Wednesday • 3/23/2022
Wednesday of 3 Lent, Year Two

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:97–120; Genesis 45:16–28; 1 Corinthians 8:1–13; Mark 6:13–29

For thoughts on 1 Corinthians 8:1–13 from 9/29/2021, see “Love vs. Knowledge”

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)

Two perceptive quotes on Genesis 45 by commentator Derek Kidner guide my meditations this morning. First, Jacob brings his family from Israel to Egypt, marking “a turning point…, long foretold (15:13–16): the beginning of a phase of isolation…, and of eventual bondage and deliverance which would produce a people that for ever after knew itself redeemed as well as called.” *

Redeemed as well as called. Israel became “a people that forever after knew itself redeemed as well as called,” notes Kidner. That’s really quite a thought. Israel’s rescue from Egypt, of course, is a rescue from more than physical oppressors. It’s redemption from the Angel of Death that would have taken Israelite firstborn as well as Egyptian, but for the shed blood of the Passover lambs. It’s redemption through waters that would have drowned Israelites as well as Egyptians. It’s redemption by manna graciously falling from the skies despite the people’s grumbling and complaining. It’s redemption under the leadership of the Glory Cloud despite constant whining about how great it would be to turn around and go back!

That’s the story of the Bible. Theologians of the early church even found themselves giving thanks to God for “the happy fall” (felix culpa) that made redemption necessary. We love God more, the suggestion goes, more desperately, more passionately, more deeply because, in Christ, we know what it is to be “wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored” (BCP, p. 214).

No need for recrimination. Second, Kidner adds an intriguing remark about Genesis 45:24, which says, “Then he sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving he said to them, ‘Do not quarrel along the way.’” Kidner comments: “Joseph’s parting shot was realistic, for the ancient crime was now bound to come to light before their father, and mutual accusations were likely to proliferate (cf. 42:22). *

Indeed, it’s not difficult to imagine Jacob’s reaction to finding out the son he thought he had lost is in Egypt. Elation at first, of course. But then the question: It was reported that Joseph was dead. How is he alive? What is he doing in Egypt? How did he get there? The whole story will come out, and it’s not likely to be a pretty picture. Joseph anticipates the recriminations and says, “Let it go.”

In this season of Lent it’s good to be reminded how important it is not to carry grudges. Grievances can embitter and cripple us in all sorts of ways. Lent is a good time to seek reconciliation with God and with one another. Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa to take all our estrangement and woundedness into himself, to take it with him into the tomb, and to leave it there. It’s good for us consciously and freely to give it to him and bid it a final farewell.

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+

Image: Adaptation, Pixabay

* Derek Kidner, Genesis, p. 208.