(rough draft)
The Misunderstanding of Suffering—
The Talk about Job
That same night at Bethsaida, John asked Jesus why so many innocent people suffered from disease and sickness. Among the things that Jesus told John, he said, “My son, you do not understand hardship or the reason for suffering. Haven’t you read the great story in the scriptures about Job and the hard times he endured. Do you remember how this wonderful parable begins by telling us how blessed Job was with health and wealth, dignity and position, and children and all of the other things that men value in the earthly life?
According to the children of Abraham in those times, all that Job had was evidence that he had God’s divine favor. But material possessions and earthly wealth doesn’t mean a person is blessed by God. Our Father is no respecter of persons: He loves the poor as much as the rich.
Yes, breaking God’s divine law will sooner or later bring hardship: what men sow they’ll reap. But that does not mean that all human suffering is the result of past sin. Neither Job nor his friends could find the answers to their confusion, and with the knowledge you now have you wouldn’t put either God or Satan into the roles that they play in this story.
While Job didn’t resolve his questions by suffering, he still accomplished a lot. Even when all he thought he knew about God fell apart, he still rose to the point where he could sincerely say ‘I abhor myself,’ which brought to him a vision of God. So even though Job misunderstood the reason for his suffering, he ascended to the superhuman level of morality and spiritual insight. When those suffering receive a vision of God it results in a soul-felt peace beyond human understanding.
“The first of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, wanted the suffering Job to now live up to the same inner strength he had told others to show when he was rich. He said, ‘Trust in your religion, Job; remember that it is the wicked and not the righteous who suffer. You must deserve this punishment, or else it wouldn’t be happening to you. You well know that no man can be righteous in God’s sight. You know that the wicked never really prosper. Anyway, it seems man is predestined to get into trouble, so maybe the Lord is only punishing you for your own good.’
It’s no wonder that poor Job wasn’t comforted much from that explanation of why people suffer.
“But what his second friend, Bildad, said to him was even worse, even though it was correct according to what people knew about God back then. This guy, Bildad, told Job, ‘God cannot be unjust. Your children must have been sinners since they all died. You’re doing something wrong, otherwise you wouldn’t be suffering so much. If you really were righteous, God would ease your troubles. You should know that in our history of men dealing with god that the Almighty only destroys the wicked.’
“And then remember how Job replied to his friends, saying, ‘I’m well aware that God does not hear my cry for help. How can God be just and at the same time so utterly ignore my innocence?
I am learning that I can get no satisfaction from appealing to the Almighty. Can’t you see that God tolerates the persecution of the good by the wicked? And since man is so weak, what chance does he have for consideration at the hands of an aa powerful God? God made me like I am, so when he turns on me, I am defenseless. And why did God ever create me just to suffer in this miserable fashion?’
“And who can challenge Job’s attitude given the advice of his friends and the messed-up ideas of God that were in his own mind? Don’t you see that Job longed for a human God, that he hungered to be at one with a divine Being who knows man’s life on Earth and understands that just people must often suffer even when they are innocent as a part of this first life of the Paradise ascent?
It is for that reason that the Son of Man has come forth from the Father to live the life of a man on Earth, so that in the future he will be able to comfort and support all those who have to endure the same suffering as Job. “Job’s third friend, Zophar, was even less help to Job when he said, ‘You are foolish to say you are righteous, seeing that you are suffering so much. But I admit that it is impossible to understand God’s ways. Maybe there is some hidden purpose in all your miseries.’
And after Job had listened to all three of his friends, he went straight to God for help, declaring the fact that ‘man, born of woman, is few of days and full of trouble.’ “Then he went and talked a second time with his friends. This time Eliphaz grew more stern, accusing, and sarcastic.
Bildad got offended at Job’s contempt for his friends, and Zophar just repeated his gloomy advice.
Job, by this time, had become disgusted with his friends. He appealed to God again, but this time he sent his words to a just God rather than the unjust God represented by his friends and his own religious beliefs.
Next, Job relaxed knowing that in a future life the inequalities of this life will be more than covered. Not getting help from man drove Job to God. Then he went through the great struggle in his heart between his faith and doubt, finally seeing the light. He reached new levels of hope and courage knowing that that he may suffer and even die, but that he lives on in God.
“Job was right when he challenged the belief that God makes children suffer in order to punish their parents. Job was always ready to admit that God is righteous, but he really wanted some type of soul-satisfying knowledge of the personality of the Eternal. And that is our mission on earth.
