The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 24: Tears of Joy (2022)

Episode Date: January 24, 2022

Fr. Mike takes a look at the dramatic moment when Joseph makes himself known to his brothers and weeps out of joy. Today's readings are Genesis 45-46, Job 37-38, and Proverbs 4:20-27. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, I'm Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we will read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. This is day 24. Oh my goodness. What a gift.

Let's keep on going. We're reading today from Genesis chapter 45 and 46. Also two more chapters from the book of our friend Job. Job chapter 37 and 38. We'll also be reading from the book of Proverbs. Closing out chapter 4 verses 20 through 27. So again, we're starting out with Genesis 45 and 46. We are reading from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the Catholic edition,

and I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension, which is so helpful to have when we're reading this podcast based off of the Great Adventure Bible timeline, because it all goes together and all fits together really, really well. If you want to get your own Bible in a Year reading plan, it is free. You just have to go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, and it's right there for you.

All you have to do is go there, ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. Please subscribe to this podcast. Just click on subscribe, and you'll get, whenever we drop an episode, you can pick it up with your favorite podcasting app. Also, lastly, if you want to sign up for our email list, you can simply text the word Catholic Bible

to the number 33777, just in the, I guess the address button or the address section of your text messages, type in the numbers 33, then 777. And then in the message part of it, just type in one word, Catholic Bible, to that number, 33777, Catholic Bible. Once again, as I said,

we are reading from Genesis chapter 45 and 46. And the story continues to get deeper to the heart of Israel's family, the heart of Joseph himself, the heart of these brothers. Genesis chapter 45 and 46. Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him.

And he cried, make everyone go out from me. So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he whooped aloud so that the egyptians heard it and the household of pharaoh heard it and joseph said to his brothers i am joseph is my father still alive but his brothers could not answer him for they were dismayed at his presence so joseph said to his brothers come here to me, I beg you. And they came near and he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry

with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Make haste and go up to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks, your herds and all that you have.

And there I will speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt and of all that you have seen. Make haste and bring my father down here. Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. And Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. And after that, his brothers talked with him. When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, Joseph's brothers have come.

It pleased Pharaoh and his servants as well. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, say to your brothers, do this, load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan and take your father and your households and come to me and I will give you the best of the land in Egypt and you shall eat the fat of the land. Command them also, do this, take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives and bring your father and come. Give no thought to your goods

for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours. The son of Israel did so. And Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh and gave them provisions for the journey. To each and all of them, he gave festal garments, but to Benjamin, he gave 300 shekels of them he gave festal garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five festal garments. To his father he sent as follows,

ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provisions for his father on the journey. Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed he said to them, Do not quarrel on the way. So they went up out of the land of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father, Jacob. And they told him, Joseph is still alive and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons with Joseph had sent to carry him,

the spirit of their father, Jacob revived. And Israel said, it is enough. Joseph, my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here am I. Then he said, I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes. Then Jacob set out from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

They also took their cattle and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters, all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and the sons of Reuben, Hanak, Palu, Hezron, and Carmi. The sons of Simeon, Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman. The sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Marari. The sons of Judah, Ur, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. But Ur and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. The sons of Issachar, Tola, Puva, Eob, and Shimron. The sons of Zebulun, Sered, Elan, and Jalil. These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob and Paddan Aram, together with his daughter Dinah, altogether his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three. The sons of Gad, Siphion, Haggi, Shunai, Ezbon, Irai, Arodi, and Arali. The sons of Asher, Imnah, Ishva, Ishvi, Beriah, and Sera, their sister. And the sons of Beriah, Heber, and Malkiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, sixteen persons. The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph, and Benjamin. And to Joseph, in the land

of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Ansanath, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of On, bore to him. And the sons of Benjamin, Bilah, Becher, Ashbal, Gerah, Naaman, Ehai, Rosh, Mupim, Hupim, and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob, fourteen persons in all. The sons of Dan, Hushim. The sons of Naphtali, Jazil, Guni, Jezer, and Shalem. These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she born to Jacob, seven persons in all. All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own offspring, not including Jacob's son's wives, were 66 persons in all. And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob that came into Egypt were seventy. He sent Judah before him to Joseph,

to appear before him in Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. And he presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive. Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, My brothers and my father's household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me, and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. When Pharaoh calls you and says, what is your occupation? You shall say, your servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth,

even until now, both we and our fathers, in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen. For every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. The book of Job chapter 37 and 38, the greatness of God. At this also, my heart trembles and leaps out of its place. Listen to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven, he lets it go and is lightning to the corners of the earth. After it, his voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice and he does not restrain the bolts of lightning when his voice is heard. God thunders wondrously in his voice. He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For to the snow, he says, fall on the earth and to the shower and the rain,

be strong. He seals up the hand of every man, that all men may know his work. Then beasts go into their lairs and remain in their dens. From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds. By the breath of God, ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture. The clouds scatter as lightning. They turn round and round by his guidance to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. Hear this, O Job, stop and consider the wondrous works of God.

