Joseph: Forgiveness
Last week we left Joseph when he was made Prime Minister of Egypt. He wisely laid out the plan of saving twenty percent of the crops each year during the seven years of plenty so there would be food enough to keep people alive during the seven years of famine to follow. The famine was terrible and after two years people came from all over to buy grain and food in Egypt, including Joseph’s brothers who traveled from the land of Canaan. The brothers came before Joseph, but they had no idea who he was, nor that he could understand what they were saying.
November 13, 2011
Genesis 45:1-15, 50:15-21, Joseph: Forgiveness
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
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Genesis 45:1-15,
“Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?”
But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.”
On October 23 I preached about Esau and generosity of spirit. Do you remember in Genesis 33 the picture of Esau showing great generosity of spirit to his brother Jacob? Genesis 33:4 says, “But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” Think back on that scene and how Jacob had arranged his children and wives. The son of Jacob who was closest to the Jacob and Esau when they had their reunion and reconciled was… Joseph – since he was the son of Rachel and his father’s favorite, he was closest to hear his father and Esau speak and see them embrace and hug and weep. The scene gets played out again with Joseph embracing his brothers in Genesis 45 and forgiving them in Genesis 50. In the intervening chapters Jacob does come down and is reunited with Joseph and sees his family restored. After Jacob dies though, Joseph’s brothers aren’t sure if Joseph’s forgiveness of their past sins is genuine.
In Genesis 50:15-21 it says, “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 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, 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.”
What an incredibly gracious picture of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not something that comes easily or readily to many of us. There certainly isn’t a whole lot of it “floating around” in the world today. For example, have you ever gone into a store that had very pretty but very delicate merchandise? The kind of store that frowns at little children and the employees’ blood pressure goes up 100 points if a six-year-old boy walks in? The kind of store that has a sign on the door or window thanking you for enjoying your food and drink before entering? All these stores also have the same sign on the inside. You know what the sign says? “If you break it, you pay for it.” That is the sign the world puts up.
That is the sign that human beings so often put up in the stores of our lives.
“I’m fragile, I’m delicate, I’m sensitive, I’m proud, I’m stubborn. I’m wounded.
I’m hurt. If you break a part of me – you’re going to pay for it.”
The sign of the world says, “If you break it, you pay for it.”
What does the sign say in God’s store? Susan Williams tells how she tiptoed through a gift shop filled with hundreds of extremely fragile items displayed on glass shelves. Pausing to admire a one-of-a-kind sculpture of an English village, she strained to see as much detail as possible without actually touching the piece. Suddenly a female voice behind her said, “Please, pick it up if you like. Don’t worry,” she said with a smile. “You can rely on our store policy.”
She pointed to a small sign on the display case:
“If you break it, please tell us so we can forgive you.”
Susan laughed & said, “Now that’s what I call a novel idea in the business world!”
The woman nodded, “Since we put up the sign, breakage hasn’t really changed, but it’s wonderful how much more comfortable everybody feels. In fact, it’s made such a difference in my own attitude that I took one of the signs home, and my kids love it! I guess it’s human nature – there’s something about knowing you’ll be forgiven for a mistake that frees you to relax and enjoy.”
That is the story of the forgiveness and love of God. God has put up a huge sign. It is Jesus on the cross, and that sign says unmistakably,
IF YOU BREAK IT, PLEASE TELL ME SO I CAN FORGIVE YOU.
That is the why when Jesus teaches us how to pray, he includes asking for forgiveness for our sins as well as extending forgiveness to others. When we’ve broken God’s commandments, when we’ve shattered a relationship, when delicate feelings are damaged, when peace has cracked into divisiveness, when unity is split into discord, when families are fractured, when our faith is crumbling that is the time to turn to God in prayer, asking for forgiveness. 1 John 1:8-10 reminds us that every human being has a continual need for God’s forgiveness. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us ours sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
When Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer there is only one request that is conditional. We are forgiven as we forgive. Why is this? It is simply by the very nature of the created order we must give in order to receive. We can receive nothing from God with our hands clenched into fists or with our finger pointed at someone else. Saint Augustine said, “God gives where he finds empty hands.” If our hearts are such that we see much more easily how others have sinned or hurt or offended God or ourselves, without seeing how we have offended God, we will find no need to seek God’s forgiveness. If we’re always calculating in our hearts how much this person or that person has violated our rights, by the very nature of things we will not be able to truly open our heart, mind, and spirit to pray. Jesus says the giving of forgiveness is essential because it breaks the cycle of retribution.
