Commentary
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
He Demonstrated God’s Ways
Hunger was felt through Egypt and the people cried out to Pharaoh and he directed the people to go to Joseph and do whatever he told them.
Remember that Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob whose brothers had sold into slavery. Genesis 41:1-46 tells us that because Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams which were a warning from God that there would be seven years of over abundant harvest followed by seven years of famine and because Joseph advised Pharaoh to stock up grain while times were plentiful, Pharaoh made Joseph Governor of Egypt.
Throughout this part of Joseph’s life as Governor of Egypt, I am reminded of the Magnificat and its variation, the Catena. Specifically, these lines from the Catena: “The Almighty works marvels for me,” “He puts forth his arm in strength,” “And raises the lowly.”
Eventually, famine spread throughout the world and people from all over were coming to Joseph for food and among them were the sons of Israel, Joseph’s brothers. When his brothers came and knelt down before him, he recognized them. But he concealed his identity and had them locked up for three days.
Then Joseph told his brothers that he was a God fearing man. He told his brothers that if they had been honest, only one of the brothers needed to remain in prison while the others took provisions home to their starving families. But he also told them that they had to come back with the youngest brother so that their words would be verified and they would not die.
The charge that Joseph had brought against his brothers was spying. In the course of denying the charge, they admitted to Joseph that they were ten of twelve sons. They told Joseph that the youngest was at home and that the other was missing and believed to be dead. Joseph knew that he was the youngest brother therefore; he was giving his brothers an impossible challenge.
What was Joseph’s motive? Was he seeking revenge? Was he trying to teach his brothers a lesson? Or was he simply trying to get his brothers to confess the truth? All three of these questions seem valid if you do not know the whole story. But Joseph spoke the truth when he told his brothers that he was a God fearing man and in Genesis 39:1-23, we learn that Joseph withstood temptation and was blessed by God. So we can forget the first two questions.
In spite of what his brothers did to him, Joseph loved them and his family. He wanted them to know who he was and even wanted to share his wealth with them. But Joseph also wanted his brothers to admit what they had done. No wonder Joseph was so blessed. He demonstrated God’s ways. God wants us to know who He is and He wants us to confess our sins so that we can enjoy His mercy and forgiveness and share with Him, eternal life.
Joseph’s brother’s said to each other, “Alas, we are being punished…We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we paid no heed.” Reuben broke in, “Did I not tell you not to do wrong to the boy?” Joseph overheard this but they did not know that he understood because he was using an interpreter but as he turned away from them, he wept.
How often do we act like God does not know anything? How often do we act like God cannot see or hear what’s going on? We do this every time we sin and every time that we do, we make God weep.
God knows everything. He knows that we make mistakes and that some of our mistakes are sinful. God loves us too much to not be willing to offer His mercy and forgiveness. But we have to reach out and come clean with God. Just as Joseph wanted his brothers to admit to him what they had done, God wants us to admit to our wrong doings. It is called, Confession.
Jesus Empowers the Twelve
The twelve disciples, who would become the Apostles and the first priests and bishops of the Church, were: Simon called Peter, his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee and his brother John; Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the tax collector; James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean and Judas, who betrayed Jesus.
All throughout the Old Testament, we see that God used people who did bad things to carry out His Will because He uses all of us. Jesus did the same thing which is why He selected Judas. All of us are sinners so we should not pass judgment on whoever God uses. If God empowers us to carry out His Will and we mess up, we have to answer to Him. Judas was no exception.
The disciples were given authority to drive out demons and to cure every disease and illness. Jesus told them go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel but to stay out of pagan territory and Samaritan towns. Jesus said to them, “…make this proclamation; ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Jesus empowered the disciples to drive out demons and cure diseases by His Word. Did you ever stop to wonder if we have the same empowerment? We do if we believe. Not all of us are given the gift of healing others of a disease or illness but all of us can bring people closer to God just by the way we live our lives. When we pray for someone in faith to the Father; asking Him to send the Spirit in the name of the Son, that’s empowerment. And how about this: “In the name of Jesus, get behind me Satan!” That is empowerment and when we mean it, it works.
The disciples were told to stay out of pagan territory and Samaritan towns because His ministry was directed to the lost souls of Israel. Jesus was sending the disciples to the people of the northern tribes of Israel who had left Jerusalem living among the Gentiles. But we know that Jesus came to save all of us and Jesus later commissioned Paul to go to the Gentiles.
Are we limited to whom we can share and spread the word? Well, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, only because as Jesus told us in Sunday’s gospel, we should not waste time with people who will not listen. Outside of that, we have no limits. We should be anxious and excited to share the truth of Christ with everyone that we come into contact with because we are called to do so and because we want everyone to be in the Kingdom of Heaven with us.
Our reason for following Jesus and living our lives in accordance with His commandments should be because we want to be with Jesus in the Kingdom. Our desire to have everyone we know with us should be our reason for continuing the mission of the disciples by proclaiming the Word and the Kingdom.
