And the silver cup is put in his sack alone.^[1] Benjamin did not know this. So Paul was in error, but he was called. They sent after him in the morning; indeed, the night of his blindness had advanced, and the day of faith was near at hand.^{[2] [3]} The brothers did not know what to say; they found it impossible not to put the blame on Benjamin because the cup had come out from his sack, but the money that had twice come out from their own sacks did not permit them to put the blame on him. Then the brothers, confounded by the things that had befallen them, rent their garments and went back weeping to that house from which they had just departed rejoicing.^{[1] [2]}

The sacks of the brothers are first examined according to the order of age of each brother. God’s Scripture is teaching you a moral lesson. Previously they sat at the banquet in Joseph’s presence in order of age from the firstborn.^[1] You see that the place of honor is to be given to the eldest. On the other hand, the sacks of each are searched in order of age^[2] so that you may know that Paul has been chosen by the judgment of heaven. The rest were examined, but this man was given the preference. The silver cup was not found in the sack of anyone else, only in his sack. What is the meaning of its being put in his humble sack? Joseph . . . sent the cup so that he might by a holy trick recall the brother whom he loved; yet the light of God’s mysterious plans is clearly reflected.

Christ finds this money in us which he has himself given us. We possess the money of nature; we also possess the money of grace. Nature is the work of the Creator, grace the gift of the Redeemer. Even though we are unable to see Christ’s gifts, nevertheless he is giving them. He is working in a hidden way and is giving them to all people, but there are few who are able to keep them and not lose them. Yet he does not give all things to all people. Wheat is given to many, but the cup to one, who is presented with the prophetic and priestly function. For it is not everyone but only the prophet who says, The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.^[1] Therefore the word of heavenly teaching already shone in Paul’s body, since he was instructed in the law. But because he was still not subject to the justice of God, the cup was within the sack, the teaching within the law, the lamp within the bushel.^[2] Nevertheless Ananias was sent to give a blessing and to lay on his hand and open the sack.^[3] When the sack was opened, the money shone forth, and when the scales fell, in a way like fastenings on the sack, Paul saw straightway.^[4] His fetter was unbelief; the loosening of it became faith. And for that reason, when the veil that is set over the heart of the Jews was set aside^[5]—like the opening of the sack—he turned to the Lord. Free of the bond, he obtained the grace of liberty and said, But we all, beholding the glory of God with faces unveiled, are transformed into the same image.^[6]

Then Judah said, Before God the sins of your servants have been discovered—not this one [of the cup] but the one for which we have been requited with these things. Therefore not only he in whose sack the cup was found but we also will become slaves to our master. And Joseph said, Far be it from the just Egyptian to do this!^[1] These men, because of their great virtue, do not even eat bread with Hebrews lest they become unclean by them. How then can we do what is foreign to our conduct? The justice that hinders us from sinning against one who has not sinned against us compels us to be avenged on that one who has caused us offence. The one in whose hand the cup was found shall remain and be a slave. This will be better for him than freedom, for this later servitude, which will free him from theft, will be better for him than that first freedom that enslaved him to theft.^[2]

And Joseph ordered all to withdraw so that he could be recognized by his brothers. For, even as Jesus said, he had not come except to the lost sheep that were the lost of the house of Israel.^[1] And lifting up his voice with weeping he said, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? This means, Jesus stretched out his hands to an unbelieving and contradicting people, for he did not seek an envoy or messenger but, as their very Lord, desired to save his own people.^[2] I myself who spoke, I am here,^[3] and I was made manifest to those who sought me not; I appear to those who asked me not.^[4] What else did he cry out at that time but I am Jesus?^[5] When the leaders of the Jews tempted him and asked, Are you the Son of God? he answered, You say that I am, and to Pilate he said, You say that I am a king; in this I was born.^[6] And when the chief priest said, I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are Christ, the Son of God,^[7] Jesus responded, You have said it. Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming upon the clouds of heaven.^[8] This is what Joseph means when he says, I am Joseph.

