IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON January 28, 2008 Issue

A weekly column in which writers discuss Bible passages that appear in the Christian Science Bible Lessons.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT JOB . . .

ELAINE FOLLIS

WHAT DOES DIVINE LOVE really mean? Is it a guarantee of easy living? Is it a "get out of jail free" card for those who have made poor life choices? Is it a reward for good behavior?

None of the above! This week's Christian Science Bible Lesson on the subject of "Love" uses the story of Job as a vehicle to deepen the reader's understanding of what divine Love actually is all about and how it relates to the activity of Mind, another of the synonyms for God given by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health. "In the Science of Christianity," says a citation in the fourth section of the Lesson, "Mind—omnipotence—has all-power, assigns sure rewards to righteousness, and shows that matter can neither heal nor make sick, create nor destroy" (p.203). At first consideration, it would seem the story of the innocent Job's suffering illustrates the very opposite of "sure rewards. But as it turns out, that is the heart of the story: Job learns that righteousness—a right relationship with God and His creation—guarantees safety no matter what the circumstance. That, in a nutshell, is the lesson of divine Love.

Clearly, it's a far cry from the convenient and quite superficial assertion that divine Love spares us problems. Job didn't find that. Nor did Christ Jesus. Scripture doesn't testify to divine Love as promoting ease, but to its power to sustain and redeem under the most adverse conditions imaginable.