September 13th - Reflection

Genesis 49:29-50:14 (NRSV)
Honoring Jacob's burial wishes
Then he charged them, saying to them, "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors -- in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites." When Jacob ended his charge to his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Then Joseph threw himself on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, "If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows: My father made me swear an oath; he said, 'I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.' Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return." Pharaoh answered, "Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear to do."


So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company. When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days. When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians." Therefore the place was named Abel mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
Reflection
Jacob came to Egypt and found life. He found life not only in the food that sustained his family during a tough time, but he also found the life of Joseph whom Jacob presumed dead for years. Now in death, Jacob leaves Egypt to be buried with his ancestors. All this a mini-series in the life of the birth of the Israelites. The Israelites would continue to live in Egypt and become slaves, eventually being led out of Egypt by Moses.

The ups and downs of life sometimes follow a pattern similar to this journey in and out of Egypt. We find life and later conclude that the life we found was not the life we thought it was. So we continue to follow God's leading and move closer to the Promised Land. There are ups and downs along the way. In each of those changes we learn lessons of life that God uses to shape us to form the ministry we will have or need.

Joseph came to Egypt and found life in prison and out of prison. Jacob came to Egypt and found the life of his beloved son. We come to Egypt and find what God has led us to find. All the ups and downs of life that God will lead us through, bringing us closer to the Promised Land and closer to what God intends for us to be. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, help me to faithfully follow you wherever you lead that I may become that much closer to what you want me to be and do... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen