lord shews Himself as creating evil, when He turns into a scourge the things that have been created good for us, upon our doing evil, that the very same things should at the same time both by the pain which they inflict be to transgressors evil, and yet good by the nature whereby they have their being.On how the Church responds to both kinds of “evil”
Holy men, when fastened upon by the war of afflictions, when at one and the same moment they are exposed to this party dealing them blows and to that urging persuasions, present to the one sort the shield of patience, at the other they launch the darts of instruction, and lift themselves up to either mode of warfare with a wonderful skill in virtue, so that they should at the same time both instruct with wisdom the froward counsels within, and contemn with courage the adverse events without; that by their instructions they may amend the one sort, and by their endurance put down the other. For the assailing foes they contemn by bearing them, and the crippled citizens they recover to a state of soundness, by sympathizing with them. Those they resist, that they may not draw off others also; they alarm themselves for these, lest they should wholly lose the life of righteousness.And more on this
Holy men, when fastened upon by the war of afflictions, when at one and the same moment they are exposed to this party dealing them blows and to that urging persuasions, present to the one sort the shield of patience, at the other they launch the darts of instruction, and lift themselves up to either mode of warfare with a wonderful skill in virtue, so that they should at the same time both instruct with wisdom the froward counsels within, and contemn with courage the adverse events without; that by their instructions they may amend the one sort, and by their endurance put down the other. For the assailing foes they contemn by bearing them, and the crippled citizens they recover to a state of soundness, by sympathizing with them. Those they resist, that they may not draw off others also; they alarm themselves for these, lest they should wholly lose the life of righteousness.___
Saint Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, vol. 1 (Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; J. G. F. and J. Rivington, 1844), 83.
Robert Charles Hill. St. John Chrysostom Commentaries on the Sages, Volume One – Commentary on Job. Holy Cross Orthodox Press.
Patrick Henry Reardon, The Trial of Job: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Job (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2005), 22.
Manlio Simonetti and Marco Conti, eds., Job, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 4–5.
What we will cover next week:
The trial of ideas begins. Job 2:16-7:14
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Homily Notes on Zacchaeus Sunday:
What makes a home?Walk in – can you tell (that a place is a home)?
The feeling?
· Feelings and intuition are unreliable; generally, they are the way the subconscious mind puts together other indicators
· But to the sense our feelings are reliable, some places are haunted by memories of being home
“The clutter?” There is something to this.
· Imperfect indicator (museums have lots of stuff… & I hear there are homes with no clutter)
· Points to something else that is often associated with clutter
The rituals? There is something to this, as well.
· All homes do have rituals, but they are similar to clutter (they ARE clutters of habits… and these habits form character)
· Imperfect indicator
*** A home is where love lives. ***
Zacchaeus had a nice house.
· But it wasn’t until Christ came that it was a place of love
· “Today salvation has come to this house”
· From the blessing of homes after Theophany; “O GOD OUR SAVIOR, the True Light, who wast baptized in the Jordan by John to renew all men by the laver of regeneration, and who didst deign to enter under the roof of Zacchaeus, thereby bringing salvation to him and to all his house: do thou, the same Lord, keep safe from harm all who dwell here; grant them thy blessing, purification, and bodily health; grant all their petitions which are unto salvation and life everlasting. For blessed art thou, O Lord, together with thy Father who is without beginning, and thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.”
Lesson here
· Love blesses all things when it is present; friendships, teachers and students, workplace relationships…
· Why is this? Why aren’t the kind of relationships Zaccheaus had – ones based on exploitation – blessed?
· Because the God who created the rules is the One who is the source and animator of all love.
· This is why intentionally invoking Him in our relationships makes them so much stronger. Marriages, families, friendships… they are strengthened when they are done IN THE NAME OF CHRIST.
Most especially true of us here. This is THE place of power.
· Let us continue to bask in it.
· As Christ grows in our midst and remakes us into perfect bearers of that love.
- Visa fler
