Job

Chagall 1981

"Job es va imaginar que podria construir el seu niu a les altures - que la integritat de la seva conducta el protegiria contra la mala sort. I els seus amics van pensar, equivocadament, que el Senyor només el podia haver castigat perquè en secret havia fet alguna cosa malament.

Però no, la desgràcia també s'abat sobre els bons. No podem protegir-nos contra ella. No podem protegir els nostres infants. No podem dir-nos a nosaltres mateixos: “encara que jo no sigui feliç, aconseguiré que ells ho siguin”.

Desapareixem com un núvol. Ens marcim com l'herba de tardor, i com un arbre som arrencats d'arrel.

Hi ha algun frau en l'esquema de l'univers? No hi ha res que sigui immortal? Res que no passi?

No podem quedar-nos on som. Hem de tirar endavant. Hem de trobar el que és més gran que la fortuna o el destí. Cap altra cosa no ens pot portar pau.

Queda el cos de l’home savi, o del just, exempt de qualsevol dolor? De qualsevol inquietud, de la deformitat que pot anorrear la seva bellesa, de la debilitat que pot destruir la seva salut?

¿Confieu en Déu? Job també era a prop del Senyor. Són els vostres amics i els vostres infants la vostra seguretat? No hi ha cap amagatall a tot el món on els problemes no us puguin trobar. Ningú sap quan el dolor pot visitar casa seva, igual que no ho sabia Job.

Així que tot li va ser pres a Job, ell sabia que era el Senyor qui li havia pres. Es va apartar de les manifestacions fugisseres del temps. Va buscar el que és etern.

¿Veu només la mà de Déu el que veu que Ell dóna, o veu també la mà de Déu el que veu que Ell pren? Veu Déu només el que veu Déu girar el seu rostre cap a ell? No veu també Déu el que veu Déu donar-li l'esquena? "


El sermó sobre Job de la pel·lícula The tree of life de Terrence Malick



Text original:

"Job imagined he might build his nest on high – that the integrity of his behavior would protect him against misfortune. And his friends thought, mistakenly, that the Lord could only have punished him because secretly he’d done something wrong.

But, no, misfortune befalls the good as well. We can’t protect ourselves against it. We can’t protect our children. We can’t say to ourselves, even if I’m not happy, I’m going to make sure they are.

We vanish as a cloud. We wither as the autumn grass, and like a tree are rooted up.

Is there some fraud in the scheme of the universe? Is there nothing which is deathless? Nothing which does not pass away?

We cannot stay where we are. We must journey forth. We must find that which is greater than fortune or fate. Nothing can bring us peace but that.

Is the body of the wise man, or the just, exempt from any pain? From any disquietude, from the deformity that might blight its beauty, from the weakness that might destroy its health?

Do you trust in God? Job, too, was close to the Lord. Are your friends and children your security? There is no hiding place in all the world where trouble may not find you. No one knows when sorrow might visit his house, any more than Job did.

The very moment everything was taken away from Job, he knew it was the Lord who’d taken it away. He turned from the passing shows of time. He sought that which is eternal.

Does he alone see God’s hand who sees that He gives, or does not also the one see God’s hand who sees that He takes away? Does he alone see God who sees God turn His face towards him? Does not also he see God who sees God turn his back? "