In our scripture readings for Jacob & Joseph Sunday, Joseph's brothers, who sold Joseph into slavery, find themselves in a tough situation. A worldwide famine has left Egypt as the only country with available food, and the brothers have to negotiate with a harsh governor to buy some. Much to their amazement and terror, the governor is Joseph! But God has enabled Joseph to see the reason for his suffering in slavery, and therefore, to release his bitterness.....
Having been raised in the city, I grew up with an assumption of anonymity. Sure, if I went to the 7-11 or the restaurant IN MY NEIGHBOURHOOD, someone there could recognize me, so I should not buy that magazine or belittle that waitress. But if I went to the other side of the city, people would need all six degrees of separation to connect me, and unless I went back to the very same place, I would NEVER see those people again. As long as my behaviour didn't trigger a call to the police, there would be no earthly consequences for it. Of course, these days, we have cameras everywhere and facial recognition software, so now, the assumption is that you are NEVER anonymous, just like in small towns, just like in the ever-seeing eyes of God....
When Joseph's jealous brothers sold Joseph to Ishmaelite slave traders for 20 pieces of silver back in Genesis chapter 37, it's safe to say they never expected to see Joseph again! Little did they know that God would prosper Joseph as a slave, such that he would become his master Potiphar's household manager, until his jealous wife had Joseph thrown in prison. Little did they know that God would give Joseph the prophetic interpretation to Pharaoh's dreams, that seven fantastic harvests would be followed by seven no-harvests, such that Pharaoh would make Joseph EGYPT'S manager. Little did they know that Joseph would have sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, whom their father Jacob would later adopt as his own, such that the children of Joseph would get a privileged portion of the inheritance. Little did they know that it was only because of Joseph, that Egypt had food to sell to them when the famine worsened.
So just imagine the SHOCK of the big reveal, when the gruff governor of Egypt, who just gave you a tiny taste of the Egyptian prison he experienced for years because of you, he announces himself as your presumed-dead brother Joseph. “His brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.” Dismayed – that's one word to describe it! Your life is now at the whim of someone you BADLY mistreated.... someone you essentially condemned to death. He now has the political power to have you killed immediately, no questions asked. He now controls the food you and your family need to survive. How... will Joseph.... respond?....
When the family is thriving, and the health is good, and the harvest is fantastic, and the relationships are smooth, it is easy for us to drift away from God. It is easy for us to justify our patterns of sinning, to imagine that we are anonymous, to pretend that we will never have to face consequences, to believe that God is very far away. Eventually... eventually, there will be a crisis – a loss, a setback, a disease, impending death - and we will hear a voice, “why do you keep looking at one another? I have heard that there is salvation in God.” And we will need to come crawling back to the same God we have abandoned and ignored and disowned and badly mistreated, whose son was condemned to death for our sins. The same God who will have, and always has had, our lives in the palm of his hand. When that moment of our dismay comes, how will God respond?
The path of suffering that Joseph travelled was used by God for a great purpose. With Joseph imprisoned as a slave in Egypt alongside servants of Pharaoh, God gave Joseph an opportunity to bring Pharaoh a prophecy, which enabled life to be preserved through the famine. Joseph's suffering led to his being made second-in-command to Pharaoh himself, and led to him having sons that were adopted by his father, a position of glory in the country and in the family. And God gave Joseph the grace to SEE this, to recognize God's work behind his suffering, to see the greater purpose it served, and to forgive his brothers for their role in starting his path of suffering. The encounter ends with Joseph providing a new life in Goshen to his family, and weeping on the neck of Benjamin, his favourite brother, and only brother-of-the-same-mother.
The path of suffering that Jesus travelled was ALSO used by God for a great purpose. With Jesus' willingness to become a sacrifice on the cross, God instituted a new covenant with humanity in Jesus' blood, which enabled sins to be forgiven, and the invitation to eternal life to be received. Jesus' suffering led to his being raised from the dead on the third day, becoming the first fruits of the resurrection, and the name that is above every other name. Will Jesus be bitter with us sinners, who made his death necessary in the eyes of God the Father? In the gospel of John, Jesus' first words to his disciples, post-resurrection, are as follows: “Peace be with you.” Not bitterness, not resentment, but peace.
Jesus' words to us today have a similar ring to those spoken by Joseph: “God has made me the way, the truth, and the life; come to me and do not delay! You shall settle in the many dwelling places of my Father's house, and you shall be near me.” And when the time comes for Jesus to be revealed to us, the encounter will START with Jesus providing us a new life of resurrection, and it would not be surprising for him to weep on our necks, as we in humble gratitude and loving adoration, fall and weep on his....
Heavenly Father, help us not to become bitter when we receive a tiny taste of the suffering Jesus endured on our behalf, and help us to forgive those who mistreat us, in Jesus name.... Amen.