Many years after the life of Job, there was another man in the narrative of Scripture named Jesus, who shared many of the same qualities. Like Job, Jesus was good and blameless before God. Like Job, raiders came and brought pain to His life. But what makes Jesus’ life different from Job’s is how it ended — in total victory, and that victory is significant for us.

In fact, Tolkien, our good catastrophe friend, saw in Jesus the clearest example of his concept that the greatest good can come out of the greatest crises. Tolkien writes, “The birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of man’s history.” Jesus was like Job, but even better than Job because He offers a life of hope to all. One of the most compelling Scriptures about Jesus reads, “And his name will be the hope of all the world” (Matthew 12:21). Indeed, it is the name of Jesus that has brought and still brings hope to generations of people around the world.

What did Jesus say about life?