{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-6212","native_reference":{"book_number":10,"chapter_from":43,"chapter_to":43,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":29,"verse_to":29},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ambrose of Milan</b>: Moreover, \"Joseph saw them and Benjamin his brother by the same mother.\" The Hebrews are seen now, and they are seen by Christ, who is the true Joseph, when they come with the figure who symbolizes Paul. And Joseph speaks to them gently and mildly, inviting them to take food together. Earlier, however, when they came without Benjamin, he did not even recognize them but turned away from them, as it is written, \"and he spoke harshly to them.\" For they did not recognize him by whom they were recognized. They advance, then, by the merit of Paul, whom the Lord Jesus loved more than the other brothers, as being a younger brother begotten from the same mother. Let the Jews turn to him whom they have denied to be their Lord. Even though he was crucified from their synagogue, yet he loves them more as born of the same parent, if only they come to know, even late, the Author of their salvation. But being aware of their own offenses, they do not believe that Christ is so very merciful as to forgive their sin and pardon their wrongdoing. And thus their future line of conduct was prefigured in the patriarchs. They were invited to grace, were summoned to the banquet of the table of salvation and suspected that a false accusation was being readied against them and an ambush was being laid.<br/><i>— On Joseph the Patriarch</i></p><p><b>Ambrose of Milan</b>: Now \"raising his eyes he saw Benjamin, his brother by the same mother.\" The moral sense is that we see those we love before others, and the gaze of our eyes lights first on those whom we consider first in our mind's eye. And for the most part, when we are busy all around with another mental employment, we do not see those whom we find before our eyes. Thus our sight is directed by the guidance of our mind. And so, holy Joseph saw Benjamin his brother; he remembered him, he looked for him, he almost had not seen his brothers in Benjamin's absence because the sight of them was of no help whatsoever. Neither was he satisfied only to have seen him; as if not knowing him, Joseph asked, \"Is this your youngest brother?\" It is the way and the favor of love that we should possess those we love not only with our eyes but also by our conversation. Joseph had recognized his beloved brother, but he asked for this reason, that he might speak the name of him that he had in his heart. Indeed, Joseph did not wait for a reply but at once blessed him and was troubled at the attainment of his wish. Now \"his heart was tormented,\" because his freedom to embrace the brother he longed for was postponed. Thereupon, \"entering into his chamber he wept and washed his face and restrained himself.\" The stings of a great love swiftly prick the heart, unless the reins of desire are relaxed. Joseph was being overcome by feeling but put off by deliberation; reason was in contest with love. He wept, so that he could moderate the surges of his holy love.<br/><i>— On Joseph the Patriarch</i></p><p><b>Ambrose of Milan</b>: The foregoing is in the moral sense. In the mystical sense, however, the Lord Jesus saw Paul—for \"the eyes of the Lord are upon the just\"—and said, \"Is this your youngest brother?\" He is still called the youngest, for he did not yet exhibit a venerable faith of mature age, and he had not yet grown into mature manhood, \"into that measure of the age of the fullness of Christ,\" as Paul himself says. Indeed, he is called a young man only in that passage where he kept the garments of those who were stoning Stephen. And on that account he desired that Philemon imitate not his youth but his old age, as he wrote, \"I rather beseech, since you are such a one as Paul, an old man.\" On that account he preaches that younger widows are to be refused, not by reason of their age but on account of a kind of wantonness in offenses that are reaching full growth and an immaturity in virtue. But chastity merits greater praise in a young man than in one who is old. Moreover, I think it is not far from the truth if we adopt the following interpretation. Although Paul was struck and taken up and was terrified because blindness had befallen him, still he began to come near when he said, \"Lord, what will you have me do?\" For that reason he is called the youngest by Christ, so that he who was called to grace could be excused from the guilt of his hazardous years. Yes, Christ saw him when the light shone round him; because young men are recalled from sin more by fear than by reason, Christ applied the goad and mercifully admonished him not to kick against it.<br/><i>— On Joseph the Patriarch</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"5861b59bb99a0fe6415d122b77800ed994c9e80f8cf71741f044bd9dd374eb3f","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":6212,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"7f7d7036737b77f477cefe238d665cce9abf23128c2ba577e5aff00a77195cec","translator":null,"work":null}