In listening to the story of Job growing up it always bothered me that there could be this cosmic being who played games with our lives like a video game. How could that be loving or good at all? It’s sick and twisted. And so I really didn’t like the story of Job. But lately I’ve been thinking I was just looking at the story wrong. Maybe.
I think it might be a tad ironic that Job’s name is Job. That somehow his name is spelled the same as the word job is more than ironic in that Job feels his entire condition is a reflection of the job he has done in serving God. Isn’t it?
And that’s how we are.
We tend to think that God is a being who rewards or punishes based upon our ability. I mean, it’s just easier. It’s our go-to move. Many of us were raised in traditions who at least implied the very same in some ways. Now, I don’t know if God is a God that necessarily punishes or rewards based on what I’ve done but I find a similiarity between the theology of the Book of Job and the theology of the cross.
Because in Job the overarching idea is that God can do whatever God chooses. Why? Because God is God. And even though Job and his friends think that their actions are what move God to do what God does or allows, the story makes it clear that God will “punish” and “reward” any that God may choose for whatever reason God chooses.
And I find continuity with that in the story of the cross. To quote Romans, none is righteous! None of us has done enough to earn or merit the great reward or blessing that has been placed in our hands by God, but because God can choose what God will do without regard to our actions or abilities, we were sent the Son to deliver us all.
And here’s the kicker.
On some level God still expects us to live righteously. God still rewarded Job for living righteously, on both chronological sides of his torment. In fact, his righteous living so impressed the Lord that it was his behavior that prompted the whole incident in the first place. Clearly, it’s important that Job led and continued to lead a righteous life.
And so for you and me. It is important that we make decisions that are righteous. Because just as God could choose to do what God would with Job, God has chosen to do with us what God wants. But just as God expected Job to live righteously and make righteous decisions, God expects us to respond and live righteously.
So the point is this; that, though God has chosen to do what God wants to do without regard to our actions, God expects that our actions outside of God’s decisions are still righteous.
That means in response to Christ. That means in our relationships with people. That means our relationship with the Earth. That means everything.
So I guess the story of Job isn’t that bad.