Go to Joseph

VI Lent Wednesday - Genesis 43:26-31, 45:1-16

And Joseph entered into the house, and they brought him the gifts which they had in their hands, into the house; and they did him reverence with their face to the ground. And he asked them, How are ye? and he said to them, Is your father, the old man of whom ye spoke, well? Does he yet live? And they said, Thy servant our father is well; he is yet alive. And he said, Blessed be that man by God; —and they bowed, and did him reverence. And Joseph lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, born of the same mother; and he said, Is this your younger brother, whom ye spoke of bringing to me? and he said, God have mercy on thee, my son. And Joseph was troubled, for his bowels yearned over his brother, and he sought to weep; and he went into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face and came out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. And Joseph could not refrain himself when all were standing by him, but said, Dismiss all from me; and no one stood near Joseph, when he made himself known to his brethren. And he uttered his voice with weeping; and all the Egyptians heard, and it was reported to the house of Pharao. And Joseph said to his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled. And Joseph said to his brethren, Draw nigh to me; and they drew nigh; and he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now then be not grieved, and let it not seem hard to you that ye sold me hither, for God sent me before you for life. For this second year there is famine on the earth, and there are yet five years remaining, in which there is to be neither ploughing, nor mowing. For God sent me before you, that there might be left to you a remnant upon the earth, even to nourish a great remnant of you. Now then ye did not send me hither, but God; and he hath made me as a father of Pharao, and lord of all his house, and ruler of all the land of Egypt. Hasten, therefore, and go up to my father, and say to him, These things saith thy son Joseph; God has made me lord of all the land of Egypt; come down therefore to me, and tarry not. And thou shalt dwell in the land of Gesem of Arabia; and thou shalt be near me, thou and thy sons, and thy sons’ sons, thy sheep and thine oxen, and whatsoever things are thine. And I will nourish thee there: for the famine is yet for five years; lest thou be consumed, and thy sons, and all thy possessions. Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. Report, therefore, to my father all my glory in Egypt, and all things that ye have seen, and make haste and bring down my father hither. And he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept on him; and Benjamin wept on his neck. And he kissed all his brethren, and wept on them; and after these things his brethren spoke to him. And the report was carried into the house of Pharao, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come; and Pharao was glad, and his household. Genesis 43:26-31, 45:1-16

Righteous Joseph the All-Comely, now governor of all Egypt, makes himself known to his brothers and demonstrates his greatness of soul in forgiving them and providing for them. As Joseph explains matters to his brothers, who are cowering in fear lest he should take revenge on them, he is at peace, because he sees that all that has happened to him, including their betrayal, was part of God’s plan to save their family from the great famine. From childhood, when he dreamed that his father and brothers bowed down to him, until now, when his brothers are actually prostrate at his feet, he has pursued a tranquil course of doing the will of God amid the storms of personal disaster – betrayal by his brothers and being cast into a pit, being sold into slavery, and being thrown into prison because he would not sin with another man’s wife, who then falsely accused him of the very thing he refused to do with her. The God Who chose him from his youth and guided his every step has not disappointed him in his hope.

On Great Monday, we will remember Joseph as a typos, a prophetic prefiguration, of Christ Himself, both in His humiliation and in His glory. As Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, so Our Lord was betrayed by His disciple. As Joseph was falsely accused when innocent, so with Christ. As Joseph was exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh, so Christ is exalted to the right hand of God.

We can imitate Joseph in his likeness to the Savior by imitating his patience and his hope, and by a firm determination to accept the will of God for ourselves. When life throws us into a pit, let us realize that it is God Himself Who has allowed us to be helpless, so that we might accept deliverance from Him and Him alone. When falsely accused, let us face it calmly, knowing that our vindication is from Him. When He delivers us, let us show greatness of soul in forgiving our enemies, seeing His profound wisdom in all that has happened to us.

The Patriarch Joseph the All-Comely is also a typos of Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, the guardian of the Most Pure Virgin and the Infant Christ. Like the Old Testament Joseph, the New Testament Joseph is a man of action. He proves himself obedient not by words – of which not a single one is recorded in the Gospel – but by deeds. When the famished Egyptians come to Pharaoh crying out for bread, he says, “Go to Joseph,” for he has made Joseph the steward over all the grain of Egypt. As we languish in Egyptian slavery to the passions and sensual pleasures, and we cry to God for deliverance, He says to us, “Go to Joseph,” whom He made steward of the True Bread Who was born in Bethlehem, the town whose name means “House of Bread,” for our salvation.

May we prepare with humility and love to receive this True Bread in Our Lord’s Precious Body and Blood, at this Passiontide and Radiant Resurrection. May we, like the two Josephs, always do the will of God with undoubting serenity and unwavering firmness, and so be found worthy to receive the reward of the good steward:

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21).”