No more will suffering mortals be denied the comfort of knowing God’s love and mercy.
While the idea of God speaking from a mighty whirlwind was okay in its day, you now know that the Father doesn’t show himself to us through miracles, but instead speaks to us as a still, small voice, saying, ‘This is the way; walk like this.’
Do you understand that God dwells in you, that he has become what you are so that he can make you what he is!” Then Jesus ended by saying, “The Father in heaven does not willingly bring hardship to the children of men. Man suffers, first, from the accidents of time and the imperfections of the evil that comes with an immature physical existence. Next, he suffers the unavoidable consequences of sin: breaking the laws of life and light. And finally, man reaps the harvest of his own continuing rebellion, his level of iniquitness, against God’s rule of heaven on Earth.
But these hardships are not the result of a personal slap from God. Man can, and will, do much to lessen his suffering on Earth. But once and for all, get rid of the superstition that God punishes man at the request of the evil one.
Study the Book of Job to see just how many wrong ideas of God even good men believe. And then note how even Job, when he was in pain, found the God of comfort and salvation in spite of all of the wrong teachings. At last his faith pierced through his suffering to see the light of life pouring forth from the Father as healing mercy and everlasting righteousness.”
John thought about these sayings in his heart for many days. This conversation with Jesus in the garden changed his life from that point on, and in the years to come he did a lot that caused the other apostles to change their ideas about the nature and purpose of normal human suffering.
But John never spoke of this conference to anyone until after Jesus had been killed.
The Man with the Withered Hand
The second Saturday before the apostles and the new group of evangelists took off on the second preaching tour of Galilee, Jesus spoke in the Capernaum synagogue on the “Joys of Righteous Living.”
When Jesus had finished speaking, a large group of people with many different problems crowded around him asking to be healed. Also present were the apostles, a lot of the new evangelists, and the six spies from Jerusalem who were sure to follow him everywhere he went.
As Jesus stood talking to the people, the leader of the spying Pharisees convinced a man with a withered hand to go up to Jesus and ask him if it would be lawful to be healed on the sabbath or if he should ask for help on another day. When Jesus saw the man, heard his words, and realized that he had been sent by the Pharisees, he said, “Come here, and let me ask you a question.
If you had a sheep and it fell into a pit on the sabbath, would you reach down and lift it out?
Is it lawful to do that type of thing on the sabbath?”
And the man answered, “Yes, Master, it would be lawful to do well like that on the sabbath.”
Then Jesus said, speaking to all of them, “I know why you have sent this man to me. Because if you could tempt me to show mercy on the sabbath it would give you a reason to charge me with an offence. But in silence, you all agreed that it was lawful to lift the poor sheep out of the pit, even on the sabbath. And now I want you to see that it is okay under the law to show loving-kindness on the sabbath to not only animals but also to men. How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! I am now telling you that it is not against the law to do good to men on the sabbath.”
And as they all stood before him in silence, Jesus, speaking to the man with the wasted away hand, said, “Stand up here by my side so that everyone can see you. And now so you can all know that it is my Father’s will that you do good on the sabbath, if you have the faith to be healed, I ask you to stretch out your hand.”
And as the man stretched out his withered hand, it was healed and made whole. The people got mad, and wanted to turn on the Pharisees. But Jesus told them to be calm, saying, “I have just told you that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to save life, but I did not tell you to hurt people and give in to the desire to kill.”
The Pharisees were angry, and took off. Even though it was the sabbath, they ran straight to Tiberias and told Herod what had happened, doing everything in their power to make him mad and secure the Herodians as allies against Jesus. But Herod refused to take any action against Jesus, telling the spies they should take their complaints to Jerusalem.
This is the first case of Jesus doing a miracle when he was challenged to do so by his enemies. And the Master did this so-called miracle not as a demonstration of his healing power, but to protest against the idea of turning the sabbath into a bunch of meaningless rules to control all of humanity.
This man returned to his trade as a stone mason, and was one of those people who after their healing went on to live a life of gratitude and righteousness.
The Last Week at Bethsaida
During their last week at Bethsaida, the Jerusalem spies started having some disagreement about Jesus. Three of these Pharisees were tremendously impressed by what they had seen and heard.
And at the same time, in Jerusalem, Abraham, who was a young and influential member of the Sanhedrin, publicly confessed his belief in Jesus’ teachings, and was then baptized by Abner in the Siloam pool.
