Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent: Year 2
Morning, Psalms 101 and 109; Evening, Psalm 119:121 to 144;
Genesis 50:15 to 26; 1st Corinthians 12:1 to 11; Mark 8:11-26:
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.” (Genesis 50:24 to 26)
I love re-reading our ancient stories. In the ending of Genesis, Joseph tells us how God can, and will, bring good out of what was intended to be evil. There is a lot of crying with Joseph and his brothers about their sad history, but there is forgiveness with new understanding about what God has done, and is doing.
Joseph tells them that God will come to them and bring them up out of Egypt. He doesn’t say when, or how, or in whom, God will do this. And, after many, many generations of Hebrew families, and many kings of Egypt, we will get Moses. He is the second Hebrew-born, Egyptian-raised person to lead the Hebrews. God’s action is played out in the person of Moses as it was with Joseph.
As the Book of Genesis ends we again have God identified as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. While God does not change, our knowledge of God evolves. We always have goodness first and then comes some sinister human action requiring mercy. This has happened throughout human history and is still happening today.
Let us pray:
O God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob, continue to be with us still as we often fail to maintain the proper path that you have set before us in the person of Jesus Christ. Lead us and guide us to that promised land where dwells eternal life for all who believe in you. Amen.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools including St. Augustine in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 