Reconciliation through Love

Introduction

It has been a great blessing for me to go through the story of Joseph with the church family at Faith Baptist Church. I don’t believe it is an exaggeration to say that the story of Joseph is one of the most important stories in the Old Testament Scriptures. It takes up such a large portion of the book of Genesis, vastly outpacing most of the other stories that this book is famous for, and that should tell us something about how important this was to the original author. In this story we see the powerful providence of God work through the sins of Joseph’s brothers, we see an example of someone who faithfully serves God despite their circumstances, and we see a tangible example of how God brings his children through the lows of humiliation and suffering in order to curate a godly humility before exalting them and thereby bringing glory to his own name. But what I want to focus on this morning is the conclusion of this story, the restoration between Joseph and his brothers. With all the other powerful elements to what truly is a beautifully constructed piece of storytelling as well as a foundational moment in Israel’s history, reconciliation proves to be what draws everything together and makes a powerful statement about the nature of the family of God.

The History

I expect that the story of Joseph being betrayed and sold into Egyptian slavery is not new for most of you, so I don’t want to spend too much time recounting the events of the last six chapters or so, but I do want to focus on the aspects of the story that bring Judah to say what he says here in our text, as well as what happened to Joseph so that reconciliation is made possible in this seemingly impossible situation.

Joseph’s Hardships and Character Development

After an unfortunate sidetrack in Shechem, the covenant family made up of Jacob and his twelve sons live in the land that God has promised Abraham. Joseph was his favourite son, being the oldest of the two sons of his favourite wife Rachel, and not only that but he was also something of a tattle and his dreams also showed God’s pleasure with him above the other boys. This leads to the betrayal his other brothers pull off on him by attempting murder and essentially killing him in any way that concerns them, everyone except Reuben, but we’ll get back to him later.

In the life of Joseph, this begins a cycle of humiliation followed by exaltation, and with every humiliation comes a greater exhalation.

In the lives of the brothers, there has been no real progression. They have been overcome by guilt that is tearing the family apart, even bringing them to a place where the whole family of the covenant could be brought to extinction. Everyone except Judah, Judah is the only brother other than Joseph that has any meaningful character development. We’ll talk about that a little more in a bit. For now, let us go back to Joseph.

Humiliation Followed by Exaltation

Joseph’s cycle of humiliation to exaltation goes through a few rounds.

First humiliation: being sold in slavery.

First exaltation: being put in charge of Potiphar’s House

Second humiliation: Potiphar’s wife. Humiliation due to Joseph’s faithfulness.

Second exaltation: being put in charge of the prison.

Third humiliation: forgotten for two years.

Third exaltation: bring put in charge over all Egypt.

In this way, God used hardships in Joseph’s life to exalt him in due time. His faithfulness to reflecting God’s character is rewarded through times of testing to bring him a greater exaltation than he could imagine. This is a road that is familiar to many godly figures throughout Scripture, following the axiomatic phrase:

Matthew 23:12 ESV

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Jesus himself would blaze the path of humiliation in the ultimate way by humbling himself by putting off the form of his divine nature and putting on the weak for of human flesh, being fully God and fully man and yet not displaying anything but the weakness of his humanity and his trust in the Father. Beyond this he was humbled to the point of death, even death on a cross, and as I’m sure you’re familiar with the words of

Philippians 2:8–9 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

Joseph was humiliated by his circumstances, but also humbled in his heart, submitting himself to God’s will as shown in obedience and purity in his actions towards Potiphar’s wife. God’s pleasure with him is shown in his exaltation, he is right with God and God has set him up as his representative to display his glory in the land of Egypt and to all who would come to that land for food during the years of famine. However, God is not done with Joseph, though he has exalted him to such a height.

Joseph’s Tests

Joseph’s brothers come into the picture, and the story shift its focus away from Joseph’s personal development and towards the healing of the covenant community. In exile, Joseph had grown in his trust in God, however the rest of God’s people had not. They are starving both physically and spiritually, and God’s end is not just to bring Joseph to this place of power, rather it is to use that place to bring the people of God back to the fruitfulness that they are created to have. It is at this time that God providentially brings the brothers literally to Joseph’s doorstep.

The timing could not be better. Joseph is at the height of a God-given exaltation which he uses to glorify God, as is seen in how he names his sons. Now God is going to do the same with the brothers and even with Jacob, and that brings us to the main theme I want to focus on in this text today.

This theme appears as we examine three tests that Joseph puts his brothers through before reconciliation can be possible. Again, without going into the details too deeply for the sake of time, we can see three tests emerge. There is an irony in 42:11 where the brothers claim themselves to be honest men, and this Egyptian officer is testing them on that, but not for the reason they think.

There is also a clear theme of God revealing things to Joseph that he doesn’t reveal to other, not just in dreams but in him knowing his brothers when they don’t know him. God opens the eyes of those who are close to him, while blinding those who are already blinded by their own sin and guilt. These tests are meant to open their eyes and prepare them for reconciliation before they are able to have reconciliation.

Reconciliation and forgiveness are two different events in this story. Joseph had evidently already forgiven his brothers as we see a familial care for them and 45:5 shows us that Joseph had already come to terms with God’s providential plan through their evil actions. Forgiveness only takes one person, just as Christ forgave his unrepentant persecutors on the cross. But forgiveness is not enough to create reconciliation. For Joseph to be united with his family again, they need to show that they have rejected their ungodly ways and have embraced being the people of God, and that means they will have to deal with their sins.

Jacob’s Test of Idolatry

The first test is actually not for the brothers, but for Jacob. Jacob who had spent so much of his life serving and relying on himself. Jacob who wrestled with God in order to trust him. Jacob whose favouritism sparked this jealousy among his sons in the first place. When Joseph had disappeared, instead of looking to God as his provider and protector and like Abraham willing to offer anything, even his own sons, with a solid trust in the promises of God.

Hebrews 11:17 ESV

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,

Jacob has been acting completely opposed to the kind of faith that Abraham showed when he sacrificed Isaac back in Genesis 22. Instead, he puts his value in the sons of his favourite wife and Joseph can tell that his father still hasn’t let that go by the fact that his dream of 11 brothers bowing down to him is not yet fulfilled.

This test is necessary because the people of God cannot function if their head is not acting in faith. As long as Jacob embraces idolatry towards his son Benjamin he cannot lead the people of God.

And this is extremely interesting because in order for Joseph and his brothers to be properly reconciled, there is repentance needed on the part of Jacob. See, there is no such thing as a private sin the the community of God. All our sins effect each other, and the sins you think are “private” sins that you are dealing with yourself are actually effecting all the other Christians around you, and the more involved in the church you are the more that is true. One reason we should be confessing our sins to each other is that we are hurting each other with our sins and in a very real way we need their forgiveness too. Jesus builds his church in such a way that we are used by God to forgive each others sins and have a genuine interest in watching each other grow in grace. Like Achan in Joshua 7 after the sacking of Jericho, our hidden sins and the sinful attitudes of our hearts damage the community as a whole, inserting corruption into the purity that we are meant to have together. If you will not seriously fight sin and commit to quick confession and repentance for your own sake, do if for the sake of your church. How much damage did the idolatry of Jacob do to his family, the covenant community of faith? How much pain did he and the rest of the family go through before reconciliation was possible? Ironically, if Jacob had sent Benjamin right away we find out in 43:10 that Jacob would already be in Egypt with his long lost son enjoying royal treatment and reunion.

The Brother’s Test of Jealousy

Jumping ahead to the second trip to Egypt after Jacob would finally let his favourite son go, resigning him to the will of God, we get the second test, and it is this: have the brothers overcome their vicious jealousy? This is a test they pass.

Genesis 43:34 ESV

Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.

This highlights the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Joseph has forgiven his brothers, but the kind of unity that needs to exist in the people of God is simply not possible if they are stilled full of the jealousy they had 17 years before.

Reconciliation without real repentance and recognition of Christ’s work putting both the guilt and power of sin to death simply cannot exist. Without addressing the flesh within us that is still at work and seeking to make war with our fellow Christian rather than peace, we are either going to have churches full of people that fight and hurt each other all of the time, or we are going to be churches full of pew warmers that don’t hurt each other because they never get close enough to hurt or be hurt. Either way, you don’t have true reconciliation and you don’t have a real church.

Judah’s Test of Love

The last test, however, is what really brings us to our text and shows us the heart of reconciliation. Judah is the main speaker of our text, and what we are seeing here is the conclusion to his character arch. As I said before, there really is no character progression except for Joseph and Judah over the 17 years since Joseph was sold into slavery. Judah’s character changed with a little interuption in the story involving Tamar. What the story shows us is that Judah comes to realize his own sinfulness, how he is embracing the worldly and flesh-driven attitude of his father so many times before and it is bringing destructive consequences, so that he admits that Tamar tricking him into incest was more righteous than his own unfaithfulness. It is a moment in his life where he embraces responsibility and God begins to turn him into the leader of God’s people that he and his descendants would become.

And this leads him to make a very different offer to his father at the beginning of chapter 43 than Reuben did at the end of chapter 42. It is true that Reuben had tried to save Joseph, but in a way that subjected him to no personal danger whatsoever. He planned on secretly saving Joseph, thus making him out to be the hero in his father’s eyes and hopefully be embraced despite him sleeping with his father’s concubine. Reuben also is quick to bring this point up when they are in Egypt talking about what they had done to Joseph, almost as a way of securing himself against being the one to stay behind in prison. Reuben offers his children to Jacob in the most unconvincing argument to let someone look after your son I have ever heard. Reuben cannot lead God’s people because he has not learned responsibility.

This is not true of Judah. Judah does take responsibility over what happened with Tamar, he lays down his place in the family to secure Benjamin’s safety, and he lays down his life in our text in order to get Benjamin home (this while believing that Benjamin is guilty). By the end of his character arch, Judah had learned more than just responsibility: he has learned how to love in a Christlike way. This become the final straw that finally breaks the 17 years of guilt and distance down and the family is once again reconciled and united.

Christlike Love: The Final Requirement for a Godly Community

The story of Joseph is truly one of the greatest stories ever put to paper, being a true story but also being constructed by the inspired author to be told in such an incredible way to highlight various themes and aspects. This is a story about providence, it’s a story about redemption, it is a story about God’s faithfulness, and it is a story about God opposing the proud and raising up the humble. However, I would submit to you that the main point of the story of Joseph is reconciliation through love. This is because the story comes right back to where it starts, the people of God together. This theme is focused on God’s eternal perspective, and it is God’s real purpose for all of these events. It answer the question, why did God have Joseph go to Egypt to save the world from this famine. God’s bigger plan was reconciling the people of God in a similar way that Christ’s coming was not to save us primarily from the side effects of the fall, but from what makes it so devastating for us: sin. This story, like everything else in the Scriptures, is about reconciling us back to God and dealing with the problem of sin.

Our reconciliation to God is inherently tied to our reconciliation to one another. Yes, the boys that sold him into slavery are his biological brothers, but more importantly they are fellow heirs of the promises of God. And the relationship they have with one another is indicative of their relationship with God. John puts it this way in

1 John 2:9–10 ESV

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

One of the blessings of being in the people of God is the way we are able to grow in our confidence in Christ through our love and connection with one another. However, this does put on us a responsibility to pursue reconciliation when there are divisions between us. There are five steps that we can discern from this story as to how we can achieve reconciliation to another member of the redeemed community that we have been wronged by.

First, there must be a recognition of God’s loving providence in the midst of being wronged.

Second, there must therefore be forgiveness towards those that are in the wrong.

Third, there must be a recognition of our sins and owning up to them.

Forth, there must be a change from the sinful behaviour. (Change will take time and will never be perfected in this world).

Fifth, Christ-like love must be embraced by all involved.

Conclusion

There is no people of God without reconciliation. In Christ we have been reconciled to the Father in order that we might be like Christ ourselves, embracing that image-bearing responsibility that Christ so perfectly displayed in his life on earth. And being like Christ means pursuing reconciliation the way he did. Reconciliation cannot always be achieved, but it is a non-negotiable part of being the church. This reconciliation is only possible where sacrificial love exists. Where Christians are willing to lay down their rights for one another, just as Judah was willing to lay down his freedom so that Benjamin, who he perceived as having sinned, could be reunited with his father.

There are going to be divisions in the church. People are going to sin against you, and you are going to sin against them. There are going to be difficult situations to work through, and one thing that this story makes clear is that reconciliation must be pursued in these situations. Our Christian lives, our fight with sin, and our sanctification are all community related, they all come into play when we are here, with each other, living with one another, and so reconciliation must be pursued.

It must be pursued when we are wronged through quick forgiveness, patience, and grace.

It must be pursued when we have been convicted of sin through confession and true change.

It must be pursued with active, sacrificial love.