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| “Joseph is Sold” by Sébastien Bourdon, 1637 |
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 Mt
21:33-43, 45-46
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)
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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.”
We must wonder why a person (its author claims
to be a physicist) would wish to attack belief in God (a God coincidently 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 insuring 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.
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