In today's first reading, Gen 49: 29-32; 50: 55-26, Joseph's brothers, following their father Jacob's death, are afraid that their brother Joseph, whom they treated so cruelly by selling him as a slave into Egypt, would take revenge upon them. So they approached Joseph, begging for mercy: "'Please, ...forgive the crime that we, the servants of your father's God, committed.' When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears. Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, 'Let us be your salves!' But Joseph replied to them; 'Have no fear. Can I take the place of God? Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve the present end, the survival of many people.'"
Feelings are natural reactions to situations in our lives, and, of themselves, are not sinful. However, when entertained and obsessed about, we make ourselves vulnerable to choosing actions based upon those negative feelings. Joseph's brothers did just that. By feeding their jealousy and anger, the brothers fell into sin by planning murder. Changing their plan to kill Joseph, they expressed their anger by selling Joseph to Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt. To cover up their crime, they soaked Joseph's colored cloak in animal's blood to look as though he suffered a fatal attack by a wild beasts.
When have you and I entertained feelings of jealousy, anger, revenge? To what did those feelings lead us? Did we redirect our attention? Or did we act upon those feelings? We have a choice to do either!
Let us turn our focus on Jesus, say the name Jesus and ask for help rather than relying upon ourselves to deal with situations that are problematic for us!
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