This commentary was taken from The Eternal Sacrifice: The Genesis Readings for Great Lent by Fr. Steven Allen. You can order a copy from Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/FrStevenAllen

Today’s reading from Esaias, with commentary:

Thus saith the Lord: 1 Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up thy voice as with a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities. 2 They seek me day by day, and desire to know my ways, as a people that had done righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of their God: they now ask of me righteous judgment, and desire to draw nigh to God, 3 saying, Why have we fasted, and thou regardest not? why have we afflicted our souls, and thou didst not know it? Nay, in the days of your fasts ye find your pleasures, and all them that are under your power ye wound. 4 If ye fast for quarrels and strifes, and smite the lowly with your fists, wherefore do ye fast to me as ye do this day, so that your voice may be heard in crying? 5 I have not chosen this fast, nor such a day for a man to afflict his soul; neither though thou shouldest bend down thy neck as a ring, and spread under thee sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall ye call a fast acceptable. 6 I have not chosen such a fast, saith the Lord; but do thou loose every burden of iniquity, do thou untie the knots of hard bargains, set the bruised free, and cancel every unjust account. 7 Break thy bread to the hungry, and lead the unsheltered poor to thy house: if thou seest one naked, clothe him, and thou shalt not disregard the relations of thine own seed. 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily spring forth: and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of God shall compass thee. 9 Then shalt thou cry, and God shall hearken to thee; while thou art yet speaking he will say, Behold, I am here. If thou remove from thee the band, and the stretching forth of the hands, and murmuring speech; 10 and if thou give bread to the hungry from thy heart, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light spring up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as noon-day: 11 and thy God shall be with thee continually, and thou shalt be satisfied according as thy soul desires; and thy bones shall be made fat, and shall be as a well-watered garden, and as a fountain from which the water has not failed. – Esaias 58: 1-11

As we draw near to the Great Week of the Lord’s Passion and the Day of the Radiant Resurrection, let us recall that there are three great themes found in the hymnody of these holiest days of the year: First, there is of course, the historical and soteriological theme: the commemoration of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, which occurred in time 2,000 years ago, but whose true meaning lie outside of time, in the eternity of the Heavenly Kingdom. Thus there is also the eschatological theme of Holy Week: frequently we hear the call to watchfulness, as we await the return in glory of Him Whom we saw glorified first in His Extreme Humility for our salvation. Third, there is the moral and ascetical theme: frequently we hear exhortations to live in newness of life, to show forth in our thoughts, words, and deeds the fruits of the Lord’s great redemptive work for us, as we make use of the grace that His Passion has won for us in order to become fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Today’s reading from Prophet Esaias emphasizes the moral theme of our conversion from the old way of life characterized by selfishness to the new way of life characterized by grace-filled charity, which is the highest of the virtues. The men of Old Israel whom the prophet reproves here are proud of their outward fasting, but lack charity to their neighbor. We must constantly recall – even now at the end of the Great Fast, as we did at the beginning – that fasting is not an end in itself. It is an instrument for the acquisition of virtue.

St. John Cassian writes,

You see, then, that fasting is by no means considered an essential good by the Lord, inasmuch as it does not become good and pleasing to God by itself but in conjunction with other works. …By reason of accessory circumstances it might be considered not only vain but even hateful, as the Lord says, “When they fast, I will not hear their prayers.” – Conferences

St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his commentary on this passage, addresses the well-known problem of outward piety coupled with inner corruption, a theme we have constantly recurred to since the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee:

There were those among them who received a reputation for piety but behaved shamefully without being noticed, decorating themselves on the outside and gaining a reputation of gentleness. They undertook fasts and made prayers, thinking that through this they could turn aside God’s anger. …Here they learn what their sins are and that they must turn from these if they want to be rewarded by God and become worthy of His sparing them. – St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Isaiah

It is not likely that someone reading this commentary at this moment is a wealthy, hardhearted oligarch oppressing the poor, of the kind whom the prophet excoriates in today’s passage from his writings. All of us, however, must extend the mercy that we are capable of to those around us, starting with our immediate family, our friends, our fellow Church members, and our co-workers. This can begin most simply, by our bridling our irritation and practicing quietness of spirit, cheerfulness, and kindness to the person in front of us. St. Jerome, a notably fierce faster in his own right, nevertheless reproves one of his correspondents for thinking himself better than his brother for fasting more strictly, though he is angry and quarrelsome, while the other is cheerful and gracious:

If you have fasted two or three days [i.e., keep absolute fasts with no food or drink for days at a time], do not think yourself better than others who do not fast [i.e., those who do not keep absolute fasts but who eat fasting food in moderation]. You fast and are angry; the other eats and wears a smiling face. You work off your irritation and hunger in quarrels. He uses food in moderation and gives God thanks. – St. Jerome, Letter 22

Let us give the last word today to St. Isaac the Syrian, who gets to the heart of the matter, as usual, by reminding us that all of our sacrifices must be directed to the destruction of the idolatry of our logismoi – our thoughts – and our self-will:

You offer your own wills as whole burnt offerings to idols; and to the wretched thoughts, that you reckon in yourselves as gods, you daily sacrifice your free will, a thing more precious than all incense, which you ought rather to consecrate to Me by your good works and your purity of conscience. – St. Isaac the Syrian, Sixth Ascetical Homily

Let each of us, then, make a short list of the good works that we can by God’s grace accomplish in the sacred days lying before us, prepare for the cleansing of our conscience by a sincere and thorough confession of our sins, and greet the Lord in His saving Passion with purity of heart.

