Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Going home.
The end of the book of Genesis takes place in Egypt. Joseph, the son of the patriarch Jacob, had arrived first as a slave, but rose to become second only to Pharoah. Jacob and the rest of his family came there looking for food during a famine. All the tribes of Israel remained there and flourished.
Jacob never forgot his true homeland, however. As death approached, he made them all promise to bury him with his ancestors. “When Jacob had finished giving these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people” (Genesis 49:33).
For all his wealth and status in Egypt, Joseph, too, made his brothers promise to “bring my bones up from this place” when God “lead(s) you up from this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Genesis 50:24-25).
That Promised Land, the land of Canaan, was the result of a Covenant between God and Abraham after he was asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Jacob and Joseph honored that Covenant.
God created this world and everything in it, and He saw that it was very good. Nonetheless, Jesus told his followers, “You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2)? May we honor the New Covenant.
Reflection by Br. Jacob Kubajak, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections