Super Blessed

I really appreciate summaries. The Golden Rule summarizes the Law and the Prophets. A pregnant sentence can summarize a paragraph, or even a whole chapter. And there is an inspired summary of the life of Job. One verse tells us two take-aways: 1) the Lord purposes to show super-sympathy and 2) the biggest burden-bearers are blessed.

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:11)

Who wouldn’t prefer pure Deuteronomic blessings, the kind that include fields full of harvest and houses full of life and laughter? Who doesn’t consider those who succeed as blessed? And they may be.

But when we think about it, we know that those who’ve endured are those who’ve received God’s favor. James isn’t exhorting us to hold a difficult perspective, he’s explaining the fact of what is.

It is the end, the “purpose,” the telos of the Lord, to show off His compassion. The root word  splagxnon is bowels, guts and feelings of affectionate concern. In James 5:11 the compound word is polusplagxnos, many-boweled, “full of compassion” (NASB). It’s not just sympathy, it’s super-sympathy.

The ones who remain under the burden, who are characterized by their endurance, we count them blessed. Why? Because they are the object of the Lord’s affection-attention.

The only one more characterized by such in Scripture than Job is Jesus. We’ve seen the outcome of their steadfastness, and have the same sympathy, and blessing, available to us.