As we turn to Job 11, Zophar speaks for the first time. He follows the lead of his other friends and condemns Job for his sin. Once again in flowery language, he makes the same point: God doesn’t punish the innocent, and we have no right to contest God in any case. The weight of Job’s friends’ arguments gets heavier not because they are breaking new ground, but because they are so consistent in saying the same thing over and over again.
Job responds in chapters 12-14 with three specific emphases. In 12, Job basically says, “Duh!” once again. He tells Zophar he knows everything Zophar has told him and is more aware of God’s punishment of sin than he, but Job declares once again he is righteous. In 13, Job acknowledges that no matter what God does, he will continue to worship Him. In this chapter Job proclaims, “Though he slay me, I will hope in Him.” What amazing faith! While some might have suffered as much as Job, no one who has been so righteous has suffered more than Job, except for Jesus. Isaiah prophesied Jesus would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The same could be said of Job. The key difference, of course, is Job’s righteousness was a relative righteousness. He was not totally blameless as was Jesus. Only Jesus lived a perfect life, and then suffered a brutal execution on our behalf. In chapter 13, Job points out the brevity of life and the permanence of death. He compares us to trees, and notes if one cuts down a tree, a sprout might spring up from the stump, but when we die our lives are over. Job’s hope in life after death is limited or missing, which is why his suffering in the midst of his righteousness is even more distressing. Thankfully, we live after Jesus’ resurrection, so we know life after death is possible, and for those who know Jesus as Savior and Lord it is sure. That doesn’t make our suffering in this life easy, but it makes it easier to bear than Jobs suffering was for him.
As we return to Matthew 16, Jesus has another run in with the Pharisees who want Jesus to show them a sign He is the Messiah. Jesus responds by saying no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah. They don’t understand Jesus was talking about Jonah being three days in the belly of a great fish. In the same way Jesus would be in the tomb for three days before He rose from the dead. This conversation led Jesus to warn His disciples of the “leaven” of the Pharisees. As often was the case, the disciples missed the point. They thought Jesus was talking about literal bread, because they had forgotten to bring bread for their journey. Jesus reminded them He had demonstrated how capable He was to provide bread for them. Then they understood it was the Pharisees’ teaching Jesus was warning them to beware.
Next, we come to the turning point in Jesus’ ministry. In Mark’s gospel it comes at the middle of his account. Here, we are in chapter 16, a bit past the middle of Matthew’s account. Jesus confronts the disciples with the question of who the crowds think He is, and then with the more important question, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, and Jesus affirms Him for receiving the answer from God. Sadly, only moments after affirming Jesus is the Messiah, Peter tells Jesus He should not die on the cross. Jesus rebukes Peter and let’s all the disciples know following Him is costly. He tells them those who save their lives will lose them, but those who lose them for His sake will find them. He ends with a statement that is hard to understand. He says that some who were standing there would not die before all of this came to pass. The all of this must refer to Jesus’ death and resurrection, because all but one of the disciples did see that. As we reflect on Mark 8 and Matthew 16, we must respond to Jesus’ question, too. Who do you and I say Jesus is? Only when we answer with the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and devote ourselves fully to Him, will we understand the fullness of His blessing, and the depth of the responsibility we have in following Him.