**Warning: If you have not seen the movie “Little Shop of Horrors” or it’s original ending that was not released in theaters, there are spoilers ahead.**
Dear God, I was talking with my wife about how I don’t like the last eight verses of Job:
10 When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! 11 Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money[a] and a gold ring.
12 So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. 14 He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.
16 Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. 17 Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.
If Job is a novella and not an actual biography, as many scholars suggest, I wish it stopped with Job 42:9, with Job praying for his friends. But these last verses actually seem incongruous with the rest of the book. It’s almost like they undermine the lesson the book had taught me up to that point. Specifically, that our lives are not about our comfort or success. They are submitted to you. Laid on the line for you. Prepared to suffer for you. In fact, it feels like I can list on one hand the number of biblical characters whose lives got easier after they decided to dedicate them to you. Most of their lives got much more difficult and ended tragically.
So what does this have to do with Little Shop of Horrors, the Broadway play, turned musical, turned movie? Well, I first saw it in the theaters while I was a junior in high school. It was great. I loved it. Lots of fun. The music was great. Steve Martin’s dentist was awesome. And the ending left me with the two main characters getting their happily ever after. Then, about fifteen years ago, our local community theater did the stage production of the musical. I was really excited to see it. And the cast did a great job. The two young people who played Seymour and Audrey were great. The dentist was over the top in the best way. And then we got to the show’s climax. The plant, the Audrey II (which was revealed to actually be an alien), was going to try to eat the heroes love interest, but he would save her, find a clever way to kill the plant, and then they would live out their dreams in the suburbs. But that’s not what happened. Seymour failed to save Audrey. She was dead. Then the plant killed Seymour, and replicants of itself eventually took over the world. I was stunned.
I found the theater director after the show and said, “The plant wins?!?”
“Yes, she said, “that’s how it originally happnened. They changed the ending for the movie.”
I looked it up and, sure enough, that’s what happened. They screened the original ending (see above) to test audiences, and the movie was scoring off the charts until everyone died and the plants (aliens) won. It was a looming disaster, so they changed the ending. And I’ll admit, I don’t think 16-year-old me would have enjoyed that ending. The movie’s director, Frank Oz, said that he learned that the original stage musical could get away with it because the actors can come out for final bows and the audience doesn’t have to feel like they are really dead, while a movie doesn’t give the actors that chance. When they are gone, they are gone.
I am thinking about this because I almost feel like someone added the last eight verses of Job to make people want to read it. To tickle their ears. To give them hope. And I want to be careful to not just dismiss pieces of scripture or be so arrogant as to think that I know what should be in the Bible and what shouldn’t be. But I’m just having a hard time reconciling the lesson of submission regardless of what it costs me to the abundance provided to Job after his experience. This is thought to be an ancient story from even before Noah.
The New Testament reading for the church today is from Philippians 4. One of the verses says, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests know to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” There’s no guarantee of wealth and success here. In fact, Paul’s life got nothing but harder, all the way up to his martyrdom. So he knew about bringing petitions to you, but he also knew about how you were using him beyond what he wanted and the peace you would give in that struggle.
Father, I don’t want to pretend that my life is suffering. In fact, outside of my and my wife’s one great sorrow, it is actually quite lovely. I don’t really know what it means to truly suffer, and I know I take that for granted. But you’ve used the sorrow to form me. You’ve used the challenges in my life to form me. Help me, Lord, to not lose sight of you and you alone as my priority. Not me. Not my wants, although I have wants and I’m delighted when I receive some of them. Not the way I want things to be, although I have preferences about politics and world events that I’m delighted when I get my way. No, I want to just see you, follow you, serve you, and rest in you.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