Joseph certainly had reason to be very upset with his brothers based on what they did to him many years before. Yet he has matured and clearly not only forgiven them, but has been able to see how God worked through what happened to him to save lives. Instead of getting even or judging or hurting them in return, he forgives. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity,
“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.
And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger.”
If we were to put ourselves in the place of Joseph who was almost killed and then sold into slavery by his brothers or in the place of those we hear about in the news whose lives have been touched by horrific acts of evil or violence, or simply in our own situations, we might confess that we would find extending forgiveness excruciatingly difficult.
As Richard Foster explains so well in his book, Prayer: Finding The Heart’s True Home, there is a great deal of confusion about what forgiveness is and what it is not. “Forgiveness does not mean that we will cease to hurt. The wounds are deep, and we may hurt for a very long time. Just because we experience emotional pain does not mean that we have failed to forgive.”
“A German pastor (Helmut Thielicke) who endured the darkest days of the Nazi Third Reich, wrote, ‘One should never mention the words ‘forgive’ and ‘forget’ in the same breath.’ We remember, but in forgiving we no longer use the memory against others. Forgiveness is not pretending that the offense did not really matter to us. It did matter, and it does matter, and there is no use pretending otherwise. The offense is real, but when we forgive, the offense no longer controls our behavior.”
“What then is forgiveness?
It is a miracle of grace whereby the offense no longer separates.”
I can’t encourage you enough to remember that. We see that with Joseph and his brothers. Forgiveness is a miracle of grace whereby the offense no longer separates them from one another.
“Forgiveness means that we will no longer use the offense to drive a wedge between us, hurting and injuring one another. It means we will not use the offense as a weapon against some one else. Forgiveness means that the power of love that holds us together is greater than the power of the offense that separates us. That is forgiveness. In forgiveness we are releasing our offenders so that they are no longer bound to us. In a very real sense we are freeing them to receive God’s grace.”[1]
Years ago when we lived in Pennsylvania, I didn’t have to take trash and recyclables to a transfer station like in Brewster. Our trash and all would get picked up on Tuesdays and Fridays. Some Fridays the truck would come earlier than usual and I didn’t get our garbage out in time. Then I would look forward to Tuesday when I could get rid of the whole week’s worth of garbage. None of us would intentionally think of letting our trash get crammed full and backed up when we knew we could get rid of it. Can you imagine having smelly garbage piled up behind your house or in your garage and when the sanitation truck pulled up out front deciding, “I think I’ll just keep it all for another week.” Ridiculous, right? Yet how many of us nurse and hold onto hurts, anger, grudges, and other things that stink up our life and foul up our relationships even though Jesus said to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
We do with our memories, emotions and relationships what we wouldn’t do with dirty diapers and orange peels. We hang on to the garbage. Some of it is very painful and has piled up over many years. Nothing but the cleansing forgiveness and grace of Jesus can pull out the bitterness that can take root.
As a practical step, perhaps you can try the following exercise. On days when you go to the transfer station or have your garbage picked up; offer the debris of your sins to God. Put out your spiritual and emotional trash for God to haul away so that you can be forgiven, cleansed and freed by Jesus. Acts 10:43 says, “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Usually when I have a memorial or funeral service, I ask the family members what three words they would use to describe their loved one. I can’t envision many legacies more honorable than for those who knew us best to say, “He was a forgiving man.
She was the most forgiving person I ever met.”
How many of us would want people to remember us by thinking, if not saying,
“She really knew how to nurse a hurt. He really knew how to hold grudge.”
God has put up a huge sign. It is Jesus on the cross, and that sign says
IF YOU BREAK IT, PLEASE TELL ME SO I CAN FORGIVE YOU.
God has bound himself to forgive us when we forgive others. Perhaps you have felt deeply the load of guilt at your offense against heaven. You may be unsure if God will truly forgive your sin and pardon you or if the Holy Spirit can transform your life. You long for some assurance that will give you peace. Our assurance comes from the mouth of Jesus and he guarantees our acquittal.
“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).” The choice is ours alone.
The picture of Joseph and his brothers shows how beautiful forgiveness can be.
Prayer: Forgiving God, thank you for loving us even when we are unlovable and for your patience when we are tiresome, blind, hypocritical, or prideful. Thank you for your tender discipline that longs to heal us from the painful disease called sin. Help us to see our own need and not to focus on the sins of others. Remind us to remove the plank in our own eye before we go looking for the speck in someone else’s. Continue to inspire us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. May we confess our sin to you and receive your life changing forgiveness and love offered to through Jesus your Son. Amen.