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The Joseph Process: Penitence-Part 1
By Janine Scott-Lowe, MD.
The Joseph Process: Penitence-Part Two
Genesis 50:14-21: Then Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to the funeral of his father. But now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers were frightened. "Now Joseph will pay us back for all the evil we did to him," they said. So they sent him this message: "Before he died, your father instructed us to tell you to forgive us for the great evil we did to you. We servants of the God of your father beg you to forgive us." When Joseph read the message, he broke down and cried. Then his brothers came and fell down before him and said, "We are your slaves." But Joseph told them, "Don't be afraid of me. Am I God, to judge and punish you? As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil, for He brought me to this high position I have today so that I could save the lives of many people. No, don't be afraid. Indeed, I myself will take care of you and your families." And he spoke very kindly to them, reassuring them.
You would think that by now Joseph's brothers would have learned their lesson and would have changed. But, from today's Scriptures, we see that they have not. Jacob has died, and now Joseph and his brothers are left to live with each other. Joseph's brothers obviously never truly got over what they did to him, believing that the only reason Joseph was kind to them was because of their father. So, what did they did now that Jacob was dead? They sent a made-up letter to Joseph, trying to convince him that his father wanted him to forgive them. They were so afraid of Joseph taking revenge on them that they said that they would be his slaves if he would just forgive them and not get them back for what they did to him.
But, look at Joseph's response. What his brothers didn't learn, obviously Joseph did, because his reply to them was not one of anger or vengeance. No, it was one of wisdom and compassion.
Wisdom in that Joseph realized that it was God, and not his brothers, that ultimately had control over the happenings in his life. His brothers may have meant harm to him by what they did, but God turned what they meant for evil around to working for his good (reminds you of Romans 8:28, doesn't it?) Joseph realizes that he was not in the place of God; he did not have the right to judge or punish his brothers for their sins, only God did.
As Joseph learned, we too must learn that God is the Righteous judge over all of us. It is His right only to judge, and not our own. We must be so careful of playing god ourselves and judging people and their actions, as we do not know all and do not control all. Let us leave the judging to Him who alone is perfect, holy, and right. Also, let us remember that what we sow, we will also reap. If we sow anger or vengeance, we shall reap them as well, but if we sow mercy and love, they will come back to us in kind. I'll take the latter any day!
This is what we see Joseph do. When he received the letter from his brothers, he comforted them by telling them not to be afraid. He reassured them by speaking kindly to them, and by telling them that he would take care of them and their families. Wow! I think Joseph has learned this lesson of forgiveness and compassion well! Seems to me that his act of forgiveness was more for himself than for his brothers, as it freed him from bitterness and allowed him to move on in his life in peace. He was not bound in unforgiveness by waiting for his brothers to apologize and "do him right." As we see here, that never happened, as they are still conniving in sending this message, but to Joseph, it didn't matter. He did what was right even though right was not done back to him, and for this, he was blessed.
May we be as Joseph was. May we walk in forgiveness, mercy, and compassion towards others, and always do what we know is right whether or not right is done to us in return!
I think we've almost made it to the end of the series. Next week comes "Promise, again." Take care until then and God Bless!
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