Do you know how God lay his commands upon them and caused the lightning of his clouds to shine? Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? You whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind, can you like him spread out the skies hard as a molten mirror? Teach us what we shall say to him. We cannot draw up our case because of darkness. Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up? And now men cannot look on the light when it's bright in the skies and when the wind has passed and cleared them? Out of the north comes golden splendor and God is clothed with awesome majesty. The Almighty,

we cannot find him. He is great in power and justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore, men fear him. He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man. I will question you and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determines its measurements? Surely you know.

Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed. Have you commanded the morning since

your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked shall be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like garment. For the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

Declare, if you know all this. Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And where is the place of darkness? You may take it to its territory, and that you may discern the paths to its home. You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow? Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain

and a way for the thunderbolts to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the ground put forth grass? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth? And who has given birth to the hoarfrost of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth? And who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Meseroth in their season, or can you guide the bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the cloud that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth bolts of lightning that they may go and say to you, here we are? Who has put wisdom in the clouds? Who has given understanding to the mists?

Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the water skins of the heavens when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling tightly together? Can you hunt the prey for lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their hiding places?

Who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God and wander about for lack of food? The book of Proverbs chapter 4 verses 20 through 27. My son, be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight. Keep them within your heart, for they are life to him who finds them and healing to all his flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. Take heed to the path of your feet. Then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left.

Turn your foot away from evil. Father in heaven, we thank you and we give you praise. Thank you so much for the gift of this day. Thank you for the gift of your word. Thank you for the gift of revealing your heart to us because that is what you do in your word. You speak to us and you continue to speak to us. Even Lord, when your word is challenging,

even when your word is confusing and we don't understand what's going on, we don't understand what you're trying to say to us, still you continue to speak and we continue to listen. Give us hearts that can understand what we're hearing. Give us hearts to understand what you're saying. In Jesus' name we pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Okay, so man, oh man. The story of Joseph is one of my favorite stories in the book of Genesis. I have a lot of favorite stories in the Old Testament, which I can't wait to journey with you all through. But the story of Joseph is one of my favorites. One of the scenes that is such a favorite is this, is the moment where Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.

And in that revelation, he weeps so loudly that even Pharaoh hears about it. He weeps so loudly that everyone's like, what the heck is going on with Joseph? Something big is happening. And he throws himself upon his brother Benjamin's neck and they weep. Ah, together, this reunion, they've never met each other at this point, right? And yet all the other brothers are half brothers, which is still family. But Benjamin is his full brother. This reunion of two brothers who have never met, is this powerful moment, only to be superseded by the moment when Joseph is reunited with his father Jacob, with his father Israel.

It is just remarkable. What's also remarkable is the tears. Why would you cry? Why would we cry when good things are happening? Joseph is weeping as his brothers and he are reconciled. Joseph is weeping as his father and he are reunited. Why do we weep? I remember someone telling me,

someone really wise telling me once, he said, why do we weep when there's joy? Why does a mom weep when she's lost her child and finds the child again? The child is lost in the park or lost somewhere and they're reunited again. Why are Joseph and Israel, this father and son, why are they weeping?

This is the happy moment. We weep, this person said, he said, we weep because we know it could have been otherwise. we weep because we know it could have been otherwise. We weep because we know it could have been otherwise. That not only are we joyful, but we're also so aware, so aware that Jacob could have gone down to Sheol, not knowing that his son was still alive. Joseph could have continued to serve in Egypt, never again seeing his brothers, never again seeing his father, never ever meeting his brother Benjamin.

And we know this. We know that it could have been otherwise. And so we weep out of joy, but also knowing how fragile we are. And knowing that if the Lord is not with us, that fragility means death. If the Lord is not with us, that fragility means death. If the Lord is not with us, that fragility means we're destroyed. But when God is with us, as he was with Joseph, as he was with Israel,

and as he is with you right now, when the Lord is with you, there's room. There's room in our life for tears, and there's room in our life for joy, and there's room in our life for joy and there's room in our lives for joyful tears. What breaks your heart today? What joy breaks your heart today because you know that it doesn't have to be this way,

it could have been otherwise? What sorrow breaks your heart today? Because unlike maybe Jacob and Joseph, you're not reunited with that loved one. Unlike the brothers of Joseph, you haven't been yet forgiven or you haven't offered forgiveness. Where's your heart being broken today? This is something definitely worth talking to the Lord about

and actually praying for each other about because you guys, as we said, this is a journey, not just individual journey. This is a community of people who are going through the Bible this entire year. We're on day 24. We have so much room to cover, but also we've come so far. We're at almost the end, almost the very end of the book of Genesis and almost the very end of the book of Job.

And so we need to pray for each other because we're not journeying alone. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. Cannot wait to pray for each other because we're not journeying alone. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. Cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.