Book of Genesis #62

Genesis is not a book that stands on its own. It is Part 1 of the Pentateuch and can only be understood in the context of the Pentateuch. Therefore, the last chapter of Genesis is a transition into the next major segment of the Pentateuch: Exodus.

Ominously, the last word of Genesis is "Egypt." There the coffin of Joseph will wait for 400 years before being transported out of Egypt in dramatic circumstances.

Yet the events of Exodus have been set in motion long before Moses and the event of Exodus cannot be understood apart from the Book of Genesis to which it is organically united.

The major themes of Genesis are

1. Creation is God's and God's only.
2. Man does not possess himself. He is not the master of his destiny or his life for he has no control over either.
3. Man is intrinsically good for God created him very good. Man is made in the image of God and is destined for greatness.
4. Despite man's repeated failure and mistrust of God, the Lord is always present faithful to his covenant.
5. It is God who takes the first step every step of the way.
6. Blessings and Curses are real, powerful and an expression of the power God placed in the hands of man.
7. God did not abandon his people but out of the great goodness of his heart thought them and guided them to safety.

Genesis is a mirror reflecting our relationship with God. By meditating on the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph we develop a biblical understanding of our life and we begin to live as they did, as stranger and sojourner in a strange land, awaiting the day of our salvation, placing our hope and trust in God and in the surety of the teaching office of the Church and being nourished with the Body and Blood of Jesus, our soul is elevated to things from above and begins to taste here the blessings of Heaven.

Book of Genesis #61

Some years later -- we are not told the exact number, Jacob is on his death bed.

He knows he is going to die so he gathers his sons around him and he gives them his spiritual testament which is far more important than any material testament can ever be for its consequences will be felt down the generations.

Jacob does not speak blessings to his sons. In fact more often than not what he has to say is more like a curse. In a very real sense, the rest of the historical books of Scripture record the unfolding of these words of Jacob in time.

The blessings -- and the curses -- of parents are extremely potent more so than modern man dares to realize. This is why St. Paul admonishes his readers in Roman 12:14 to "bless and not to curse." He was not telling them to "bless" rather than swear (that is to speak foul of others) he meant what he said "do not curse," for he knew the power of cursing which is as real as the power of blessing.

Parents, therefore, should do their utmost to pass on a living faith to their children whom they should bless often by words and by deeds which keep them (the parents) faithful to the Covenant of God otherwise some of them may have bitter things to say to their children on their deathbed; words of power that will affect the lives of the children down the generations.

Book of Genesis #60

Joseph, upon hearing his father was ill brings his two sons to bless. He wants to receive the blessing of the firstborn and immediately passes it to his children.

Normally the blessing is passed from first-born to first-born but in this case, Joseph does not ask a blessing upon himself, instead, he asks Jacob to bless both of his sons; a sign he has received the double blessing of the firstborn.

There, a curious thing happens, which happened before multiple times: Jacob whose eyes are dim crosses his hands laying his right hand on the head of the younger Ephraim and prophecies that Ephraim shall be greater than Manasseh in the history of Israel. In fact, Ephraim became synonymous with Israel after the kingdom of David was split in two between north and south.

God raises men and women for a special purpose and we often confuse the mission God has for each one of us and his love; somehow we think that God's love for us is proportional to the importance (judged from our vantage point) he wishes to hand to us as if we are competing for his attention.

God does not love us so.

The only divine measure of God's love is the Cross. Since his son died for us on the Cross, the love of God the Father for each of us is measured by the Cross -- it is infinite regardless of the importance or lack thereof that we may ascribe to our lives and our tasks.

Heaven is not a corporation, God is not a CEO. God is a family and heaven is home and God loves us so because he is a Father.

Book of Genesis #59

Even though Jacob went down to Egypt to live there and even though the conditions of living in Egypt will be better than anything he had so far, he calls his stay there his "Sojourn."

Jacob never ceased to see himself as a "sojourner'; we would say "migrant" today, someone without a fixed address, a known location. Jesus shared this vision of the world when he said, "foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

The logic behind this attitude is simple even though chilling: your eternal fate is determined by your address. Take one down and you will go down, take one up and you will take residence in the heavens above, for the heart of man takes root where his treasure is buried.

A quick examination of conscience: Answer this honestly: how would you feel if you lost your home tomorrow? Now keeping this in mind, how would you feel if you lost heaven today?

