Genesis 50:15-21 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Joseph Forgives His Brothers
15 Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” 16 So they approached[a] Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, 17 ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 Then his brothers also wept,[b] fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? 20 Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. 21 So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Joseph brought his father and all his brothers and their families to live in Egypt so that they would have plenty during the years of famine.
Their father, Jacob, died in Egypt, and after they buried him back at home in the land of Canaan, they all returned to Egypt (Genesis 46:1-50:14).
Now Joseph’s brothers began to worry that he still had a grudge against them.
While Jacob was alive, they thought they had a plausible line of defense to keep Joseph from seeking revenge for selling him as a slave, but now they wondered what would happen next – sold into a life of slavery or imprisonment or death .
The brothers sent a message to Joseph, in which they admitted their sins against him and pleaded for forgiveness.
Although they had been living near Joseph for several years now in Egypt, they were still not sure of his feelings toward them for their brazen act of betrayal .
Had he really forgiven them?
Had Joseph thought it through over the years?
Grudges?
Vengeance?
Proportional or disproportional Punishment?
God’s Unconditional Grace?
Joseph wept when he received their message.
Answer? He forgave his brothers, it took years for reconciliation to take shape.
When Joseph’s brothers came to him, he reassured them and helped them to see again that God had intended all of this for good.
Indeed, God was already working out his plan to make their family into a nation that would bring blessing to all others (Genesis 12:1-3).
This was a new, stunning kind of vision revealed by God to help all generations of people to testify to the amazing ways God works in our lives and in his world.
2 Corinthians 5:11-21 Common English Bible
Ministry of reconciliation
11 So we try to persuade people, since we know what it means to fear the Lord. We are well known by God, and I hope that in your heart we are well known by you as well. 12 We aren’t trying to commend ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us so that you could answer those who take pride in superficial appearance, and not in what is in the heart.
13 If we are crazy, it’s for God’s sake. If we are rational, it’s for your sake. 14 The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died. 15 He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.
16 So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn’t how we know him now. 17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!
18 All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.
20 So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.
Joseph and his brothers’ reconciliation is the heart of the text we read for today.
While they aren’t roommates at the beginning of their story, they were rivals.
Their actions left indelible marks on each other’s lives.
Today’s reading shows us the pivotal moment where they turn back towards each other, restoring the relationship the brothers had so easily sacrificed in the years before.
At the beginning of the story, it’s not clear that these siblings have been changed for the better either.
It is fascinating that Joseph tells them than the change has been for the good.
Joseph explained he felt God had turned what they intended for evil into good.
You see, in this story, God never says, “Joseph, I’m letting them do bad things to you so that you can one day do good things.”
That happens sometimes in other parts of the Bible.
Here, Joseph found meaning himself in the idea that God could help him work something deeply good out of the deeply troubling things that happened to him and also, the troubling things he did to other people.
In this case, Joseph saw that he had landed in a position that allowed him to save his family.
This act of re-membering , that is, putting the pieces of his life story together in a new way.
This new way points to a redemptive purpose, saving one’s family, and away from vengeance and more unnecessary death and destruction.
Joseph remembers his own story for the better, choosing to walk away from the vengeance that was so close at hand and likely so tempting, and to walk towards reconciliation and renewed relationship.
What stories are you remembering, not to rationalize, hide away the bad things, you did to others, but to find an authentic way towards reconciliation with God?
Psalm 37:3-4 Revised Standard Version
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
How are you finding yourself being changed, transformed, both for the better and being changed for good?
This is a season with great potential for destruction and delicious vengeance.
What lessons are you learning from Joseph reconciling with his brother’s that is helping you remember to reconcile a relationship, your relationship, with God?
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ….
Praying ….
Ephesians 2:11-22 New King James Version
Brought Near by His Blood
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Christ Our Peace
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Christ Our Cornerstone
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 