Whose Your Type?
Steven Hepburn of Thoughtfully Catholic writes about Christ in the Old Testament.
Joseph and Benjamin, Jesus and Mary
Back in the heroic age of Bible commentaries, before the events of 1517, the Sacred text was not viewed as being primarily concerned with retelling the story of Creation and recording the history of the nation of Israel. While it told readers these things certainly there were also numerous other and deeper layers to be found in it. When a text is inspired by the Holy Spirit of the infinite and eternal God one would expect to find elements of complexity within it as well as the simplicity of a narrative that makes it accessible to even the most casual reader or listener. One such layer is the idea that many doctors and teachers of the Church brought out in their commentaries, namely, that within the Old Testament we can see as it were under a veil, in the form of figures and types, the essential features of the New Testament. And it is in that spirit that I propose to reflect upon the following passage from Genesis-
Then he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, ‘Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!’
With that, Joseph hurried out, because he was overcome with affection for his brother, and he was about to weep. So he went into a private room and wept there.
Then he washed his face and came out; and controlling himself he said, ‘Serve the meal.’
They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
When they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, the men looked at one another in amazement.
Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.
(Genesis 43:29-34 NRSV)
The figure of Joseph the son of Jacob and Rachel has often been seen by commentators as foreshadowing Christ. He was betrayed by those closest to him, he was condemned for a crime of which he was innocent, when imprisoned ‘iron entered into his soul’ (as The Book of Common Prayer puts it in Psalm 105), he emerged from captivity in the depths to reign in triumph, he forgave his betrayers and was reconciled to them in love. All of these things and others like them certainly serve to show to us the trials a just and innocent man may face; and that, through the use of wisdom, patience, forgiveness and love, one can more than endure them, one can transform them into their opposites. Humiliation and defeat are the paths to victory and a joy that brings harm to none and hope to all. Meditating on the story of Joseph can help us to understand that of Jesus. Meditating on the story of Jesus with the mind of the Church will be a key that unlocks not only this portion of Genesis but the whole of Sacred Scripture.
An important part of Joseph’s backstory that we need to be aware of here is that while all of his brothers are sons of the same father, Jacob, only one other, Benjamin, is the son of Joseph’s mother Rachel. Not only that but Rachel died after giving birth to and naming Benjamin. One significant strand, then, that runs through the story of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt is Joseph’s ardent longing to see Benjamin because he represents such a strong link to Rachel and, having seen him, to lavish clear tokens of his extravagant love for him above all his other brothers.
Which brings us to Jesus and Mary. As he is a type of Christ in so many other ways so Joseph is a type for Him in his relationship towards His Blessed Mother and, crucially, towards the children of His Blessed Mother. At the banquet none of the sons of the father are deprived of any good thing. What they need they have in abundance, a sufficiency to be very merry indeed. What Benjamin receives is an excess over and above abundance a ‘good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over‘ (Luke 6:38) It is a sign that the giver cannot tire of giving and that, for the sake of his love for the giver, the receiver can never tire of receiving.
None of the children of the Father who come to the Son are rejected by Him. He loves them. Those who come to the Son as children of both the Father and of Mary are welcomed as Benjamin was welcomed. It may be said that Jesus has a preferential option for the children of Mary. It is no accident that the one whom the Gospel describes as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ is also the disciple who takes Mary into his own home. (cf John 19:26-27)
“To Jesus through Mary” is a piece of advice that many of the teachers of the Church have never tired of giving. The relationship, the love, between Divine Son and Blessed Mother was not a thing that was defeated by death, that ended in time and ceased to be in eternity. It was and is and shall be one of the enduring features of the heavenly kingdom which is even now present amongst us upon earth. To be taken up into that relationship, as sons and daughters of Mary and thus as bothers and sisters of Jesus, is a special way of coming close to Him, to the Son. And the nearer we are to the Son the more clearly we can discern the face of the Father in the light of the Spirit.
Joseph expressed his love for Rachel’s son and for all his brothers at a banquet, Mary prayed Jesus to perform His first public miracle at a wedding feast, Our Lord parted from His friends and introduced the greatest Sacrament of the Church at a shared meal. We should learn from this that none of us can truly become children of Mary, or of Jesus, for ourselves alone. We are always surrounded by legions of brothers and sisters and as Joseph shared, and Mary shared, and Jesus shared so we too should share. Only then can we truly begin to receive.
Steve Hepburn
Glad you liked it. I will pass your comments on to our writer