Did you see it Wednesday? It showed up for just a bit in the early morning hours but its shape and color were unmistakable: chunky and white, the first snow-spit of the season. While many of us dread the onset of winter, the first significant snowfall followed by a bright blue day is unmatched. Yellow lawns and garbage-strewn highway medians are transformed with a sparkling white that only God can provide.
Sparkling white is also how God sees each of us thanks to Jesus’ forgiveness which covers our sins as completely as heavy snowfall will cover every ugly patch of dead grass. As we conclude the sermon series “Joseph: a life of many colors,” white, the color of new beginnings, will represent a truth Joseph cherished: we are not just forgiveness recipients, we are forgiveness donors.
When we first met Joseph at the beginning of our sermon series four weeks ago, he was 17 – the same age as someone you might see walking around here with a Bellrose High School football jersey. But imagine this individual 20 years later. What would he look like as a 37-year old? Would he have as much hair? Would he still fit his size-32 jeans? Joseph was 37 years old when he finally met up with his brothers again. So it’s not surprising that they didn’t recognize him. Do you remember the circumstances? The brothers had come to Egypt because that was the only place they could find grain during this time of famine. Joseph was in charge of distributing that grain because he had impressed Pharaoh with his ability to interpret the fat-cow/skinny-cow dream which had warned Pharaoh about the famine.
Although Joseph immediately recognized his brothers, he didn’t reveal his identity right away. In fact he treated his brothers rather harshly when he accused them of being spies. He even imprisoned them before holding one of them, Simeon, hostage until the others returned with the youngest brother Benjamin. This supposedly would prove that the brothers had not lied when they told Joseph all about their family and their peaceful intent to purchase grain for them.
Why was Joseph treating his brothers like this? Was he having a little fun to get back at them for the way they had treated him? No. Joseph was observing his brothers. He wanted to know whether or not they had changed. 20 years earlier they had thought nothing of killing Joseph because he irritated them. Would they now just ditch Simeon since they had gotten what they came for, grain for their families?
God too can appear to us the way Joseph appeared to his brothers: mean and uncaring. But God’s motivation is not to see what we’re like, the way a coach will push his athletes through a grueling workout to see what they’re made of. God already knows what we Christians are made of. We have a new attitude that wants to do God’s will but struggles to complete it because we still have that old sinful nature we were born with. So does God treat us harshly from time to time to reprimand us for giving in to our sinful nature? Not exactly. Rather God allows challenges and even crises into our lives to remind us that we are weak and in need of his continuing love and power. He lets us suffer the consequences of our sinful outbursts so that we learn firsthand that sin is to be avoided not embraced.
But you won’t remember these truths if you don’t remain in God’s Word. Instead Satan will convince you that God is one big meanie and there’s no point in worshipping him. That’s what Satan was trying to push Job to declare by afflicting that Old Testament believer. But Job confessed: “Though [God] slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15a). Joseph too believed that truth. He continued to trust that God was with him, guiding his life even though he ended up in slavery and then in prison.
When Joseph’s brothers returned with Benjamin he threw a banquet for them. This only confused them more – especially when Joseph seated them in their birth order. Midway through the banquet Joseph could no longer help himself. He had to reveal his true identity. After dismissing his servants he dropped the bombshell: “I am Joseph!” I wonder how many spoons clattered to their plates as the brothers sat in stunned silence. Joseph? No. How could it be? If it was really Joseph, they were in big trouble. He had the power to make their lives very miserable for what they had done to him. They still thought this after their father’s death 17 years later. Oh, Joseph had spoken kind words of forgiveness to them at that first banquet, and for 17 years afterwards had provided for them. But what if he had done this only for Dad’s sake? With Dad gone, would Joseph now take his revenge?
But Joseph had meant what he said at their first reunion: “…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” (Genesis 45:5). So when the brothers approached him again to seek forgiveness 17 years later, Joseph wept. He was sad that his brothers doubted his love for them. He then added these powerful words: “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19b) Joseph had no plans for revenge because he knew that only God has the right to pursue that.
