Mar 6 | Friday

Joseph (the Old Testament Joseph) was one of the 12 sons of Jacob (who would, together, become the 12 tribes of Israel). But Joseph wasn’t liked by his brothers. Why not?

Because Joseph told them that God revealed to him in a dream that he was called to lead his brothers and the family (which is a pretty awesome foreshadowing of how God would later talk to Saint Joseph in dreams about how best to lead the Holy Family). Anyway, the point is that “Old Testament Joseph” was rejected by his brothers, because they didn’t want to submit to his authority (even if it supposedly came from God).

Fast forward to the rejection of Jesus by His “brothers,” the Scribes and the Pharisees, and indeed anyone who rejects His authority to this day. For some reason, some people react to Jesus the way Joseph’s brothers reacted to him - they throw Him away.

Today, then, I invite you to consider a particular person in your life that you may be tempted to discard. Is it possible that that person is being “sent” to you by God, the way Jesus is, in the shape of a cross? And is it possible that the reason we find them a burden at times is because they crucify us?

But is there any other way to enter into glory than through the cross? C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Great Divorce about a group of strangers who die and are making their way to heaven through a kind of purgatory. All of them are met by some person who has already attained to heaven and who was sent to bring them the rest of the way. The funny thing is, those people who were sent to accompany them are the same people who were most challenging to that person in life. +