🕂 The Holy Apostle James, Son of Alpheus; Our Venerable Father Andronika and his wife Anastasia.
Polyeleos Feast.
1 Corinthians 4:9-16; Luke 10:16-21.
Read Luke 10:16-21
Throughout Job’s sufferings his friends insisted on rationalizing the situation. Job, on the other hand, could not make sense of it either, but he refused their logic and stayed faithful in his agony, trusting God to vindicate him. Between these two camps Job seemed the more unreasonable, and that appearance of irrationality made his suffering more acute.
The wise and powerful of this world today are not unlike Job’s friends then. They too want to reason with God’s faithful and provide neat explanations for our woes. We are told: our world suffers because of climate change. Our world suffers because of racism. Our world suffers because of income inequality. Our world suffers because of entrenched, old-world views on family. We are even told our world suffers because farmers’ cows release methane after eating their grass meals. All these claims contain a measure of sense, and many Christians of both high and low station heed such counsel.
Yet the solution to these woes is not surface reasoning but going to the root and destroying it. Jesus said He saw Satan fall from heaven. His stench is in our air and his filth is in our water. Jesus has given His disciples authority to cast out Satan and his demons through His Holy Name: Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary. Yes, this seems childlike and simplistic. Yes, the wise of this world call it irrational. Yes, their scorn adds to our suffering. But if we truly care for this fallen world, we will remain faithful and childlike, doing what the Good One told us to do: speak in the Name of Jesus and cast out demons. When people reject this childlike response, know they do not reject us—they reject Jesus Himself. And that is the height of irrationality.