A Meditation for Tuesday after the Second Sunday in Lent | George Herbert, Priest, 1633
By The Rev. Elmer S. Miguel
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Ps 145:8).
As we pray the collect for this morning prayer office, we intercede for those who have gone astray. Perhaps, even now, you are picturing a loved one who has some level of faith in Christ but has neglected to follow God’s will. We ask for God’s mercy to be upon them. We pray that God would act as he has always acted, mercifully. We beseech God to draw the wayward toward a steadfast faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
God’s mercy and steadfast love are evident in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We can also find it in the Old Testament. In the readings for this day, we see God’s mercy prefigured in Joseph’s treatment of his brothers (Gen 42). Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and covered up their treachery by staging his death-by-wild-animal (Gen 37.31-32). Murderous jealousy drove them to hatch a plan to rid themselves of the dreamer, but in the end God used their evil for good (Gen 37.20). In this we identify a type of mercy reminiscent of the mercy of God.
As the story develops between Joseph and his brothers, one can empathize with Joseph. The dreams he had been given and his status as Jacob’s favorite son made him a target of his brothers’ hatred (Gen 37.2). After their betrayal, many years later, the brothers unwittingly approach Joseph in Egypt to ask for grain for their survival (Gen 42.2). At first reading, one might expect that sweet justice will be had. The circumstances could not be any more in Joseph’s favor. His childhood trauma, caused by his brothers who now are at his mercy, could easily be avenged. The fact that his brothers could not recognize him also leaves open the possibility for Joseph to exact revenge without anyone finding out their relationship to one another (Gen 42.8). A group of people who deserve nothing more than to be punished and destroyed are instead fed and restored by the very one upon whom they fixed their rage all those years ago. How ironic, that those who attempted to destroy the dreamer Joseph are now beholden to him for their survival and that of their households.
If this were a novel, perhaps the tale would end with a tense reckoning and swift justice. Jacob would confront his brothers, reveal his identity, and pronounce their downfall. In the end, avenging his prior treatment would not completely heal Joseph’s heart and mind. He would spend the rest of his life wrestling with the effects of trauma. The reader, however, might rejoice to see justice being executed in the end. After all, those who caused Joseph physical, emotional, and mental harm deserve to be punished.
The Scriptures, however, are not merely a collection of short stories telling us of patriarchs and important historical figures and events. They tell of God’s acting through time and history to redeem and save a broken and unruly people. The common thread throughout much of Scripture, and particularly in this passage of Genesis 42.1-17, is God’s mercy. Although Israel turned away from God on many occasions, God’s mercy is not nullified (Ex 32.3-8; Lev 18.21; Judges 2.12; Judges 10.6). Psalm 145.8 reminds us that His mercy is constant. When we turn our attention from Him unto other gods, he is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex 34.5-7). This is His character as pronounced by Him when he met with Moses on Mount Sinai to write for a second time the commandments of God upon a second set of tablets of stone. YHWH gives Moses a second chance, despite Moses breaking the tablets in anger (Ex 32.19). God proclaims of himself, “YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation” (Ex 34:6–7).
Whatever it is that plagues us, that siren call which draws our hearts and minds away from the love of God, is not a problem of the modern man alone. God is not surprised by our turning away from him for lesser gods. He does however want our allegiance. Jesus himself confirmed this when asked to determine the greatest commandment. He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt 22.38).
We are reminded, time and again, through Holy Scripture, by Jesus, by the indwelling Holy Ghost, and by our liturgy that we ought always to turn unto him when we have gone astray unto lesser gods. So it is with a contrite and penitent heart that we approach our merciful Lord and ask him to be gracious to all who have gone astray from his ways.
Fr. Elmer S. Miguel is Rector of Church of the Good Shepherd in Wichita Falls, Texas, a parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. Previously, he served as deacon and assisting priest, at the Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast, HopePointe Anglican Church in The Woodlands, Texas, from January 2021 to March 2023. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Sam Houston State University, and will graduate with a Master of Pastoral Ministry degree from Nashotah House in May 2024. Fr. Miguel was raised in Andrews, Texas. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on September 28, 2001, and served as an infantry squad leader during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fr. Miguel and his wife, Holly, love spending time with their four kids, Ana, Asher, Alister, and August. As a family they enjoy playing music, going on road trips, watching movies, exploring antique stores, and playing board and card games. The readings for the preceding devotional may be located here from Forward Movement.
