Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel

9 JULY (Mt 9,32-38)

It is right we ask ourselves: how far might envy, jealousy, resentment, hate and unrequited love ever reach? From ancient history we know of envy and unrequited love that the former was the cause of the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, and the latter the reason why he was dumped in prison without any hope of seeing the light.

They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams.” When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying: “We must not take his life. Instead of shedding blood,” he continued, “just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but don’t kill him outright.” His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on; then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry. They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers: “What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Some Midianite traders passed by, and they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and took him to Egypt (Gen 37,18-29).

After a time, his master’s wife began to look fondly at him and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused. “As long as I am here,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, but has entrusted to me all he owns. He wields no more authority in this house than I do, and he has withheld from me nothing but yourself, since you are his wife. How, then, could I commit so great a wrong and thus stand condemned before God?” Although she tried to entice him day after day, he would not agree to lie beside her, or even stay near her. One such day, when Joseph came into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were then in the house, she laid hold of him by his cloak, saying, “Lie with me!” But leaving the cloak in her hand, he got away from her and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand as he fled outside, she screamed for her household servants and told them, “Look! my husband has brought in a Hebrew slave to make sport of us! He came in here to lie with me, but I cried out as loud as I could. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran away outside.” She kept the cloak with her until his master came home. Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave whom you brought here broke in on me, to make sport of me. But when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and fled outside.” As soon as the master heard his wife’s story about how his slave had treated her, he became enraged. He seized Joseph and threw him into the jail where the royal prisoners were confined (Gen 39,7-20).

Hatred, envy, jealousy and grudge are invisible enemies. They attack the heart and form a single nature with it. The Pharisees hate Jesus This hatred is so strong in them as to transform the holy works of Jesus, the Father’s works in him, into works of the devil.

As they were going out, a demoniac who could not speak was brought to him, and when the demon was driven out the mute person spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.” Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Only God can save against hatred, envy, jealousy and grudge. No man by himself might ever escape this evil that becomes the very nature of the heart of who owns it. Jesus was condemned to crucifixion by this hatred and envy.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints save us from so strong evils.