RBWords

     The great narrative of Joseph comes to a close with a heart-warming scene of reconciliation and reunion.  Of course, Joseph made his brothers squirm quite a bit before revealing himself to them as their long-lost kid brother whom they sold to some Ishmaelites and thought good riddance!

     I mentioned yesterday that there are a number of "morals" to this story.  I don't claim that the biblical author intended these, only that they are my reactions.  First of all, this is a story of deliverance.  Joseph is delivered by being sold to the Egyptians (a kind of ironic reverse to the later Exodus).  The brothers are delivered by the circumstance that Joseph became powerful in Egypt and was in a position to help them when they came for food. As Joseph points out, it was "really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you." The plan of salvation moved forward.

     A second "moral" seems to me to be the power of forgiveness and mercy.  Joseph was in a position to wreak terrible revenge for what his brothers had done to him.  Instead, after making them sweat a bit, he forgives and is reconciled and reunited with his brothres and father.  This is a "mixed" kind of mercy.  Have we ever been in a similar position where it was in our power to forgive but we decide that first we will make the offender "sweat it out" before we do forgive? The wonderful example of the church members in Charleston in forgiving the teen who killed their fellow members stands out in my mind as a dramatic example of immediate forgiveness.  Ultimately we have the words spoken from the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."  

All in all, the story of Joseph is a good one for our consideration as the story of the plan of God continues.  AMEN