Today’s readings have a lot of emotion. Joseph’s brothers are still dealing with the effects of their sin. But Joseph knows who he is. Readings for Today.
Joseph knew who he was
Do we really know who we are? That really, I think, is an important question in the spiritual life. Because sometimes we can think we know who we are, but not really. We don’t. People can say something to us that produces an insight into who we are that we didn’t consider before. Sometimes it can be the case, as we think of life, that we’re surprised by the way we react to something. And that provides us new insight.
In many respects, our feelings are something that help us to get a sense of our internal geography. They can sometimes be annoying or sad. They can be pleasant and wonderful. Who are we?
One thing that Joseph came to know in the first reading is who he was. And it took a lot of different kinds of experiences to help him to know what that meant. He could have reacted in a whole bunch of different ways towards his brothers. In fact, they were even afraid. They didn’t really know him completely. Because they were afraid that once their father died, Joseph would then get even. That he was holding back for the sake of his love for his father.
But then, now that he had the opportunity, he was going to take advantage. But they didn’t know their brother. Joseph knew who he was. Because he makes a very important and profound statement. When they are asking him not to hurt them or harm them.
But he asks this question. “Can I take the place of God?” Unfortunately, we know that sometimes in our life, we want to. We want to take the place of God. We look at the way things are and we say to ourselves, “Well, God certainly doesn’t know what he’s doing. Look at that. He should do something about that.” “I’ll do something about that.”
We know that when very difficult experiences happen in our lives, we can question why God is allowing something like this to happen. Jesus, after the quite powerful prediction of all of the things that are going to go wrong for them, then seeks to reassure them. And understandably, if you remember yesterday, Jesus said to his disciples, “Brother will hand over brother to death, father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.”
You can see that that might cause the apostles to be unsettled a bit. But Jesus seeks to reassure them by saying, “That’s what’s going to happen to me.” And so you have to expect it’s going to happen to you when you preach in my name. But don’t worry about the physical ways that you can be harmed. Worry about your ultimate spiritual relationship with God. In the midst of all of this, these negative experiences can help us to understand better who we are. And when we know who we are, we are better able to know who Jesus is.
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