Saturday 03 April 2010
- Bible Book:
- Job
"For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. But mortals die and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they?" (v.7-10)
Background
The day between Good Friday and the day of resurrection has noname in Scripture. There is no account of it in any of the Gospels.It was a day of silence and waiting, on which nothing could happenbecause it was the Sabbath. So the lectionary turns to the book ofJob (a poem of ancient origin, attributed to Moses by the Talmud -an ancient Jewish text - but probably completed around 500 BC) fora meditation on mortality and the questions that death raises forall human beings.
Job (who may have been an historical or a fictional figure) hadsuffered. Having been a rich and successful man, a series ofdisasters had befallen his livestock and his sons and daughters,leaving him grief-stricken and alone. But, despite cursing the dayhe was born (Job 3:3-4) Job refused to curse God; anddespite the conventional wisdom of his 'comforters' who urged himto believe that his misfortune was punishment for his sins, Jobpersisted in speaking the truth as he experienced it. Rather thanlistening to the 'wisdom' of his friends, he identified with thewisdom of the animals who know that in God's hand is the life ofevery living thing (Job 12:7-14).
Chapter 14 is part of Job's lament to God about death, expressinghis knowledge gained through bitter experience that mortals who diecannot live again. Even so, Job flirts, against his own betterjudgement with the idea that there might be a land of shadows(Sheol) in which he could hide and then be put back together(re-membered): a land in which both the righteous and theunrighteous were believed by some Jews to await the day ofresurrection.
In Job's mouth is the despair and the hope against hope that humanbeings experience in the face of death. Faith in God does notexempt him from hard realities or hard questions, nor give him aneasy hope. In the end all he can do is wait to see what God willdo.
To Ponder
To what extent do you think there is a connectionbetween the disasters that befall people and God's judgement?
What do you believe will happen to you when youdie?
How does resurrection hope shape the waiting ofHoly Saturday for you?