{"id":877,"date":"2014-04-05T11:02:14","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T15:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=877"},"modified":"2014-04-05T11:06:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-05T15:06:14","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=877","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">  var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);  (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Joseph Makes Himself Known &#8211; Held on Sunday, March 30, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Outline of Post on the Scripture Session held on 03\/30\/14<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>A Question: Did Judah own the Brothers\u2019 guilt for what they had done to Joseph?<\/li>\n<li>Background to today\u2019s Reading<\/li>\n<li>Reading Gen. 45: 01 &#8211; 28<\/li>\n<li>Discussion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>A Question: Did Judah own the Brothers\u2019 guilt for what they had done to Joseph? <\/b><\/p>\n<p>In my post of last week [To read: Go to Archives (Top Right of the Home Page) select March, click on post Held on Sunday, March 30, scroll down to Discussion section to read the group\u2019s take on the guilt question] I presented my reasons for thinking that Judah in fact did acknowledge the brothers\u2019 guilt.\u00a0 As the post states there was doubt to disagreement that the text supports Judah having in fact acknowledged their guilt.\u00a0 I was pretty sure that not everyone in the group had reviewed the post, I decided to review the evidence presented there because owning one\u2019s guilt is critical to moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>In our Sacrament of Reconciliation, this is why we confess our sins to the priest, that is, to the community.\u00a0 It is no small matter.\u00a0 What is particularly alarming in modern American culture, as I read it, is the near complete failure to distinguish between authentic and inauthentic guilt.\u00a0 Such failure leads many to fail to learn what authentic guilt has to teach us and in that aftermath, to not recognize evil for what it is or perhaps even worse to confuse evil with good.\u00a0 What would be your take on this observation of mine?<\/p>\n<p>On a communication note: What I find common among those who post, there is always a struggle to know if anyone or who has read the post, let alone if it is read, what understanding actually takes place.\u00a0 So I click on \u2026<\/p>\n<p><b>Background to today\u2019s Reading: Gen. 45: 01 \u2013 28.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Joseph Narrative begins in Chapter 37 but it until now in Chapter 45 that God\u2019s role in all of this fully comes to light.\u00a0 Here we read in v. 5<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">But now do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you<\/p>\n<p>In this single verse the story teller reveals what we have suspicioned all along, God is at work.\u00a0 What might be missed though is the telling difference between God\u2019s work with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and God\u2019s work now with Joseph.\u00a0 Common to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the Promise, Land, Posterity, and Blessing.\u00a0 With Joseph it is different.\u00a0 God\u2019s work is \u201c<b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">for the sake of saving lives<\/span><\/b>.\u201d\u00a0 What then has happened to the Promise?\u00a0 We will learn that the Promise moves from their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [Israel] to Israel the nation [the Twelve Brothers \/ tribes].\u00a0 Israel\u2019s family will be called by Joseph and approved by Pharaoh to move from the Promised Land to Egypt.\u00a0 Everything is being staged for the Exodus, the story of YHWH\u2019s deliverance from slavery and oppression to freedom, the story of settling in the Promised Land, and the twisting of the story with the birth of a nation and its desire for an earthly king.<\/p>\n<p>In Exodus 01: 08 we read the great shift that makes all of this possible<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph,\u00a0rose to power in Egypt.<\/p>\n<p><b>Reading: Gen. 45: 01 \u2013 28 <\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/45\">http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/45<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Discussion<\/b><\/p>\n<p>As Ken listened to the reading of this chapter a question arose with regard to v. 24 \u201cLet there be no recriminations on the way.\u201d\u00a0 What does \u201crecrimination\u201d mean?\u00a0 Faryl was to look up its meaning but I\u2019m posting to the question in a larger context.\u00a0 A different version of v. 24 reads \u201cDon\u2019t quarrel* along the way,\u201d and the * is explained \u201cOr be \u2018agitated.\u2019\u00a0 One Greek word, three English words, \u2018recriminations,\u2019 \u2018quarrel,\u2019 and \u2018agitated.\u2019 \u00a0It makes little sense in my world to take the Bible literally and, at the same time, to recognize that meaning matters but meaning is nuanced.<\/p>\n<p>My notes of our conversation goes on for some 6 pages, but it is Saturday and I must prepare already for tomorrow.\u00a0 There is, however, one part of our conversation that I think of special import.\u00a0 We have arrived at the realization that these stories have a profound symbolism to them.\u00a0 Yes it is a story of Joseph in Egypt, of what his brothers did to him, and ultimately how it is that God was a work.\u00a0 But it is more.\u00a0 It is even more an account of<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>how family life is fraught with problems,<\/li>\n<li>how we do evil to one another,<\/li>\n<li>that brothers are more than blood brothers but rather define our relationship with all others, brothers and sisters,<\/li>\n<li>how guilt can be a controlling factor,<\/li>\n<li>how difficult it is to own one\u2019s \u00a0guilt in the concrete, in the real,<\/li>\n<li>how there are victims and perpetrators and in some ways we are both<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But beyond all of these and other factors, there is God in this story whose involvement is described in these words, \u201cIt was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I raised a question with the group, how does God in the concrete \u201csend\u201d \u201cahead\u201d\u00a0 How do we understand God\u2019s engagement with us that honors God\u2019s\u00a0 transcendence and our freedom.\u00a0 As Michael said, we are not just puppets.\u00a0 As I wanted to reinforce our lives are predestined.\u00a0 What we do matters, yet God in this story has been at work all along and in some fundamental way God\u2019s actions cannot be frustrated.\u00a0 How do we talk about our lives, God\u2019s involvement, etc. that holds all of these facts together?<\/p>\n<p>At the end, Kai reinforced that we must start where we are, nudged along, the whole of the Roman Catholic traditions thought on these profound issues cannot be given all at once but only gradually.\u00a0 That is where we are.\u00a0 One step at a time.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of road signs might be prove helpful.\u00a0 The sentences naming the road signs are easy to type on to this webpage but not easy to understand yet the written word can be worth writing.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>God is the primary cause of the universe all other causes are secondary causes.\u00a0 To understand the difference between and relationship of primary and secondary causes is an intellectual journey.<\/li>\n<li>We [human beings] are essentially free but not effectively free.\u00a0 God does not replace our freedom with God\u2019s freedom.<\/li>\n<li>Finally evil exists and cannot be overcome by violent means.\u00a0 So it is that Jesus dies on a cross.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You are invited to respond to these or other questions that might arise within you as you read this passage.\u00a0 Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.\u00a0 See \u201ccomment\u201d link below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Outline of Post on the Scripture Session held on 03\/30\/14 A Question: Did Judah own the Brothers\u2019 guilt for what they had done to Joseph? Background to today\u2019s Reading Reading Gen. 45: 01 &#8211; 28 Discussion A Question: Did Judah &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=877\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8,5],"tags":[15,28,18,19],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-literal-interpretation","category-scripture","tag-historical-method","tag-literal-interpretation","tag-religion-and-culture","tag-scripture-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}