The Jesse Tree

Second Sunday of Advent: Joseph

A Reading from the Book of Genesis (37:3-11):

“Israel loved Joseph best of al his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

“Once Joseph had a dream, which he told to his brothers: ‘Listen to this dream I had. There we were, binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose to an upright position, and your sheaves formed a ring around my sheaf and bowed down to it.’ ‘Are you really going to make yourself king over us?’ he brothers asked him. ‘Or impose your rule over us?’ So they hated him all the more because of his talk about his dreams.

“Then he had another dream, and this one, too, he told to he brothers, ‘I had another dream,’ he said; ‘this time, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ When he also told it to his father, his father reproved him. ‘What is the meaning of this dream of yours?’ he asked. ‘Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers are to come and bow to the ground before you?’ So his brothers were wrought up against him but his father pondered the matter.”

Lord, God, Who rules over all, You have the power to bring good of ill and to thwart the evil plans of men and women in order to bring about Your plan of salvation. Even as Joseph’s brothers plotted his demise, You saw to it that the salvation of Your people was won by raising him to honor and authority in this world. May we persevere through our own trials and troubles, never losing faith that You are our Lord and Savior, and that Your desire for us is everlasting life in Your Kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.