Today’s reading in Genesis describes Joseph’s brothers’ jealousy of their father’s love for him, and fear of his abilities to interpret his dreams. They sell him to traders and allow their father to believe he has been killed by wild beasts, rather than see Joseph’s spiritual gifts as a way for them to grow in wisdom. Psalm 119 speaks of God’s statutes providing comfort in our distress, while the arrogant utterly deride us, that we remember His name in the night. The Gospel selection recounts Jesus casting out demons and curing the sick, providing health and comfort for those who believe in Him. From Corinthians 2 we learn that Paul believes that what God has prepared for us is so beyond our imagination or comprehension that it is what no human heart has conceived, no eye has seen. And yet, we fear, we distrust, we grow jealous of others who have what we think we need, want or worse, deserve. My Lenten discipline this year is to be more open to what I don’t understand, more trusting that there is a plan God has for me, as long as I can remember His name in the darkness of my night.
Genesis 37:25-36
Psalms 49, 53
1 Cor. 2:1-13
Mark 1:29-45
