(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
As I inferred Monday, the book of Job is like a legal trial. I made you the jurors Monday and look forward to the decision of the jury at the end of the week.
Today Job takes the stand. He knows that it is futile to argue against God because of God’s power and great knowledge. God can make mountains and then move them around, like toothpicks on a plate. God shakes the earth as we shake salt. He makes the sun to rise and to set, more easily than we flip light switches. He makes the storm clouds and the tempest’s winds more easily than we boil water. Job knows this, the great odds he has of being heard, let alone being heard justly.
In today’s speech we already have an inkling of the outcome. In one sense it seems that Job wants to settle out of court, to plead “no contest” instead of “not guilty”. A plea of not guilty challenges the suggestion of guilt and tries to present a reasonable doubt of guilt. A plea of no contest does not admit guilt but states a decision not to argue the facts as presented.
A verdict of not guilty does not say that the event charged did not happen or that the person did not do the thing charged. It merely says that the charge was not sufficiently proven and the person is free to go.
Job is in something of a predicament. He maintains his innocence, yet Job knows the chances are slim that he could prove it. How can anyone bring a case against God successfully?
My case would be just the opposite. So would the same be for most of us. We are sinful and we can wonder how God could ever forgive us and save us. Who could ever appear before the court of God, admit guilt, and at the same time expect a verdict of innocent, not guilty?
Both Job and we, in presenting our cases, acknowledge the great and almighty power of our God, as well as God’s supreme goodness and holiness. The task for Job is to have God recognize him and bring a happy resolution to his suit. He task for us to challenge ourselves to accept the forgiveness which God’s almighty and merciful love offers us. The task for God is to show that the power of God is stronger than all the evil we can do.
How will things work out? You, the jury, have not returned a verdict yet. You still have to weigh the evidence being presented. You have until the end of the week, when we hope to hear a verdict from you.