Cycle Breaker

Good morning everyone. This morning’s devotional brings us to Genesis 45. This is at the tail end of the story of Joseph. He has risen in the ranks to be the second highest official in all of Egypt and to serve as the twist in the story, Joseph’s brothers show up on his doorstep.

They don’t realize that it’s Joseph, the brother that they sold into slavery years before, standing before them. But after sending his brothers on a wild goose chase, Joseph finally breaks down and reveals his true identity. This is what he says:

SCRIPTURE

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.

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! 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. 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.[a]

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.

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This is what we’ll be looking at this morning.

It’s here in a magnificent show of love that Joseph shows grace to his brothers.

But more than that, I think that we can call Joseph a cycle breaker!

What is a cycle breaker?

I think at first it is important to understand that there are many many different cycles in our world: poverty, racism, violence. All of which need to be broken! But on top of that, each and every one of us is reposible for reciprocating vital cycles that fill our everyday lives!

Think about this for example. A husband beats his wife home from work and is aggravated. He thoroughly disagrees with his bosses opinion of the project he’s spend hours working on. He’s coming home discouraged, upset, but more than that, bitter.

His wife arrive home only minutes later, and she’s doing good. She’s not had a bad day, nor a good day. She’s doing just fine.

She greets her husband with a kiss on his cheek to which he responds with a tired sigh and a mumble as he finds his place on the couch. The wife takes offense at this response and asks him if he would like to help make dinner, or does he expect her her do all the work?

He explains to his wife that he’s had a rough day at work and promptly reclines back in his chair to take a nap. Suddenly the bitterness that the husband carried home has embedded itself in the wives heart. Now she’s bitter and she carries it to the dinner table. The husband says the meats kind of dry and the wife procedes to tell him that he’s no Food Network Star himself. Remember the ribs from last week? Burnt. And back and forth like a ping pong ball, the bitterness bounces from one heart to another until, we hope, it’s lost with sleep and forgotten in the morning.

This is kind of a simplified example but it’s an example of the cycles that fill our lives. All to quickly we can be involved in a cycle of bitterness that we never had any intention of being in. Or maybe we find ourselves in a cycle of judgment because we were once incorrectly judged by someone. Or a cycle of greed because others greedily took from us. Or cynicism because those we surround ourselves with are cynics. There are so many cylces that surround us. Here’s a funny illustration.

I had the privilege of seeing my grandparents recently. They were sharing with us how they were getting cold in their house at night, so they decided to pull out the electric blanket. It had two controllers, one on each side and it spanned their bed. Well, late at night my grandpa would be freezing, so he’s ramp it up, with little or no effect, where by my grandma would be burning up, turning hers down and throwing off the covers. This cycle continued until my grandma though that something was wrong with her and grandpa was ready to throw the electric blanket away. It wasn’t until closer inspection that they realized their controllers were switched.

This cycle continued until it was broken by a counter-narrative right. It’s not broken, it’s not your health, it’s simply switched. Another cycle broken.

We too have to throw counter narratives into the cycles we are involved in! The key is to be like Joseph! Rather than being cycle reciproctors we are cycle breakers! Joseph family tree was filled with stories of violence and revenge. And Josephs brothers continued the cyle by throwing him in the cistern and selling him into slavery.

Joseph himself had every right to continue the cycle. He had power and influence. It would have been nothing for him to have his brothers executed on the spot or sent to be slaves themselves. Continuing the cycle of revenge.

But instead Joseph broke the cycle of revenge and violence with Love and grace.

Scripture is filled with cycle breakers:

EXAMPLES

David – fear – courage

Abraham – Doubt – faith

Daniel – Disobedience – obedience

Esau – revenge – forgiveness

Paul – Religious morality – A new perspective

Jesus – hate- self-giving love

What cycles are you involved in?

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What cycles is God calling you to break! It just took one person–a Joseph, a Paul, a Daniel–to break the cycles they found themselves in. What if God places us in the center of hurtful cycles so that we may be the ones to break them. Look at what Joseph said:

SCRIPTURE 2

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.

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It was God, not his brothers, who sent him to Egypt. God sent Joseph to be a cycle breaker and break the cycle that humanity had found itself in. Will you too choose to allow the cylces you are in be broken? It only takes one person.