Is that a truth you believe and live? Are you content to let God take revenge on those who have sinned against you? Or do you reserve that right for yourself, even if it’s just to give the cold shoulder or to burn inwardly whenever you think of that individual? But here’s the central truth of this sermon - the one point I want you to take home. Are you ready for it? If you want to “play God,” do so by forgiving! Think of the parallels between our story about Joseph and Jesus’ appearance to his disciples on Easter Sunday evening. Jesus’ disciples must have been as stunned to see their Lord as the brothers had been to see Joseph. “Jesus? But aren’t you dead? If you’re not dead, have you come to scold us for abandoning and denying you?” But that’s not why Jesus had risen and appeared to his disciples. The first words out of his mouth were “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36).
Jesus extends that peace of forgiveness to us too. And he does so in an intimate way as Joseph did for his brothers. Joseph drew near to his brothers and hugged them. Jesus draws close to you in Holy Communion with his body and blood delivered through bread and wine. With this miraculous kiss and hug he’s assuring you that there is no longer any barrier between you and God, and between you and eternal happiness.
But as I said in the introduction, forgiveness recipients are forgiveness donors. We have freely received God’s pardon so we will freely pass it on to others. Now let’s make sure we understand what that means. We often hear that to forgive is to forget. That’s not really true. Joseph never forgot what his brothers had done to him. Even 37 years after they sold Joseph into slavery he said to his brothers: “You intended to harm me…” (Genesis 50:20a). The pit, the tattered clothes, the betrayal, the slave chains seemed fresh in Joseph’s memory. He didn’t gloss over what his brothers had done. It was wrong. It was a sin. However, he chose not to hold it against them. That’s forgiveness. And so you may never be able to forget what someone has done to you, but by God’s grace you can choose not to hold it against them.
What made it easier for Joseph to forgive the hurt was remembering how God had turned the sin into something good. Joseph said: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). That’s the confidence that we have too. Even though we may be suffering evil at the hands of others, unfounded accusations for example, we don’t need to pursue revenge because God is on the job. He will somehow turn this unpleasant experience for our good.
A grandmother helped her grandson remember this truth when he returned one day from school disgusted with how things were going. He complained about his friends, his teachers, his coaches, and even about his bicycle. When he finished, Grandma asked if some cake would cheer him up. Of course it would the boy agreed. So Grandma put a raw egg, some flour, and baking soda in front of the boy and told him to eat up. What? Why would he want to eat any of those things? They were yucky. Indeed, they were yucky by themselves but when mixed together they made a delicious cake. When, without the context of God’s promises, we look at the bad things that have happened to us, we can only see them as yucky. Through faith, however, we will see them for what they are: the ingredients of a beautiful future God is cooking up for us (adapted from illustration by Edward Einem).
What’s also impressive about Joseph’s forgiveness is that he didn’t just speak it, he lived it. When the brothers sought his mercy again after their father’s death, Joseph could have responded: “I already told you that I forgave you. Now stop bothering me. In fact why don’t you just go back to Canaan? It’s time we go our separate ways.” That’s often the kind of uneasy truce that we come to isn’t it? We’ll offer forgiveness to someone but then vow to never have anything to do with that person again. That’s not the way Joseph treated his brothers and it’s not the way that God treats us. Joseph promised to keep caring for his brothers, and God promises to take care of us here and give us a home in heaven with him forever! Can we too really be as forgiving? Sure. That’s God’s will. Prayerfully insist that God work such an attitude in your heart.
I’m not looking forward to winter but I do like how the snow covers the litter that regularly blows onto the church property. God’s forgiveness is like that. It keeps covering my sins leaving me fresh and clean. You’re forgiven like that too: completely and regularly. May God make us so forgiving towards others. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
Joseph seemed to treat his brothers harshly when they came looking for grain. What was he up to? What’s God up to when he seems to deal with us harshly?
“Am I in the place of God?” Joseph asked his brothers when they were afraid he would avenge their poor treatment of him. Joseph’s response and subsequent actions illustrate an important truth. If we want to play God, we should do it by ________________.
List at least five similarities you see between these two scenes: Joseph revealing his true identity to his brothers, and Jesus revealing that he was alive to his disciples on Easter Sunday evening.
Joseph conveyed his forgiveness in an intimate way by drawing close to his brothers and hugging them. How does God do the same thing for us?
It’s often said that to forgive is to forget. How does Joseph show this isn’t true? What does it mean to forgive?
We will have an easier time forgiving others when we remember that God has promised to turn our hurts into something eternally good for us. How did a grandmother illustrate that truth for her grandson?
Joseph didn’t just speak his forgiveness, he lived it. How will you live forgiveness this week?
