Email Pastor LairdJoseph Story - Sept. 1, 2002
Forgiveness is a central theme among Christians. To put it simply, we are called to forgive as we have been forgiven. In Matthew 18:33, Jesus finishes a story of an unforgiving servant with the master saying, "you should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you." The message is simple. God has forgiven us, and expects us to forgive others. How can we do that? We can learn how by listening to the Bible's stories of forgiveness.
One of the best stories of forgiveness is the story of Joseph, found in Genesis especially the conclusion in Genesis 50:15_21. This is one of my favorite stories in all of scripture. The story begins with Joseph's father, Jacob. Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel who were the daughters of his uncle, Laban. Jacob loved Rachel and wanted to marry her, but Laban insisted that Jacob had to marry his oldest daughter, Leah, first. Laban struck a deal with Jacob. "If you give me seven years of hard labor," Laban said, "I will allow you to marry my daughter Rachel."
Jacob agreed to Laban's proposal. He worked seven years, and went to his wedding. The bride wore a veil that covered her entire face, When Jacob lifted the veil, he found out his new bride was Leah, not Rachel. He was mad that Laban had snookered him into marrying Leah, but he did not let his anger get the best of him. Jacob was hopelessly in love, So he went to Laban, agreed to work for him another seven years so that he could marry Rachel. When that wedding finally came, it was the most blessed day of his life.
Now you begin to notice some of Jacob’s personality traits, traits that he would hand down to all the generations of Hebrews to this day. He had three Ps. He was a passionate in his faithfulness. His put his love for Rachel first above all else. He was persistent. For 14 years, he was focused on his goal to have Rachel for his wife. Most importantly, he had a clear sense of purpose. He could have let his anger and resentment lead him, but he remained true to his own purpose. His reward was that he reached his goal, and Rachel became his wife. But this is not where we can say, they lived happily ever after. Their marriage ended in the tragedy of death.
For many years, Rachel was barren, but Leah and her concubine had 10 sons. Finally, when Jacob was rather old, his beloved Rachel gave birth to Joseph. A few years later, Rachel had a second son, Benjamin, but she died in childbirth. Jacob lost his beloved Rachel, but he still had 12 sons and Leah, and her mistress. Now altogether by these three women Jacob had twelve sons. These 12 are the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel to this day. To this day Jews trace there ancestry to one of these tribes. Jesus was of the tribe of Benjamin, Joseph's full brother.
Since Joseph and Benjamin were the only two from Jacobs beloved wife Rachel, they were his favorite sons. Joseph was a "good boy" who had dreams of power and prestige where all his brothers were bowing down to him. Joseph did not always use good judgment, because he told his brothers about his dream.
His half brothers, sons of Leah and her slave and mistress, were often scoundrels. Joseph made the situation worse because he often snitched on his brothers when they did something bad. He even caught some of his brothers lying with their mother’s (Leah’s) mistress, their own stepmother!
When Joseph told his father about what his brothers were doing, they wanted to get even. They threw Joseph into a deep empty hole, some wanted to let him die there, but one named Judah got saw some traders passing by who were taking a caravan of goods down to Egypt. Judah talked them into selling Joseph as a slave to these merchants for twenty pieces of silver.
Have you heard the saying, "you can't keep a good man down?" It certainly applies to Joseph. Joseph was bought by Patiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard. Patiphar was so impressed with Joseph's abilities, and eventually, he put Joseph in charge of all his personal affairs, even his finances. He became known for his leadership, and his ability to interpret dreams into reality.
There came a time that word was out that Pharaoh was having bad dreams. He heard about Joseph, and sent for him. that When Pharaoh told Joseph the dream, Joseph came back and told him his dream meant there would be seven years of plentiful harvest, followed by seven lean years of famine. Joseph advised Pharaoh in order to save the country, he should find someone to collect 1/5 of all the grain produced during the seven good years and store it for the seven years of famine, like a strategic reserve of grain.
Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph he put him in charge of the whole operation. Except for pharaoh. Joseph was the most powerful man in Egypt, and he was only about 30 years old. By this time, he spoke perfect Egyptian, had a beautiful Egyptian wife and children, and a home in the finest Egyptian neighborhood.
Joseph did not let his personal issues get in the way of his dream. He had the characteristics of his father, Jacob. He remained passionate, persistent, and purposeful, the three "p’s." He knew what his dreams were, and stayed focused them.
Recently, I was at Pascal high school, and saw a poster for the students in the school library. It was a question that read, "If you don’t have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true?" Too many people don’t have a dream. We need a dream if we are going to make our dream come true. God’s spirit can speak to us through our dreams. Joseph had a dream, and he worked to make that dream come true!
Throughout the next seven years, there was a rich harvest in the Nile Valley. The following seven years there was a severe famine throughout the whole known world, just as Joseph had predicted. People from all over came to Joseph to buy grain.
One day, Joseph's ten brothers showed up looking to by grain, and this is where the story gets sticky.
When his brothers came to buy grain from Joseph, they did not recognize him. By this time, Joseph talked, acted and dressed like an Egyptian commander. The brothers bowed down before him, just as Joseph dreamed as a young boy.
At first, Joseph did not tell them that he was their long lost brother. He spoke through an interpreter, and did not let them know that he was their long lost brother. They pleaded with Joseph, telling him about their aged father Jacob and their younger brother Benjamin, and how one of their brothers was killed by wild animals. Joseph discreetly went away and cried at the news Jacob and Benjamin were still alive. When he collected himself, he came back and accused them of being spies, and ordered them to be put in prison.
Three days later, Joseph released his ten evil brothers from prison so he could speak to them. Joseph told them one of them would have to stay as a hostage while the other nine brothers would could home with the grain. He would release the hostage when they brought back their younger brother Benjamin to prove their story.
When the brother’s came back with Benjamin, Joseph broke down and relented, and told his brothers, "I am Joseph, the one you sold into slavery in Egypt." But his brothers felt so guilty for what they did, they were sure that Joseph would do them in. But Joseph told them to get Jacob and the whole clan, all of their possession and livestock, and come to live with him in Egypt. Joseph had forgiven them completely.
And so all the Hebrews, the whole clan came to Egypt and lived their and prospered. But then came the time of Jacob’s death, when this elder patriarch died. Now the brothers once again were fearful that Joseph would have his revenge on them now that their father was dead. But Joseph had forgiven them completely already.
But Joseph said, "Am I in the place of God?" Joseph knew God's way of keeping justice and mercy together. How else could he judge them? Joseph forgave them of their sins against him. The descendants of Jacob stayed in Egypt for four hundred years. They grew in numbers, and later became a nation known by the name of Israel, which is another name for Jacob, Joseph’s father.
Through Joseph, God preserved the house of Jacob, and it became the nation, Israel. Through Israel, God sent the messiah, Jesus Christ, to bring forgiveness to all people. Jesus was born the tribe of Benjamin. His live began when his mother Rachel died in giving him birth. By the cross of Jesus, Jesus died to give us new live, so that we may be born as God’s children, too. God has forgiven us all our sins. Since God has forgiven us, we are called to forgive others. How? Look at Joseph.
Remember the character traits found in Jacob and his son, Joseph, the three p’s of faith. They were passionate. They had a heart and desire in their passion. They were also persistent. It took years, even generations, but they hung onto their dream. Finally, they had a purpose for their live and remembered it everyday. They had a dream, and they worked to make their dream come true.
When we have this character of faith, we will also be able to forgive, even 70 times seven is ours. We won’t let what other people do to us change us. We can do it because we have a greater purpose that we are seeking passionately and persistently. Our goal is to be servants in His eternal kingdom. Let us follow him, all the days of our lives, and let us live in the house of the Lord, forever.
Amen