We had been hearing the story of Jacob from the book of Genesis for the past couple days in our daily Masses. Today, we hear about Jacob’s son, Joseph, having been sold into slavery by his brothers, but now in a position of power in Egypt, a position that puts him face-to-face with his brothers in the midst of a terrible famine. Joseph could have used that position of power to get vengeance and retribution from what his brothers did to him. At the end of today’s reading, Joseph weeps, knowing the tragedy in his life and in his family’s life as to what his brothers did to him. We can just begin to image the loss and the anger and the other emotions that Joseph could be feeling at this moment. According to the values of many in our secular world today, many in our society would choose revenge and violence if they were in Joseph’s place. Joseph was the victim of abuse, violence, and injustice at the hands of his brothers. When we are faced with such a grim reality, reconciliation and healing may seem to be an impossible choice to make with the anger and hard feelings we may have in our hearts. In his humanity, Joseph had a choice to make. As disciples of Christ, we are called to make the choice of compassion and love, no matter how hard that may be.
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