Reading I
Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons,
for he was the child of his old age;
and he had made him a long tunic.
When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,
they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.
One day, when his brothers had gone
to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem,
Israel said to Joseph,
“Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem.
Get ready; I will send you to them.”
So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan.
They noticed him from a distance,
and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him.
They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer!
Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here;
we could say that a wild beast devoured him.
We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”
When Reuben heard this,
he tried to save him from their hands, saying,
“We must not take his life.
Instead of shedding blood,” he continued,
“just throw him into that cistern there in the desert;
but do not kill him outright.”
His purpose was to rescue him from their hands
and return him to his father.
So when Joseph came up to them,
they stripped him of the long tunic he had on;
then they took him and threw him into the cistern,
which was empty and dry.
They then sat down to their meal.
Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead,
their camels laden with gum, balm and resin
to be taken down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers:
“What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood?
Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites,
instead of doing away with him ourselves.
After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”
His brothers agreed.
They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
Gospel
Mt 21:33-43, 45-46
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
They answered him,
AHe will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, ADid you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,
they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
Meditation: Genesis 37:3-4,12-13,17-28
The Hebrew Scriptures are rich with stories and characters that foreshadow Jesus and the salvation he came to bring.
Take the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, for instance. Joseph was the beloved of his father; Jesus is God’s beloved Son. Out of jealousy, Joseph’s brothers plotted to kill him, just as some of Jesus’ fellow Jews conspired to kill him. Both were betrayed by those closest to them: Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty pieces of silver, while one of Jesus’ closest disciples received thirty pieces of silver for leading the authorities to him.
Both men were a blessing to those around them. Joseph stored up grain to protect the people from famine, and Jesus fed five thousand people with a few loaves and fishes. When Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt in search of grain, Joseph reveals himself to them at the last minute, and they reconcile. Similarly, after the resurrection, Jesus showed the apostles that he was the heavenly Lord—even to the point of passing through walls and disappearing in an instant. Both Joseph and Jesus went from being suffering servants to saviors of their people. Joseph preserved the children of Israel from famine, while Jesus saved all his people from sin and death.
But despite all their similarities, Joseph was not Jesus, and he certainly wasn’t perfect like Jesus. Joseph was “the dreamer”—a somewhat pushy little brother who tended to get on his brothers’ nerves. But despite the impudence of his youth, he tried to stay close to the Lord during his odyssey in Egypt. And as a result, the Lord purified him more and more—to the point where, twenty years after having been sold by his brothers, he was able to forgive them and treat them with love, generosity, and respect.
Joseph’s story is our story too. Despite our weaknesses, we too can become ever more purified by the Lord and ever more like him. We can learn to forgive more easily. We can learn to love more deeply. And we can learn to serve more readily. With Jesus, all things are possible.
“Jesus, I stand in awe of your transforming power. I am open to being changed by you, to becoming more and more like you. Heal and cleanse me, gracious God.”
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