Daily Lectionary | Genesis 45 & Matthew 5:1-20
Genesis 45
Summary
Joseph weeps once again. He sends out everyone except his brothers and he reveals himself to them.
Joseph states his identity a second time: “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.” The brothers’ guilt regarding their brother has grown, but Joseph assures them he will not retaliate. He will not enslave his brothers. Rather, he sees God’s providential hand in what has happened: “for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Joseph is playing a key role to preserve a remnant for the house of Jacob in the midst of famine.
Joseph calls his brothers to bring their father to them and provides them a dwelling place, in the land of Goshen.
Joseph “falls on the neck” of Benjamin, similar to Jacob and Esau embracing. The restoration of brothers once estranged continues to be a theme in Genesis.
Pharaoh adds his favor on Joseph’s family, ensuring they will have the best land and all the provisions they need to come from Canaan to Goshen.
They return to Jacob and tell him the news of Joseph. His heart is revived that he will see Joseph before he dies.
Reflection Question
Why does Joseph single out Benjamin in his interactions with his brothers?
2. In Genesis 45:22, Jospeh gives his brothers new clothes. Why might this be significant?
Matthew 5:1-20
Just like Moses went up on a mountain to receive a revelation of God’s law in Exodus, so now Jesus goes up on the mountain as the new and Greater Moses. Jesus will not receive God’s law, however, but will give its truest exposition and reveal its greatest meaning.
The sermon begins with a cascade of blessings called “beatitudes.” The beatitudes envision what life in Jesus’ kingdom looks like. Jesus is not setting up impossible demands in this sermon but painting a picture of what it looks like to live as his people, a city on a hill, a light to the world (Matt. 5:13-16).
Jesus pronounces blessings on those who don’t seem very blessed: the poor, the meek, the persecuted. But these lowly states reveal in the present what will come in the end: these are members of the kingdom of heaven now who will be comforted and rewarded.
These blessings reveal what a truly flourishing life looks like. Psalm 1 begins with a beatitude about the man who delights in God’s word. This man is a like a tree by water that flourishes. Jesus likewise is showing us what it looks like to flourish in his kingdom.
Jesus tells his followers, “You the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matt. 5:13). Israel was meant to be God’s light to the nations as they followed God’s law. Now Jesus gathers his followers and says they are the light of the world.
Jesus makes it clear he is not coming to make a clean break with the law but to bring it to its fulfillment.
Reflection Questions
How do the beatitudes reorient us to what a flourishing life looks like?
How does Jesus fulfill the law and the prophets?