This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:
Imam mudered in Andelecht Mosque Fire 
45:1-15
Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers
45Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘Send everyone away from me.’ So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.2And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.3Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ And they came closer. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.5And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.6For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest.7God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.8So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.9Hurry 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 delay.10You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.11I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.”12And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you.13You must tell my father how greatly I am honoured in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.’14Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck.15And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
This is what the reader has been waiting for, the moment when Joseph will reveal himself to the brothers who sold him as a slave. He has tested their loyalty to one another and to Jacob; and he has bewildered them with a mixture of rigor and friendliness. Now he reveals himself; and the revelation is not that he is a man of great power but that he is their own flesh and blood moved to tears by their presence with him. Egyptian royalty may show itself in rituals of power; the true royalty of God’s people is their unabashed humanity.
But Joseph also reveals himself as the interpreter of God’s dream in which he he and his brothers are characters. They think that they have been in control of events and may pay the price of their crime. Joseph sees that God has planned the whole history so that in time of famine the children of Israel/ Jacob may find food and protection. We should note that God does not appear personally in the story to confirm this interpretation. It is Joseph’s interpretation, we might even say it is Joseph’s final dream about his own life. It’s a generous dream, doing honour to his father, his brothers and himself and to God who weaves the divine comedy of his creatures’ lives. The story encourages its readers to trust their own generous humanity and the mysterious providence of God; and to accept what life brings with a mixture of tears and laughter.
Mark 6:1-13
The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth
6He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him.2On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary* and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence* at him.4Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.6And he was amazed at their unbelief.
The Mission of the Twelve
Then he went about among the villages teaching.7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.10He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Jesus is stunned by the unbelief of his local community, and he accepts that this limits his own ministry. He cannot reveal the goodness of God where there is no trust. That’s a vital theological point: even the Son of God can do nothing without trust. God works by persuasive goodness rather than by supernatural power. This set-back however does not stop Jesus’ mission. He turns to those who do have trust and sends them out in pairs with the message of the kingdom. They are to be completely free of possessions and dependent on the trust and support of those who receive their message. Where there is trust their work will prosper; where there is no trust they are to do what is done by Israelites returning from foreign lands-wipe the Gentile dust from their feet as they cross into holy land. Jesus’ mission is the communication of God’s gracious rule (the kingdom); its success rests on the trusting response of men and women and children.
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