Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.
Today we begin reading selections from the book of Job during the daily mass readings. Job is often pointed to as a model of hope and perseverance. He lived most of his life having received generous blessings from the Lord. He was healthy, wealthy, successful, and much beloved. Job was blessed, but then Job lost it all out of no fault of his own. In the course of minutes, Job has lost everything, from his herds to his children. His life was devastated, and what is Job’s response?
“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”
How is it that he could sit idly by and watch the Lord take away everything he had? I took insight from the Gospel.
Jesus is watching the disciples argue among themselves about which of them was the greatest. They longed for success and power, but Jesus desired that they learn a different way. He took a child and said, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.” Without a doubt, Jesus is the greatest among them, so Jesus is subtly implying that He is the least among them. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, so what do we make of it?
We see Jesus using a child as an example. Most of us have probably heard the call to be child-like for all of our Christian lives. What I’ve learned over my time pursuing the Lord is that to be child-like means to be receptive. Children rely on their parents for everything. Job testifies to this internal disposition when he says, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.” Jesus spends hours in the Scriptures praying to His heavenly Father. He needs to receive direction and be united to His Father to accomplish His mission.
We need the same thing. We need to learn to our very core how much we rely on God. Everything is His. Everything is a gift. Everything is grace. The sooner we come to know that, the freer we can live. No longer do we need to scramble to figure things out for worry about how we’ll get the things we need. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization