Grace Overthrows Evil

One of my favorite things about the book of Genesis is how many sibling stories are in it. As a sibling myself, I find myself cluing in a bit more on those stories of rivalries and redemption.

This morning, we have one of the biggest sibling stories that exists in Genesis.

And we would not be doing this story justice if we just dove right into chapter 45, verse 3. No, we must first establish the background, the context. It would be like telling the punchline of a joke without any of the set up.

So if we rewind a few chapters, we learn more about who Joseph is. Here’s the cliff notes version:

So Joseph is the son of Jacob and Rachel. Rachel was barren for many years, so Jacob had children with Rachel’s sister Leah and their servants - hence all the other brothers.

A key point here, though, is that Rachel is Jacob’s favorite wife, and by extension, Joseph was the favored child once Rachel finally conceived and gave birth.

Jacob wasn’t very subtle about his favoritism, so Joseph got a beautiful coat and the promise of the double portion of Jacob’s inheritance. And to be fair, Joseph also wasn’t being very intuitive or gentle with his knowledge of he being the favorite one. He had a couple of dreams in Genesis 37, which he shared with his brothers, one of which goes like this:

7 “We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

Now, if you were Rueben, or Levi, or Judah, or Simeon, or any of the other brothers - you would probably already be jealous and put off by the favoritism shown by Jacob to Joseph, and then Joseph had the ‘chutzpah’ - Hebrew word for self-confidence and audacity - to share this dream with his already envious brothers, making the insinuation that they would bow down to Joseph someday!

So it’s really no surprise that the brothers schemed to kill Joseph, but at the encouragement of Rueben, they sold him into slavery instead to the Midianite merchants and brought back that beautiful cloak bloodied, claiming to Jacob that his favorite son had been lost.

Well, meanwhile, eventually Joseph, as a slave in Egypt, worked his way up to being a kind of ‘vice pharaoh’ of Egypt, and as we’ve seen already, Joseph is a man of vision - he was able to interpret people’s dreams, including the Pharaoh’s dreams, where he saw that the region would go through 7 years of abundance and 7 years of famine.

Pharaoh, seeing that Joseph had chutzpah and could interpret dreams, appointed him to be in charge of feeding the entire land of Egypt and the surrounding areas of people. That’s a pretty decent gig after being betrayed by your brothers.

So during the years of famine, people of all the region would come to Egypt to buy food, and eventually, Joseph’s brothers showed up. Joseph, now empowered and well-positioned, has to attend to the needs of his family, the same family who treated him with hatred and disdain! What will he do?

Well, the brothers don’t recognize Joseph, but Joseph recognized them, and boy, does he put them through the wringer: pretending to think they were spies and thieves, planting evidence to frame them, taking two of them as prisoners, deceiving them, and otherwise testing them.

And in light of the accusation of the brothers being spies and thieves in the empire of Egypt, Joseph made his brothers fear for their lives and the life of their starving, elderly father Jacob or Israel back in Canaan.

So what we see today is the climax of this story in Genesis. It’s this moment of revelation - on this 7th Sunday after Epiphany - it’s a moment of epiphany. Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and they’re dumbfounded. They’re terrified - will Joseph exact revenge on his jealous brothers who ganged up to sell him into slavery? Or will he trust God and allow grace to overthrow evil? 

And it’s here where we pick up. Join me in chapter 45, verse 3:

3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 

So Joseph had done an exceptional job of instilling fear into his brothers during their time in Egypt because he has to tell them twice who he is. Evidently they didn’t believe him the first time. I am Joseph! Come close to me. I am your brother Joseph - He had already verified his identity because if we look at verses 1 and 2 he has every Egyptian - all his attendants - leave the room, and he made himself known to his brothers. This essentially means that he undressed himself. Why? Because Hebrews were the culture in the ancient near east to perform circumcision on babies.

They still were hesitant, so the second time he told them he was his brother, he named their sin: I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. This is the pivotal moment: what will Joseph say next? Will he reveal himself, name their sin, and then condemn them? He’s in a position of tremendous power during this famine. But he goes on to say:

5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 

At this climactic point in their sibling relationship, Joseph sits in a position to do with his brothers as he pleases, and yet, he makes no effort to hold their feet to the fire: there is no evidence of anger or irritation. In fact, Jospeh acts with more weakness than strength. He sets aside the trappings of royalty and enters into the messiness of the situation: all for the sake of reconciliation: for grace.

Joseph had to step outside his role as Egyptian ruler and join the family at an intimate and vulnerable level: quell their fears and point them to God’s providence, as we see in the next few verses.

7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’

15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.

This is a huge moment in Joseph’s faith journey. As many of us know, hindsight is 20/20, and I’m sure if my brother Austen had sold me into slavery and I was in this position, I cannot confidently say that I would react with such grace, forgiveness, and faith. And yet, here Joseph is: pointing his brothers to the providence, the sovereignty, and the goodness of God.

And what I find notable is this: Joseph tells them to bring their father Jacob, their children, their grandchildren, their flocks and herds, all they have - to come to Goshen in Egypt - a part of the Nile delta where the pasture was plentiful for their flocks and herds, and Jacob, through the blessings of God, would provide for them there. 

We see in Genesis that the family of Jacob or Israel, the Israelites have been led to Egypt since Chapter 12 - for they have to be there in order to set up for the great deliverance in Exodus.

So here we have it: those initial dreams of Joseph’s sheaf of wheat being bowed down to by the other sheaves of wheat - have been fulfilled as God lifted him above his family members, but we get some clarity too: it wasn’t for the glorification of Joseph above his brothers. It was the result of God’s providence - Joseph has been elevated not for his own sake but so that they all might find salvation in their years of distress.

God has acted so that life, rather than death, now abounds. So that the activity of the jealous brothers; however terrible the activity was, has been used by God as a vehicle for sustaining the life of this family.

Grace overthrows evil. Grace does not excuse evil - Joseph still stated the sin of his brothers, but it released Joseph from the claim of revenge and opened the door to reconciliation.

And most importantly, Joseph recognized God’s hand in his life - God’s role - everything that happened brought him to this moment of grace and made it possible for him to bless many, including his family, Egypt, and nations beyond.

As we continue throughout this week, I encourage us to reflect: where in our lives are there opportunities to forgive, to let go, and let God? To allow grace to overthrow evil? And it is important to reflect because when we do, it’s much easier to recognize God’s hand and providence in our lives - hindsight is 20/20. Where do we need to trust the story of God? Trust that God has everything under control?

My friends, I want us to take this from our story in Genesis today: Forgiveness is one of the ultimate expressions of trust. Trust in God and trusting that God has this. We must lay down our perceived right to get even, our perceived right to revenge - laying that down is the ultimate expression of trust because we’re saying that God is in control. Jospeh forgave, Joseph gave grace, and trusted that God had it, and we can, too.

Join me in prayer:

Merciful God, through the life of your servant Joseph and especially your son Jesus Christ, you have shown us the way to live and how to treat others with love, grace, and forgiveness. May your Holy Spirit cleanse our minds, thoughts, and actions so that we may love others as you have loved us, and so that we may trust in your story and that you have everything handled. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.

Blessing:

Let us trust in the Lord, let us delight in the Lord, and let us commit our way to the Lord. Thanks be to God!