Jealousy that kills brotherly love

Jealousy that kills brotherly love

Gen 37:1-17

v. 4. When his brothers saw that their father loved more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

It is interesting to see why Joseph becomes an irritant speck in the eyes of his elder brothers. Reasons are possibly three; 1. His father loved him more than others, 2. He outsmarted the rest in practical wisdom and 3. His father’s special care for Joseph was because of the fact that he lived as a motherless child. He was courageous enough to call a spade a spade. He never felt any fear in pointing out the injustices around. Joseph hadn’t done anything special to earn the favor of his father. He always tried to be truthful to God and himself and in that attempt he could not keep silence when an injustice unfolded in his sight. Joseph had to report about the ill-deeds of his brothers as he felt that such deeds are detrimental in the points of view of both the perpetrators and the victims. The narration and interpretation of his own dreams were not simply intended to show himself as a greater being than his brothers, but it was his attempt to understand his vocation as he felt that God entrusted responsibilities to him. None of the three reasons cited above were things intentionally aimed at harming his brothers.  It happened as Joseph tried to understand his familial roles as a son, a brother and more as a steward of his father’s household in the light of the faith that was taught. Joseph could see his special abilities as strengths which could be made use to redeem whole of his family from possible difficulties. But for his brothers his special abilities were a cause of jealousy. They desire to kill him, abandon him or even sell him to strange traders from foreign land. Their attempts to eliminate the other brother results in them becoming unable to engage the situation in the peace of mind. When our goodness is challenged in similar situations of life, we need to pray to God to have a perception of the situation from the point of view of God’s will and to submit ourselves to the fulfillment of that will.

Prayer

God of grace, help us to see our situations of life from the vantage point of your will for us and our neighbors lifted from the narrow ghettos of our cramming life. Save us from the bitterness of jealousy that kills brotherly love in our relationships. Amen