Today’s reading from Proverbs, with commentary:

My son: He that keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from trouble. 24 A bold and self-willed and insolent man is called a pest: and he that remembers injuries is a transgressor. 25 Desires kill the sluggard; for his hands do not choose to do anything. 26 An ungodly man entertains evil desires all the day: but the righteous is unsparingly merciful and compassionate. 27 The sacrifices of the ungodly are abomination to the Lord, for they offer them wickedly. 28 A false witness shall perish; but an obedient man will speak cautiously. 29 An ungodly man impudently withstands with his face; but the upright man himself understands his ways. 30 There is no wisdom, there is no courage, there is no counsel against the ungodly. 31 A horse is prepared for the day of battle; but help is of the Lord. 22:1 A fair name is better than much wealth, and good favour is above silver and gold. 2 The rich and the poor meet together; but the Lord made them both. 3 An intelligent man seeing a bad man severely punished is himself instructed, but fools pass by and are punished. 4 The fear of the Lord is the offspring of wisdom, and wealth, and glory, and life. - Proverbs 21:23 – 22:4

In verse 26, when the sacred author writes, “An ungodly man entertains evil desires all the day,” the expression “all the day” signifies not only all the hours of a given day but also the span of one’s entire life. Abba Evagrius, in commenting on this expression – as found again in Proverbs 23:17 – explains it thus:

It belongs to angels never to have evil desires; it is human sometimes to have evil desires and other times not to have them; it belongs to demons always to have evil desires. The expression “all the day” signifies the entire life. So also, “continue in the fear of the Lord all the day (Proverbs 23:17)” applies to the whole life. – Scholia on Proverbs

Human beings, then, are not entirely good nor entirely wicked: they go back and forth. We experience this, at least in our thoughts, every hour of every day. God has provided the grace-filled life of repentance in the Church so that, during the span of his lifetime, the repentant Christian may tend more and more to good desires and less and less to evil desires each single day of the entire “day” of one’s life, until the Lord sees that the soul has become ripe for Paradise.

We are tempted, however, by the thought that, seeing no improvement in ourselves, our repentance is in vain. We must combat this thought by the understanding that the Lord does not allow us to see our improvement, lest we become complacent about our spiritual state, imagine that we have attained our salvation already, despise others as not as “advanced” as we, and be found trapped in demonic pride at the time of death. We must simply abide in humility and constant self-reproach, but cheerfully, trusting in the Lord for our salvation.

To combat the evil desires that arise in our hearts “all the day,” we must practice the constant remembrance of God, and the chief weapon in this warfare is the Prayer of Jesus, which is indispensable in retaining the grace that we receive in Holy Communion. The course of our lives becomes intertwined with, identified with, the action of this Prayer within, and by it God both reveals the evil desires that arise in our hearts and at the same time destroys them. Yet we do not see our progress but only more evil desires! In a strange way, nevertheless, the Lord grants us a firm hope in our salvation.

In his beautiful treatise on the Jesus Prayer, a new confessor of the Catacomb Church in Russia, Archbishop Antoniy Golynskiy-Mikhaylovskiy, explains the matter thus:

The penitent does not notice that the Prayer is bearing fruit in him. The Grace of God arranges this imperceptibly for his benefit because of man’s conceit. The penitent prays; however, it seems to him that he is not advancing but is going backwards. He keeps praying, but it seems to him that he is not making any progress. Thoughts repeatedly banish his prayer, and consequently their pernicious character becomes increasingly evident. This struggle compels him to begin to humble himself. He has no recourse except to surrender to the will of God, which is exactly what he needs at this juncture. – On the Prayer of Jesus and Divine Grace, p. 31.

Humility and surrender to the will of God! This is what we need above all, every day of the day of this life, and especially at this holy season, as we prepare to glorify the Son of God Who was obedient to death, death on a cross, for our salvation. Let us hasten to renew our warfare in prayer, combatting evil thoughts at every moment, so that we may worthily glorify Him Who, in His dread struggle in prayer in the Garden, on the night before He died, said to the Father, “Thy will be done,” and went forth to the world-saving exploit of the Cross.