Friday, March 9th, 2007

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

March 9, 2007


“When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph best of all his sons, they hated Joseph so much they would not even greet him.”

Genesis 37:4

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This is the well known story about Joseph and his brothers. All the brothers become jealous of Joseph because he is loved “best” by Israel, their father. In their jealousy they plan to kill Joseph but they finally end up selling him off to the Ishmaelites as a slave for twenty pieces of silver.



Jealousy is an ugly sin that can lead to other ugly sins. We see that in the story of the brothers of Joseph. They are highly jealous of their father’s love for Joseph and so they totally betray their own brother by selling him off to a people they do not even know. The motivation for this cut throat rejection is that the brothers do not feel as loved as Joseph.



There are countless opportunities in our lives where we can play the, “I am not as loved as her or him” game. We compare our lives to their lives and we come up with the answer that I must not be as loved as them. He is brighter or more successful in his career so God must be smiling down more on him than me. She is so beautiful and thin and that means that she is more loved than me. We have had all this bad fortune which must mean that the love we have always wanted must have been withheld from us.



Like the story with Joseph, it is destructive to become jealous of others and act on that jealousy in life-taking ways. We all know that there is always going to be someone who is smarter, better, more likable, better looking, more successful, etc. than we are. So, if we are comparing with others to determine if we are loved then we will always come up short and become jealous because there is always someone out there who is better. We do not want to go to jealousy and all of its destructive arrows to ourselves and others.



How can we move away from being a jealous person? We can look to our jealous God for the answer. God is jealous in that he wants our eyes, our attention, our focus. He wants us to stop looking at others to determine if we are loved or not. Our jealous God wants us to look at him and, in looking into him, to dive into the sea of his love. Then you will know that you are the “best” loved of all his sons and daughters. All will know that same knowing as they look to God and not others.



One time in prayer a few years ago when I was struggling with being jealous, God asked me this question, “John, when will you believe that my love for you is enough?”



And so, I ask you, “When will you believe that God’s love for you is enough?”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John