May 20 – Day 141 – Job 38-40; Matthew 23

In Job 38-40 the LORD finally answers Job.  The answer isn’t a response to Job’s questions and accusations, but a statement: He is God and Job is not.  He asks Job over and over again, “Where were you when…” or “Do you know…” and then completes the sentences with such matters as measuring the ends of the earth or where, when and how many different wild animals give birth to their young, or take care of them.  The bottom line of the discourse is the LORD made it quite clear to Job:  He is God, and He has the right to determine what happens, and Job doesn’t have the right to question Him.  Job confesses that is the case. He pledges silence before the LORD.  While it looks as if the LORD is telling Job that Job is not really innocent, as we will see in tomorrow’s closing summary of Job, the LORD sides with Job, and calls on Job to act as priest for his “friends,” because they need to be forgiven for their false accusations before him.

As we return to Matthew 23, we are reminded how great the gulf is between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day.  While they were getting closer and closer to arresting Him and having the Romans crucify Him, Jesus stepped up His attacks against them. He warned the crowds about their habits, and how they turned their students into sons of hell. He also pronounced seven “woes” or curses against them for their religious practices, which appeared “holy,” but were wholly hypocritical.  Jesus’ words were so antagonistic, the Pharisees would not have stood and taken them, except for the huge crowds standing by. At this moment, the crowds were still on Jesus’ side, and any move by the Pharisees would have brought their indignation or worse. As we’ll see over the next few days, that reality would change dramatically, to the point these same adoring crowds would become co-conspirators in Jesus’ being condemned to death. As we read this chapter and the next few days’ posts, it will be easy to put ourselves on Jesus’ side, and wonder how the people could have done such things in turning against Him. We all want to think we would have stood up and protected Him. The truth is: no one did. We do well to remember how easy it is to side with Jesus from the resurrection side of the conversation. Before Jesus was condemned, crucified, and rose again, it must have been far more difficult to see how black and white the difference was between Jesus and His accusers.