In our daily lectionary reading today, specifically Genesis 40:1-23, I was struck by the symbolism correlating to Christ’s atonement for our sins. You have a King (Pharaoh), a.k.a. God the Father, and you have two servants, a cup bearer and a baker of bread who sin against the King and are as a result in prison. Each of the prisoners go to Joseph and ask for an interpretation of their dreams. The cup bearer, whose job it is to hand to the Father untainted or pure wine, is told by Joseph that after three days the cupbearer will return to the Kingdom, a.k.a. heaven, to extend the cup, safe from impurity to the Father. In contrast, the Baker is told by Joseph he must be lifted up on a pole and die. If we impute Jesus into these servants, this is what Jesus did for us. After three days in the grave, Jesus was restored and now offers the blood of the new covenant, the purity of the harvest, to the Father by interceding for us. Likewise, Jesus became the baker of bread, lifted up – suffering the penalty of our imprisonment to sin and death in our stead. Jesus makes us the unleavened bread with no sin running through us. This was accomplished, like the results of the dreams, after three days in the tomb. And Joseph utters the words we hear every Sunday during the Eucharist, “Remember me.” This is what Jesus asks us to do of him, and this is what the dying thief uttered on the cross when he asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into his Kingdom. Approaching the word of God with faith is like putting on 3-D glasses that change a flat screen into multi-dimensional understandings. It is Jesus who said not one jot or tittle will depart from the law until everything is fulfilled….
H.D. Anyone 