Job's friends turn crueler today, and Paul plants the flag the whole faith stands on: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day, appearing to witnesses by the hundreds.

One reading shows what happens when theology loses its heart. The other shows the heartbeat itself. Keep them side by side all day.

Job begged for a mediator, someone to lay a hand on both God and man at once, and his friends offered him arithmetic instead. Fifteen centuries later, Paul announced the arbiter had come, died, been buried, and walked out, with five hundred people willing to be cross-examined.

The resurrection is not the inspirational ending of the story. It is the load-bearing wall. If Christ is not raised, Paul says, pack it in. But He is, firstfruits of a whole harvest, which means Job's ache and yours has an answer with a name and an empty tomb.