Both readings deal with longing for death.  For Job death is desired as a release from  the bitterness and restlessness of a life of unrelenting suffering.  Those who suffer and toil "wait for death...search for it ...rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reach the grave."  For Jesus it is very different:  he accepts the inevitability of his own death and is "firmly resolved to proceed toward Jerusalem" (where he knows he will be handed over and put to death) only because he has come to realize that this is part of God's salvific plan.  In this passage Jesus also reprehends his disciples for wanting to put others to death, even as he has continually reminded them that death (on a cross) is the way to resurrection and salvation for all.

I think most of us can easily identify with Job whenever we are overwhelmed by and weary of the sufferings and sorrows of life.  We long for rest, for an end to anxiety and pain.  I have a Jesuit friend who has been afflicted with poor health, both mental and physical, for most of his life.  He prays every day for death, and I do not think that is contrary to our faith.  There is certainly nothing wrong with our praying for death for ourselves and anyone who asks our prayers for that.  Sometimes, life here on earth becomes too much of "a valley of tears;" to pray then for the deliverance and rest that comes only after death can be a most appropriate and beautiful prayer.  Those of us who have watched a beloved die know this is true.

But the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, a way of choosing or accepting death so that another or others can live is even more blessed.  The recently canonized St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Franciscan priest who voluntarily took the place of a married man with a family who had arbitrarily been condemned to death (in Aushwitz), exemplifies this so well and fills us all with admiration and joy.  In our hearts, we would all love to be able to do this.  And we can!  All we have to do is give ourselves fully to the service of Christ and our neighbor, and we are already living the life of a true martyr. 

Today happens to be the feast day of St. Francis Borgia, who gave up all his wealth to follow Christ as a Jesuit priest.  He too exemplified the great paradox, the paschal mystery, taught and given us by Jesus:  those who lose their lives for the sake of the Gospel will save them.  The words of the opening prayer for his memorial Mass is a fitting conclusion to our reflection on choosing death for the sake of life:  "Lord God, in obedience to your teaching, St. Francis lived only for your glory.  Keep us faithful to your word, so that we may never know death, but live to see the joyful day of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ."