Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 21 January 2021

 I keep trying to recall that we are now 1/3 of the way to the Spring Equinox of 20 March.  Slim comfort, but it's something.  I guess.  The switch to Daylight Savings time is a week earlier. 14 March.  We're making some headway, sunset is nearing half an hour later than it was at the start of the year.  Again, it's something.

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GENESIS 49

Jacob’s Last Words

1Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.  

2Come together and listen, sons of Jacob;

listen to your father Israel:

3Reuben, you are my firstborn, 

my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, 

excelling in prominence, excelling in power.

4Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel,

because you got into your father’s bed 

and you defiled it — he  got into my bed.

5Simeon and Levi are brothers;

their knives are vicious weapons. 

6May I never enter their council;

may I never join their assembly.

For in their anger they kill men,

and on a whim they hamstring oxen.

7Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,

and their fury, for it is cruel!

I will disperse them throughout Jacob

and scatter them throughout Israel. 

8Judah, your brothers will praise you. 

Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;

your father’s sons will bow down to you. 

9Judah is a young lion  —

my son, you return from the kill.

He crouches; he lies down like a lion

or a lioness — who dares to rouse him?

10The scepter will not depart from Judah

or the staff from between his feet

until He whose right it is comes  

and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him. 

11He ties his donkey to a vine,

and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.

He washes his clothes in wine

and his robes in the blood of grapes.

12His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth are whiter than milk.

13Zebulun will live by the seashore

and will be a harbor for ships,

and his territory will be next to Sidon. 

14Issachar is a strong donkey

lying down between the saddlebags. 

15He saw that his resting place was good

and that the land was pleasant,

so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load

and became a forced laborer. 

16Dan will judge his people 

as one of the tribes of Israel.

17He will be a snake by the road,

a viper beside the path,

that bites the horses’ heels

so that its rider falls backward.

18I wait for Your salvation, Lord.

19Gad will be attacked by raiders,

but he will attack their heels. 

20Asher’s  food will be rich,

and he will produce royal delicacies. 

21Naphtali is a doe set free

that bears beautiful fawns. 

22Joseph is a fruitful vine,

a fruitful vine beside a spring;

its branches  climb over the wall. 

23The archers attacked him,

shot at him, and were hostile toward him.

24Yet his bow remained steady,

and his strong  arms were made agile

by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, 

by the name of  the Shepherd,  the Rock of Israel, 

25by the God of your father who helps you,

and by the Almighty who blesses you

with blessings of the heavens above,

blessings of the deep that lies below,

and blessings of the breasts and the womb.

26The blessings of your father excel

the blessings of my ancestors 

and  the bounty of the eternal hills.  

May they rest on the head of Joseph,

on the crown of the prince of his brothers.

27Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey.

In the morning he devours the prey,

and in the evening he divides the plunder.” 

28These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

Jacob’s Burial Instructions

29Then he commanded them: “I am about to be gathered to my people.  Bury me with my fathers  in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.  30The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.  31Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there,  Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there,  and I buried Leah there.  32The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites.” 33When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died. He was gathered to his people.

GENESIS 50

Jacob’s Burial

1Then Joseph, leaning over his father’s face, wept and kissed him. 2He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. 3They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days. 

4When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s household, “If I have found favor with you, please tell  Pharaoh that 5my father made me take an oath,  saying, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I made for myself in the land of Canaan.’  Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.”

6So Pharaoh said, “Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath.”

7Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him, 8along with all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their sheep, and their cattle were left in the land of Goshen. 9Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession. 10When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father. 11When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim.  It is across the Jordan.

12So Jacob’s sons did for him what he had commanded them. 13They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.  14After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

Joseph’s Kindness

15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.” 

16So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command: 17‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin — the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept  when their message came to him. 18Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves! ”

19But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  20You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result — the survival of many people.  21Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.”  And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. 

Joseph’s Death

22Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years. 23He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation;  the sons of Manasseh’s son Machir were recognized by   Joseph. 

24Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die,  but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham,  Isaac,  and Jacob.”  25So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here.” 

26Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

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MATTHEW 15

The Tradition of the Elders

1Then  Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked,  2“Why do Your disciples  break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat! ”  

3He answered them, “And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? 4For God said: 

Honor your father and your mother;   and,

The one who speaks evil of father or mother

must be put to death.  

5But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple” — 6he does not have to honor his father.’  In this way, you have revoked God’s word  because of your tradition. 7Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:

8These people  honor Me with their lips,

but their heart is far from Me.

9They worship Me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commands of men.”  

Defilement Is from Within

10Summoning the crowd, He told them, “Listen and understand: 11It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles  a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” 

12Then the disciples came up and told Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this statement? ”

13He replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.  14Leave them alone! They are blind guides.  And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 

15Then Peter replied to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” 

16“Are even you still lacking in understanding? ” He  asked. 17“Don’t you realize  that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?  18But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man.  19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies,  blasphemies.  20These are the things that defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” 

A Gentile Mother’s Faith

21When Jesus left there,  He withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.  22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out,  “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly tormented by a demon.” 

23Yet He did not say a word to her. So His disciples  approached Him and urged Him, “Send her away because she cries out after us.” 

24He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

25But she came, knelt before Him, and said, “Lord, help me! ”

26He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.” 

27“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table! ”

28Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment  her daughter was cured. 

Healing Many People

29Moving on from there,  Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee.  He went up on a mountain and sat there, 30and large crowds came to Him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at His feet, and He healed them. 31So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the deformed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing.  And they gave glory to the God of Israel.

Feeding 4,000

32Now Jesus summoned His disciples and said,  “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

33The disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place  to fill such a crowd? ”

34“How many loaves do you have? ” Jesus asked them.

“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

35After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36He took the seven loaves and the fish, and He gave thanks, broke them, and kept on giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  37They all ate and were filled. Then they collected the leftover pieces — seven large baskets full. 38Now those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children. 39After dismissing the crowds, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.