First Reading - Job 3:1-3,11-17,20-23
Gospel - Luke 9:51-56
The first reading demonstrates the disheartening situation of Job, leading him to curse the day of his birth. After the three ‘comforters of Job’ have demonstrated their sympathy by sitting beside him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, Job suddenly breaks the silence and, in the richest poetic imagery, comprehensively curses the day he was born. There is no doubt that misery has consumed his life. Certainly, the misery and suffering of Job seem discouraging for any righteous person who desires to remain faithful to God. The question arises: "Why should I suffer such things if I have been faithful to God?"
The Gospel tries to give us an answer to this question: the road to suffering leads to the greater joy of salvation; therefore, we must have patience and perseverance through suffering. The journey of Jesus and His disciples to Jerusalem is filled with instructions from Jesus. Jerusalem is going to be the place of His destiny—His suffering, passion, and death. Jesus, through His rejection by the Samaritans in today's passage, teaches His disciples about the impending suffering and rejection they too would face when they take up their missionary work. The reaction of James and John to the rejection by the Samaritans, and their request to Jesus to call down fire from heaven, evokes the memory of Elijah. However, Jesus dissociates Himself from their request to punish the Samaritans. By doing this, He confirms that He is not another Elijah but the suffering Messiah, heading towards the cross in Jerusalem. Jesus’ firm decision to embrace crucifixion is a lesson for His disciples, showing them that the call to discipleship involves suffering.
Dear friends, the challenges of discipleship are great, but they become endurable with a firm decision to remain strong out of love for Christ and the Good News. Jesus knew of the sufferings awaiting Him in Jerusalem, but He remained firm and strong because of His love for the salvation of humanity. It's really hard to endure suffering and pain, as we see in Job, who finds it difficult to understand his own suffering. He finds it burdensome to endure. This is true for us as well. We often find suffering and struggles difficult to embrace. But Jesus teaches us today that the path to discipleship is a path of struggles, difficulties, rejection, and humiliation, yet we must learn to endure them patiently. Just as there is resurrection after crucifixion, so too is there great joy after our suffering and struggles.
We need to have a positive response to suffering and pain in life, like Jesus, who didn't react to the rejection by the Samaritans but instead moved on. This means He wasn’t stuck on the rejection. Many times, when we become stuck in our problems, rejections, and negative experiences, and fail to move on, we react like Job, James, and John, making our problems seem mammoth and insurmountable. Let's adopt Jesus' response as our pattern for life—when faced with negative situations, to move on and not remain stuck in those negative experiences. It is certainly tough, but not impossible.
May God give us the strength to face the challenges, struggles, and pains of our lives with a positive outlook.
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