¹ Whenever, dearest brothers, you hear the readings from the Old Testament proclaimed, as I have often reminded you, you should not focus only on the literal meaning of the words, but rather on the spiritual sense they convey. As the Apostle warns us: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”. For all the events recorded in the Old Testament, as the Apostle says, “happened to them as a figure, and they were written down for our instruction”.

² When the Christian people faithfully come to church, what benefit is there in merely hearing how the holy patriarchs took wives or begot children, unless they perceive through spiritual understanding why these events happened or what they prefigured? For instance, we heard that the blessed Jacob fathered a son and named him Joseph, and that he loved him more than his other sons. In this passage, the blessed Jacob represents God the Father, while the holy Joseph prefigures the Lord and Saviour. Jacob loved his son, and God the Father loved His Only-Begotten Son. Jacob sent his son to care for his brothers, and God the Father sent His Only Son to visit the human race, weakened by sin.

³ While Joseph was searching for his brothers, he wandered in the wilderness; likewise, Christ sought out the wandering human race, which was lost in the world. Indeed, He Himself appeared to be wandering in the world, because He came to seek the lost. Joseph sought his brothers in Shechem (Sichima), which means “shoulder.” This is fitting, for sinners always turn their backs on the face of the righteous. The shoulders, after all, are behind.

⁴ Just as Joseph’s brothers, driven by envy, turned their backs on his fraternal love rather than showing him their faces, so too did the unfortunate Jews, when the Author of Salvation came to them, choose to envy Him rather than to love Him. Of such people, it is said in the Psalm: “Let their eyes be darkened, so they cannot see, and make their backs bend continually”.

⁵ Joseph found his brothers in Dothan (Dothaim), which means “defection.” Indeed, they were in a state of grave defection, for they were plotting fratricide. When Joseph’s brothers saw him, they conspired to kill him. In the same way, when the Jews saw the true Joseph, Jesus Christ, they unanimously plotted to crucify Him. Just as Joseph’s brothers stripped him of his multicoloured and ankle-length robe, so too did the Jews, through the death of the cross, strip Christ of His bodily tunic. Joseph, after being stripped of his robe, was cast into a cistern, that is, into a pit, while Christ, having been stripped of His human flesh, descended into hell.

⁶ Joseph, after being lifted out of the cistern, was sold to the Ishmaelites, that is, to the Gentiles. Likewise, Christ, after returning from hell, was made known to all the nations, purchased by them through the commerce of faith. Joseph was sold by the counsel of Judah for thirty pieces of silver, and Christ was sold by the counsel of Judas Iscariot for the same price. Now, although in some translations Joseph is said to have been sold for twenty pieces of silver and in others for thirty, this spiritually signifies that Christ would not be equally valued or loved by all. Indeed, even now in the Church, some love Him more and some less. Yet, Christ is of greater value to those who love Him more ardently. Joseph descended into Egypt, and Christ into the world. Joseph saved Egypt from famine by providing grain, and Christ freed the world from the famine of the Word of God. For if Joseph had not been sold by his brothers, Egypt would have perished. In truth, brothers, if the Jews had not crucified Christ, the world would have been lost.

⁷ Let us consider, dearest brothers, why the brothers of the blessed Joseph were so cruel toward him. Was it not because of the poison of envy, through which death entered the world? As Scripture says: “His brothers were jealous of him and could not speak peaceably to him”. The blessed Joseph saw a dream: he and his brothers were standing in a field, binding sheaves. Then, the sheaves of his eleven brothers bowed down to his own sheaf. This was fulfilled when his brothers bowed before him in Egypt. It is fitting that the barren sheaves were compelled to bow before the fruitful one, through which they were saved from the peril of famine.

⁸ Joseph also saw another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. His father responded: “Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?”. But this could not be fulfilled in Joseph himself, for his mother had already departed from this life. However, in our Joseph—that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ—the mysteries of this dream were fulfilled. For the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed before him when, after his resurrection, the holy Mary, like the moon, and the blessed Joseph, along with the eleven stars—that is, the holy apostles—worshiped him. They bent low and prostrated themselves before him, and thus the prophecy was fulfilled: “Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars”.

⁹ For how could Joseph’s brothers, like stars, bow before him when the darkness of envy had rendered them obscure and shadowy? Indeed, they had lost the brightness of the stars, having extinguished the light of charity within themselves. Thus, we rightly believe that this was more perfectly fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whom, as I have mentioned before, the blessed Joseph and the blessed Mary, together with the eleven apostles, worshiped frequently. For that the apostles possessed the light of the stars, the Lord himself says in the Gospel: “You are the light of the world”, and again, speaking of them and those like them: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”.

¹⁰ Joseph means increase or expansion. Yet, in the case of the former Joseph, only Egypt experienced expansion. In the case of our Joseph, however, the entire world was deemed worthy of increase. The former Joseph distributed grain; our Joseph deigned to distribute the Word of God. For, as Scripture says: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world”. Therefore, dearest brothers, since we, despite having no prior merits, have received such great blessings through the mercy of the true Joseph—our Lord Jesus Christ—let us labour, as much as we can with God’s grace, so that what he, as our judge, has granted us, he may find intact within us when he comes to judge. For he will require as much from you as he has given to you.

¹¹ Indeed, when he comes, he will repay what he promised, but he will also seek out those whom he redeemed. And what he gave at his first coming, he will demand at his second. Let no one repay our Lord Jesus Christ with evil for good. For who could act so wickedly except the one who receives sweetness and returns bitterness, who receives life and offers back death? One repays death for life by destroying himself through a life of sin. Who repays evil for good, if not the one who, when he ought to devote himself to reading and hurry to church, instead chooses to play dice, attend wild, bloody, or disgraceful spectacles, and, rather than consuming his sins through prayer, reading, and almsgiving, instead strives to increase and accumulate them all the more? Who repays evil for good? The one who offers darkness for light, malice for kindness, drunkenness for sobriety, greed for almsgiving, and injustice for righteousness.

¹² Therefore, whoever, with the help of our Lord, has avoided these evils, let him guard within himself, as far as he is able, the gifts of divine grace. But whoever finds himself entangled in these evils and recognizes that he is ensnared by them, let him quickly turn to the remedies of repentance. Before that darkened soul departs from the body of its death, let him secure for himself healing on the day of need through almsgiving, fasting, and prayer.

¹³ Thus, brothers, let us live in such a way that, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, those who are good may receive the crown, and those who have been negligent may obtain mercy.