Job

Once upon a time I was a Religion major at a Baptist university.  During that time I learned many, many wonderful things about the sacred texts from Jewish and Christian traditions.  I also learned how tragically watered-down and misunderstood some of those Bible stories have become in their modern Western mainstream translations.

One of my favorite examples of this comes from the book of Job.  Before learning the actual Hebrew translations of the words and the historical context of Job's interactions with God, I had assumed this was a tale about how we should all learn to take whatever God is dishing out with a stiff upper lip and a smile.  Turns out, I was POWERFULLY mistaken.

The real miracle of this story is that before Job went toe to toe with God (crying, cursing, screaming, blaming, doubting, and demanding justice), there was this really punitive theology that dominated that culture's beliefs at the time.  The technical term is called Deuteronomic Theology, and its basic premise is that you can tell who God loves most by a person's material wealth, overall health, and number of children.  Seriously.  It's different in application, but similar in philosophy to the belief systems that govern things like the caste system in India.  Belief systems like this allow us to get away with ignoring the suffering of others, and keep us in superficial relationship with the Divine.

Satan plays a role in this story too, which is curious on a lot of levels.  First of all, it reminds me to let you know that the Hebrew translation for the word that became "satan" in English literally means "the accuser".  Yep.  That's a good thing to remember b/c it alerts us that "the accuser" is an enemy of Love.  I have to work really hard to try to hold onto that truth because the energy of "the accuser" seems to rise up within us in such subtle, sneaky ways sometimes.

But, I digress.  Back to Job.  So, Satan accuses Job (behind his back, of course!) of only loving God b/c God has been so generous with him.  SO sneaky, right?  Ugh.  But God decides to take up this challenge, a deal is struck, and God hedges his bets that Job will prove that his love for God is real despite his outer circumstances.  I hate this part of the story because it's hard not to want to get in the ring and demand answers on Job's behalf too!  Which just might be the point.  Because Job reacted similarly - but on a grand scale.  Job's friends, however, basically begged him to stop crying out for justice from God and to admit that he had some secret unconfessed sin for which he was now being justly  punished.  A couple things here:  A) the word "sin" literally translated simply means "to miss the mark".  B)  THOSE ARE BAD FRIENDS.  And God agreed.

In fact, when God does answer Job with his presence, he is stunning and terrifying and all sorts of God-like, BUT he is not displeased with Job in anyway.  Guess who he's super angry with instead? Job's friends!  He's especially irritated b/c those guys were so busy talking about God, claiming to serve and know him from that place.  But Job (God's favorite) shouted at, pleaded with, talked directly to, and demanded a personal response from the Source of Life itself.  God decided that this kind of passion was the ultimate demonstration of faith and love in the Divine, and eventually rewarded Job's faith and love in many ways (note: the eventual reward did not diminish or erase his initial suffering).  Job's friends, on the other hand, were on God's shit-list in a major way.  God responded to them by deciding that they were not even fit to make penance to God on their own behalves, but would have to rely on Job's generosity and see if he would make sacrificial offerings for them.

So, why is this my favorite tale?!  Well, because it's so full of good news you can actually use.  First of all, I think it suggests (on an archetypal level) that real intimacy with the Divine requires real honesty... no matter how dark and despairing.  Another piece of brilliance in this story seems to demonstrate to us that even the darkest, most menacing accusatory energy can be responded to in a way that might transform a whole system of thought, way of being, or cultural attitude!  Lastly, I LOVE that part of Job's capacity to believe so fiercely in God's goodness was connected to Job's willingness to keep his heart open towards himself too.  He knew he was worthy Divine love and favor.

Basically this:  HE DID NOT BELIEVE THE VOICE OF THE ACCUSER, but instead pounded his fists furiously against the doors that open into Love.