(Optional Memorial for Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)
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“Joseph is Sold”
by Sébastien Bourdon, 1637 |
Readings for Friday of the Second Week of Lent [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading I: Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons,
for he was the child of his old age;
and he had made him a long tunic.
When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,
they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.
One day, when his brothers had gone
to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem,
Israel said to Joseph,
“Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem.
Get ready; I will send you to them.”
So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan.
They noticed him from a distance,
and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him.
They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer!
Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here;
we could say that a wild beast devoured him.
We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”
When Reuben heard this,
he tried to save him from their hands, saying,
“We must not take his life.
Instead of shedding blood,” he continued,
“just throw him into that cistern there in the desert;
but do not kill him outright.”
His purpose was to rescue him from their hands
and return him to his father.
So when Joseph came up to them,
they stripped him of the long tunic he had on;
then they took him and threw him into the cistern,
which was empty and dry.
They then sat down to their meal.
Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead,
their camels laden with gum, balm and resin
to be taken down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers:
“What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood?
Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites,
instead of doing away with him ourselves.
After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”
His brothers agreed.
They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
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Commentary on Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
This is the final storyline from Genesis. It is the story of Joseph, the son of Israel, being taken and sold into slavery by his brothers.
"Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery. Ch. 37 begins the story of Joseph, a figure who dominates most of the remaining narrative in Genesis. In structure, the Joseph story is quite different from the preceding material centering on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Whereas the latter takes the form, predominantly, of small, self-contained passages, the story of Joseph resembles a coherent novella, with a subtle and well-crafted plot.
"Its theology, too, is different. Whereas the patriarchal narrative is replete with appearances of God or His messengers, and oracles from them, Joseph never sees or hears God or His messengers [...] Rather, God works here in a hidden way, secretly guiding the course of human events, even bringing good out of human evil (50.20).
"Lastly, whereas the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob take place in Canaan and Mesopotamia, the novella of Joseph and his brothers takes place mostly in Egypt. The events that result in the return to the promised land will begin only after Joseph's death."[4]
The story is actually told by both authors of Genesis, the Yahwist and the Elohist, and there are some inconsistencies as a result (specifically which brother tried to save him). On the main points they agree. Instead of killing Joseph as they had initially intended, they sold him to Ishmaelites (Arabs) who took him as a slave to Egypt.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
R. (5a) Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
When the LORD called down a famine on the land
and ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
They had weighed him down with fetters,
and he was bound with chains,
Till his prediction came to pass
and the word of the LORD proved him true.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
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Commentary on Ps 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
Psalm 105 is a historical hymn that recalls, in this selection, the Genesis story (Genesis 37:3ff), speaking of the fate of Joseph in Egypt and how God rescued and supported him in his slavery. It also recounts the actions of Joseph’s brothers, selling him into slavery in Egypt, and speaks of the rise of Joseph in the house of Pharaoh.
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Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
They answered him,
He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,
they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
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Commentary on Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
Jesus again confronts the Jewish leadership. It has been proposed that his continued criticism of the chief priests, scribes, elders and Pharisees is being done with the same motivation as expressed by the Prophet Jeremiah: “I will put fear of me in their hearts so that they never turn away from me. I will take delight in doing good to them.” (Jeremiah 32:40-41) [5]
In the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen from Matthew, Jesus reflects upon God's invitation to the Jewish people. The tenants who wish to first withhold what they owe and then kill the son of the land owner so they can take his inheritance reflect jealousy and greed, a thinly veiled allusion to Jesus' rejection by the chief priests and the elders of the people.
This story is an allegory of Christ’s mission and purpose. God sent him to open the gates of heaven through the forgiveness of sin for all peoples, fulfilling the law and the prophets. The Jews, seeing themselves as the custodians of salvation, would reject such a messenger, even the Son of God. They would ultimately kill him to maintain their false belief that in doing so they would continue as sole owners of the keys to the kingdom of God.
The symbolism that runs through the parable is rich and we will not try to capture it in this short commentary (see the archive for more complete analysis).
CCC: Mt 21:33-43 755; Mt 21:34-36 443; Mt 21:37-38 443; Mt 21:42 756
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Reflection:
The Scripture today tells us that those who choose to follow the Lord will meet with resistance and possibly death at the hands of those who oppose God’s will. We see it in Genesis, an oral tradition that was handed down from some four thousand years before Christ walked the earth. We hear it from Christ, who related his parable two thousand years ago. We see it around us today.
It is hard for us to understand why people have such impulses. The brothers of Joseph were jealous of his favored status with their father. We can see that. And the tenants in the parable told by Jesus were driven by greed. That too is a human emotion we can understand. Where we find difficulty is in those who attack us and our beliefs because of what we represent. In case you are wondering where this thought came from, I direct your attention to the New York Times Best Seller List.
When doing some research on this topic a couple of years ago I went to a web source called Science News Online. There in the banner at the top of the page was a flashing advertisement, from a publisher (aptly) named Prometheus Books, promoting their most recent best seller: “God: The Failed Hypothesis “ subtitled “How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist.” (If you want a real eye opener, listen to Paul Harvey’s 1965 radio vignette “If I were the devil…”)
We must wonder why a person (its author claims to be a physicist) would wish to attack belief in God (a God coincidentally who loves him as well). And why a publisher would take such a work to the public; and finally why a publication claiming to be an objective source would advertise it. We can also see a more current example in the attacks on organizations that do not embrace the newly coined “gender diversity.” Some of these groups face even governmental opposition to ensuring the teaching of the Church on sexual morality is upheld by those called to minister in Catholic schools as teachers.
If, as we follow our own blissful spirituality of Lent, we feel that the evil one has ignored us, we only need to look at things like this to know that he has taken a more insidious approach. I am sure zealous people of faith will refute the “science” that the person who wrote the book chooses to support his claims. And the atheistic community will rise up and squeal: “See how the Christians try to suppress logic and degrade true science with their superstitions.” They will twist the truth and, perhaps for a day, gain some strength. Our best defense is to continue to proclaim, in a humble and compassionate way, the love of God, a love so great that he gave his only Son, knowing that the people he loved would deny him and claim he did not exist. (As an aside, if you get a chance, we highly recommend the recent film Risen, the fictional account of the Roman tribune responsible for the cohort that crucified Christ. It’s a good story.)
Pax
[1] The picture is “Joseph is Sold” by Sébastien Bourdon, 1637.
[2] S.S.Commemoratio[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, © 2004, p. 74.
[5] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume III. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 2012 p. 461-62.
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