Joseph Forgives His Brothers by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

Today we wrap up the book of Genesis with an amazing story (Genesis 45:1-15 from The Message for those following along from the internet). We learn that God can take the wretched actions of human beings and can turn them into something beautiful.  Only God can do that.

This transformation happens when someone puts their trust in God. You see, God takes our human brokenness and turn it into something good. That is God’s way – making imperfect things perfect again – healing our rifts – making us whole. 

To understand this transformation we have to go back to Genesis 37. There we find a Joseph telling his older brothers (who already don’t like him much) about a dream. “’We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.’…. His brothers … hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked” (Genesis 37:5-8). He is prophesying about a day when he will be a ruler and his brothers will come to him begging for help.

Now if you were here last week you will remember that Joseph’s brothers threw him down into a well and then sold him to a caravan of travels who would take him to Egypt to be traded into slavery in Pharaoh’s house. They let his father think he was killed by wild animals. The joke was on them. Because of his talent for interpreting dreams he rose in the ranks of Pharaoh’s staff. When a famine struck many countries around, he had become Pharaoh’s #2 man. People in need of food, would come to Egypt seeking food and Joseph was the one they would come to see. 

One day, you guessed it, his own brothers showed up in his court, begging for grain, for their people were starving to death back home. That is where we pick up the story today. His own brothers do not recognize him. He clears out the room, leaving only himself and his brothers. 

He says: “I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?” But his brothers couldn’t say a word. They were speechless—they couldn’t believe what they were hearing and seeing.

^4-8 “Come closer to me,” Joseph said to his brothers. They came closer. “I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t feel badly, don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years—neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt.

^9-11 “Hurry back to my father. ….

^14-15 Then Joseph threw himself on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept….

Joseph’s brothers go home to get their father and the family all comes and settles in Egypt. When their father dies the brothers get worried that Joseph will seek vengeance for how the brothers had treated him all those years ago. But Joseph says: “’Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.’ He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart.”  (Genesis 50:19-21)

You see, Joseph trusted God from the very beginning. So when the time came to make peace with his brothers, he did so, because that is what God would do. Now if I had been his brothers, standing there before Joseph, I would have been terrified. I mean think about it. They have traveled hundreds of miles, and here they are standing before Pharaoh’s #2 man, sort of like the Prime Minister. They ask this guy for food so they can take it home to the father, their wives, children, and servants – so they can survive the famine. And then lo and behold they find out the person they are asking is their little brother Joseph, the one they hated, the one they threw down a well and sold into slavery. Talk about karma coming around to bite you.  If I had been one of those brothers, I would have been thought, there is no way on earth that Joseph is going to give us food.

But you see, the brothers had lost touch with God. They were not living in the way of God. They were not trusting God. 

Joseph, on the other hand, was connected to God. He had found some maturity while in Egypt too.  Let’s be clear, Joseph had done some stupid things too. He knew that God would not want him to stay in conflict with his brothers. God would certainly not want him to cause his family to starve when he had the means to help them.  Remember these are the descendants of Abraham, the chosen people.  In fact, God had turned the evil acts of his brothers into something good. Because Joseph was in Egypt, he was able to save his beloved father and his favorite brother Benjamin from death; so he also saved his other brothers. He did the right thing. He reconciled with his family. 

Now I have a modern day tale of someone who trusted God and made peace with some people. I’ll call this guy “Mike.” Mike grew up in a religious family. His grandfather was a pastor in one of those really conservative denominations. During the Great Depression his grandfather made quite a few personal loans to churches and even some colleges in this denomination. They were slowly paying them back. Now, Mike was gay and did not hide it. He came out at the age of 16, around 1990. He was immediately kicked out of the church he attended with his parents in Missouri. The elders believed being gay was wrong and good Christian people can’t be gay. So, fast forward in the story about 20 years. Mike’s parents have both died. Then his grandfather dies, and Mike learns that he has inherited, along with his aunt and some other, the notes on these loans. He is one of the trustees who will receive the payments on the loans. Guess which church is on the list of debtors to Mike now? The church that kicked him out when he was a teenager. 

So Mike, like Joseph, has a decision to make. How will he treat those who treated him so badly, twenty years before? He went to meet with the pastor (who was not the same as the one who kicked him out) and with the elders (who were the same one who kicked him out). He said to them, “Now that my grandfather has died, I am the one you owe all that money, but I am going to forgive your debt.” All they could do was say “thank you.” What could they do? They had been shown forgiveness and generosity by the man whom they had judged unchristian and kicked out of their church. Mike took their bad behavior, and when the opportunity came along, he used it for good. He trusted God. He took the high road. He followed the way of Jesus. 

Now we don’t really know the rest of the story. We don’t know how those elders processed Mike’s act of generosity and forgiveness. But this is my hope. My hope is that at least one of them went home and talked to his wife. I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure in a church like that all of the elders are men. And I’m hoping the conversation went something like this:

Husband: You remember Mike? Charles’ grandson?

Wife: Oh, yes. I remember Mike. He was that gay boy.

Husband: Well he inherited the church’s note when Charles died.

Wife: Oh mercy.

Husband: Well you are not going to believe it, but Mike just came to see us and forgave the whole debt.

SILENCE.

Husband: You know, John and Sue, down the street have a gay son too. He brought home a boy from college with him. They say the boys are really happy. And you know Mike seems to have grown up into a really fine man.

Wife: But the Bible…

Husband: I know that’s what the preacher says, but the preacher isn’t right about everything. That Mike, he could have been so mean to us. What he did today was a good thing.

I wonder if that sort of conversation happened around the dinner table in the homes of Joseph’s brothers when they sat down with their wives. “After all we did to Joseph. He could have let us starve, but he forgave us. He just said, ‘God made everything work out.’ Joseph was so kind after we were so cruel to him. I want to do better with my life because Joseph was so gracious.”

You see, transformation happens to us, when we put our trust in God, and when we live in the ways of Jesus, the ways of forgiveness, compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, self-control and joy. 

So, what about your life? Do you have some old hurt, or some long-standing feud with a family member or former friend? Could you give that situation over to God? You might be waiting, like Joseph and Mike, for an opportunity that God will bring along for reconciliation. Or you could be pro-active. You could just call them up and offer some act of kindness or healing to the relationship. Make a peace offering of some sort. 

Now, you don’t have to be friends with everyone. But if there is some situation that is causing you anxiety, and you can be proactive about restoring peace, then peace is always a good thing. And again, when an opportunity arises to see someone who you would consider an enemy because of something they have done to you, I would ask you to remember these stories of Joseph and Mike. Take a deep breath, and ask yourself, “What is the way of God in this situation? Is there a way to be generous and gracious and take the high road?” Is it time?

When we receive forgiveness it is a wonderful thing. So, when the time comes along that we can give forgiveness to another person it also feels good. God can take our mistakes and turn them into something beautiful and good.  Amen.