All of Jerusalem was in an uproar over this event, and messengers were immediately sent to Bethsaida to tell the six Pharisee spies to come back to Jerusalem. About this time, the Greek philosopher who had entered the kingdom on Jesus’ last tour of Galilee, returned with some wealthy Jews from Alexandria and once again invited Jesus to come back to their city to build a joint school of religion and philosophy, as well as a small hospital for the sick.
But Jesus declined the invitation. About this time, a trance prophet from Bagdad named Kirmeth showed up at the Bethsaida camp. This supposed prophet had strange visions when he was in trance, and fantastic dreams when he was asleep. He created quite the disturbance at the camp, and Simon Zelotes wanted to deal rather roughly with the self-deceived pretender. But Jesus intervened, and allowed Kirmeth all the freedom he wanted for a few days.
And soon, everyone who heard his preaching realized that what he taught was not sound as judged by the gospel of the kingdom. He soon returned to Bagdad, taking with him only a half dozen unstable and erratic people.
But also, before Jesus had spoken up for the Bagdad prophet, David Zebedee, with the assistance of a self-appointed committee, had taken Kirmeth out into the lake and, after repeatedly plunging him into the water, had advised him to leave right away and go and build and organize his own camp somewhere else.
On this same day, Beth-Marion, a Phoenician woman, went out of her mind and into a frenzy, and then after almost drowning from trying to walk on the water she was sent away by her friends.
The new Jerusalem convert, Abraham the Pharisee, gave everything he owned to the apostle’s treasury. This contribution did a lot to help them to immediately send out the one hundred newly trained evangelists.
Andrew had already announced the camp was going to close, and everybody prepared to either go home or else to follow the evangelists into Galilee.
Healing the Paralytic
It was the afternoon of Friday, October 1st, when one of the strangest events in Jesus’ Earth life took place. He was holding his last meeting with the apostles, evangelists, and other leaders of the camp in the large open front room in Zebedee’s house that had been built for holding meetings during the rainy season. The six Pharisees from Jerusalem sent to spy on Jesus were also there, seated in the front row of people. Outside, a huge crowd was packed-in surrounding the house, all of them straining their ears to hear what Jesus was saying.
While all of this was going on, a man who had been paralyzed for a long time showed up outside the house. He had had his friends carry him to the camp from Capernaum on a small couch. This man had recently spoken with Aaron the stone mason who had himself been healed, and when he heard that Jesus was about to leave the area, he decided to go to him and ask to be healed. But when they got to Zebedee’s house, his friends couldn’t find a way in through all of the people.
This guy was determined to see Jesus, and wasn’t going to give up. So, he told his friends to find some ladders, hoist him up onto the roof of the house, make a whole in the tiles, and then lower him on his couch down into the living room. This they did, and the guy, sitting on his couch, landed directly in front of Jesus as he was speaking.
When Jesus saw this, he quit talking. Everyone else I the room was pretty shocked at this man’s perseverance.
And then the paralyzed man said, “Master, I don’t want to disturb your teaching, but I am determined to be healed. I am not like those other people who were healed and immediately forgot your teaching. I want to be made whole so I can serve in the kingdom of heaven.”
Now, even though this man had brought his disease on himself by his own misspent life, Jesus, seeing his faith, said to the him, “Son, fear not; your sins are forgiven. Your faith shall save you.” When the Pharisees from Jerusalem, together with the other scribes and lawyers who sat with them, heard Jesus say this they began to whisper to themselves, asking, “How dare this man say that? Doesn’t he understand that’s blasphemy? Who can forgive sin but God?”
Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, said to them, “Why do you think that way in your hearts? Who are you to sit in judgment over me? What is the difference whether I tell this paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or arise, take up your bed, and walk? Just so that all of you that are witnessing this can finally know that the Son of Man has authority and power on Earth to forgive sins, I now say to this sick man, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your own house.” And when Jesus said that, the paralytic arose, and as everyone got out of the way he walked out of the house in front of them all. And those who saw these things were amazed. Then Peter told the group to go home, and many prayed and glorified God, confessing that they had never before seen such strange happenings.
And it was about this time that the messengers of the Sanhedrin arrived to tell the six spies to return to Jerusalem. When they heard this message, they had a discussion among themselves; after they had finished talking, the leader and two of his associates returned with the messengers to Jerusalem, while three of the spies confessed faith in Jesus and, going immediately to the lake, were baptized by Peter and taken in to the kingdom.
Bob