Can you say with absolute certainty that the loss of heaven is far more important and materially significant to you than the loss of your home?

Are you a sojourner like Jacob who has been promised land in the far distant future?

Or will your address be down here...forever?

Book of Genesis #58

At this juncture it is fitting to quote from the Jewish Publication Society's commentary on Genesis:

"With this narrative, the patriarchal period in the history of Israel comes to an end.

Jacob's descent to Egypt appears at first to be merely a family visit. Yet this visit is presented as being fraught with national significance. It is a summing up of the past as well as a new beginning. Famine drove Abraham to Egypt; now famine impels his grandson in the same direction. Abraham's career opened with a divine revelation; Jacob's closes with a similar experience. Jacob's odyssey began at Beer-sheba; it fittingly concludes with a revelation at the same place. The divine Voice will not be heard again until the advent of Moses."

Indeed the Voice of God will not be heard for 400 years in its liturgical dimension. The liturgical perspective of Genesis is profound and is best understood in light of the Mass. This is important because the 400 years of Silence in Egypt mirror the 490 years of Silence in Babylon (Seven weeks of Years) when the sacrifice had ceased. The same may be said of the stay in Egypt: the liturgical Silence of God is deafening but that does not mean that He had abandoned his people; if anything the story of Joseph stands as an enduring witness to the love and care of God for his people."

Book of Genesis #57

Joseph must have been a man of prayer.

He was rich beyond belief, probably the second richest and most powerful man in Egypt after Pharaoh.

He had but to reach out and take whatever he pleased, use whomever he pleased in whichever way he pleased.

He could have had as many wives as Solomon and probably more concubines than Solomon had.

The possibilities were endless.

And now right before his eyes, his dream has, at last, come true: his brothers are prostrated before him. His time for glory has come, his time for revenge and self-determination.

So what does this man do?

He glorifies God.

He sees himself as the instrument of Providence, as the tool the Holy Spirit has used to save his brothers. He sees himself as the instrument of salvation for others; his suffering is redemptive.

Christ saved us through the Cross but when we unite our sufferings with those of Jesus on the Cross, he permits us to share in his pain so that we may share in his glory. We are co-saviors with and under Cross, each and every one of us in our own capacity to love, to suffer, and to sacrifice.

If this was not so, the story of Joseph is worthless.

Therefore, nothing you do, the pains, the aches, the frustrations, the failures, and the myriad of small nagging thoughts that fill our days with their insidious whispers, if all of these were offered up to God the Father in union with the suffering of Jesus on Cross, Oh what a crown of glory they would turn into and what fields of wheat for the hungry they would raise up to the Glory of the Most Holy Trinity.

Book of Genesis #56

One brother was detained in Egypt but there was grain for everyone else so life goes on.

But the famine was severe and when the provisions that had brought back from Egypt were about to run out Judah spoke to his father and told him he had to make a choice: either they bring the lad Benjamin to Egypt or they all risk dying from hunger.

Still, Jacob hesitated for he was very attached to Benjamin.

Sometimes God has to speak very loudly to loosen the bonds that hold us back, weigh us down, and prevent us from hearing his voice. These are bonds we create for ourselves in the course of a lifetime and they need not be sinful such as bonds of affection to our loved ones or faithfulness to our state of life.

Yet even these harbor a hidden vice where we may always run the risk of preferring the creature for the Creator. To better understand the risk inherent in the things we care about or the people we love ask yourself this simple question: how can a person who is in heaven be eternally happy when they find out that one of their loved ones (father, mother, or a child) is in hell for all eternity?

Truly the Love of God is not be trifled with nor should it ever be reduced to a vague sensation of comfort.

Book of Genesis #55

What do you do when family comes knocking at the door -- family you wished you would never see again?

Do you slam the door in their faces?

Do you open the door and sing their praises?

Or do you put up with them for as long as politeness demands and send them off with Aunt Mildred's old flower vase when the time comes to take Fido on his walk?

But what would you do if you had absolute power of life and death over your hated relatives?

Joseph did. Joseph had every reason to put his brothers to death; after all, it would be only justice. In fact, no one would have batted an eye if he had put his brothers and their family to death to avoid dealing with pesky avengers.

Not my will be done but your will.

The evangelical message has always been hidden in the heart of Scripture for God is a God of Love.

And Joseph one of his extraordinary ordinary sons.