I cannot but be amazed here at this blessed man’s remarkable fortitude in putting up with the strain of concealing his identity to this point and not letting on. And [I] am particularly surprised at the way they could stand there and gape without their soul parting company with their body, without their going out of their mind or hiding themselves in the ground. His brothers were unable to say anything to him in reply. They were dumbfounded. No wonder! Aware of the way they had treated Joseph, of his position in comparison with theirs and realizing the high office he had attained, they feared for their very lives, so to say.

Come to me, because I have come near to you, yes, even so far that I made myself a sharer in your nature by taking on flesh. At least do not flee a partaker of your fellowship, if you do not know the Author of your salvation. And they came to him, and he said, ‘I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me here; for God sent me before you for life.’^[1] What fraternal devotion! . . . Christ would even excuse his brothers’ crime and say that it was God’s providence and not humanity’s wickedness, since he was not offered up to death by humans but was sent by the Lord to life. What else is the meaning of that intervention made by our Lord Jesus Christ, who excelled all his brothers in holiness? When he was on the cross, Jesus said in behalf of the people, Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.^[2] . . . And when they were startled and panic-stricken and thought they saw a spirit, again Jesus said to them, Why are you disturbed, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Feel and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.^[3]

Don’t be hard on yourselves; don’t think, Joseph says, that you did these things to me out of your intent. It was not so much from your malice in my regard as from God’s wisdom and ineffable love that I should come here and now be in a favorable position to provide nourishment to you and the whole country.

Indeed they are expressed in the same words, so that we may know that Jesus is the same who spoke before in Joseph and afterward in his own body, seeing that he did not change even the words. For at that time Jesus said, Be not grieved,^[1] and later, Go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me master of the whole land of Egypt.’ And in the Gospel Christ says, Do not be afraid. Go, tell my brothers to go into Galilee, and there they shall see me.^[2] And later he says, All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me,^[3] which is to say, This was the doing of God’s design in order that I might receive power, and not the work of human cruelty. He who is counting out the reward does not reproach the crime. Now as to what appears in Genesis, for God sent me before you to life,^[4] Christ repeats this in the Gospel when he says, Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.^[5] For this is the recompense and the life of the saints, that they have also brought about the redemption of others. And notice that the following too was not written without purpose in Genesis, And you will be near me, you and your sons and your sons’ sons.^[6] For this is what Christ said in the Gospel, Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.^[7] How clear also is that mystery! For when every commandment had been fulfilled, so to speak, Joseph embraced his brother Benjamin and fell upon his neck.^[8] Likewise, when the gospel is brought to completion, Christ embraces Paul in the arms of his mercy, as it were, so as to lift him up into heaven.

That servitude, Joseph is saying, procured for me this position. That sale brought me to this prominence. That distress proved the occasion of this honor for me. That envy produced this glory for me. Let us not simply hear this but also emulate it. In the same way let us comfort those badly disposed to us, relieving them of responsibility for what has been done to us and putting up with everything with great equanimity, like this remarkable man.

You have admired the chastity of Joseph; now behold his generosity. He repays hatred with charity. When he saw his brothers, or rather enemies in his brothers, he gave evidence of the affection of his love by his pious grief when he wanted to be recognized by them. He tenderly kissed each one of them and wept over them individually. As Joseph moistened the necks of his frightened brothers with his refreshing tears, he washed away their hatred with the tears of his charity. He loved them always as with the love of their living father and dead brother. He did not recall that pit into which he had been thrown to be murdered; he did not think of himself, a brother, sold for a price. Instead, by returning good for evil, even then he fulfilled the precepts of the apostles that were not yet given. Therefore, by considering the sweetness of true charity, blessed Joseph, with God’s help, was eager to repel from his heart the poison of envy with which he knew his brothers had been struck.