July 12, 2017
Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 385
GN 41:55-57; 42:5-7A, 17-24A
PS 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19
MT 10:1-7
Abraham trusted in God’s promise that he would own all of the lands that he could see. He also trusted that his offspring would be a great nation as numerous as the stars in the sky. Then Abraham died owning only the land he had purchased for his wife’s tomb and his son, Isaac, had yet to marry and have children. Imagine the faith it takes for a man to die well not being able to see the promises of God in his future. Too often we worry about making bucket lists and experiencing life on this side of death and less about being the kind of person who inherits eternal life. Why do we so often concentrate on what seems to be a speck of time when eternity awaits us?
In Joseph, we begin to see a glimpse of God’s plan for all humankind. Here the rejected son has been catapulted into authority in Egypt. Not only his own family but all to the known world have to come to his feet to obtain the food necessary to survive. Joseph, a descendant of Abraham, has now become one of the most powerful men on the planet. In this time of famine, it is he who directs who gets food and who does not. It is Joseph who is the gateway of mercy for the Pharaoh, or even the judge who determines guilt and throws whomever he chooses into prison. This Joseph is an image of the Christ to come. The true ruler of all nations, the dispenser of mercy, and the one who will feed us the food of eternal life.
How much more than do the words of Jesus mean when he gives the Apostles the authority to cast out demons and cure disease and illness? When the true right hand of God says to Peter the same words that were said to Eliakim when he was installed as prime minister of the kingdom? He who controls the gateway of mercy hands the keys over to the Church, to the Apostle Peter, with the authority to bind and loosen. The authority to forgive sins! It is in this that the true fulfillment of the promise to Abraham came to fruition. Not just a nation of one race, but an entire world welcome to the wedding feast of the lamb. Offspring of every race, tongue, and creed are now part of the family through the human ancestry of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We are living in a world of moral famine in which everything wrong is being lauded as the answer, and everything right is being seen as old-fashioned, bigoted and hate filled. Why do we search then among the pleasures and joys of the world for sustenance when Christ himself offers the bread of life to us each and every day through the Sacraments of His Church? He has given us a promise as well, one that also requires that we like Abraham set out on a journey through a strange and inhospitable world. Are we willing to trust that plan? Even to our death? Even when we can’t see with our own eyes the promises being fulfilled?