Joseph meets his brothers: Genesis 42
How do you face those
who harmed you? This was the question Joseph faces when his dreams come true
and his brothers bow before him begging for food in a famine. The scene
actually plays out the way we often dream about when we think of those who have
harmed us. We want them to bow down to us with their fate in our hands. We
dream of meeting out justice for the harm that was done to us. Joseph lives out
this dream and holds the lives of his brothers in his hand.
Today we read about the
meeting of Joseph and his brothers, we read that Joseph wept at the weight of
the moment. But what we do not see yet is what he does with the lives in his
hands. Though he weeps, Joseph is confronted with the ultimate dilemma we
actually face every day. Do we live for revenge or do we live to forgive?
The Christian answer is
to forgive, but in my experience this is amazingly difficult. Sometimes
forgiveness takes a lifetime because of the deepness of the pain. Sometimes the
harm is ongoing and we are still currently being victimized. Sometimes the pain
and the anger is all that we have to hold onto in the world. Sometimes the
person who hurt us in no way deserves our forgiveness because they are not
sorry. Forgiveness is really, really hard.
I believe this is why Joseph wept. I believe
the weight of the choice before him and the struggle of his heart brought the
weight of the world upon him. Looking into the eyes of his brothers he had to
ask himself if he could see beyond the hurt and see how God plan was bearing
itself out in not only himself, but also his brothers.
So
what about us. Can we look beyond the pain and offer forgiveness. In tomorrow’s
reading we will see that God’s plan of the Israelites blessing the world can
not happen without Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers. So how is God wanting to
move in your life, in our church, in this world through forgiveness. I truly
believe that the way God works most perfectly is through forgiveness. It is the
center of His love for us, the center of the work and person of Christ, the
center of all salvation History.
God works through forgiveness but as we know it is hard to keep forgiving. He says forgive 70 X 7 which means constant forgiveness. God wants us to totally rely on Him and through His power we can forgive no matter how hard it is.
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between forgiving and forgetting the act or acts done. Human nature may not forget as there may be scars but however it is imperative we try to forgive.