It’s Time To Get Up Part 5 —Reconciliation
Genesis 50:15-21 Ephesians 4:17-32
Have you ever had a bad falling out with someone? Something they did to you just seemed like too much to forgive. It happens with individuals. It happens with families. It happens with nations. It happens with ethnic groups. The desire to make them pay for what they did can go on for decades and even for centuries.
In one episode of the original Star Trek, there was an episode in which two aliens, one an officer of the law and the other an fugitive were trying to enlist the captain’s help. The officer had been chasing a fugitive across the galaxy for decades to bring him back to their home planet. The interesting thing was that both men were black on ½ of their bodies and white on the other ½ as if a line had been drawn down the middle of them from top to bottom.
The officer accused the fugitive of being a terrorist from a race of people who were violent, evil, and inferior intellectually. The fugitive accused the officer of being from a race of people that were oppressive, brutal, and murderers.
As they presented their sides of the story to Captain Kirk, he told them. “wait a minute, you are both from the same race of people. You are both black and white. How can you be both be claiming opposite things?”
The officer became very angry at the Captain and said, “Isn’t it obvious, he and his people are black on the left side and white on the right side. My people and I are white on the left side and black on the white side.”
The episode ends with both the fugitive and the officer making it back to their home planet only to discover a civil war between their peoples had annihilated everyone on the planet. Often times the result of an unwillingness to reconcile leads to an annihilation of a person or a group.
Jesus entered into the realm of humanity with two purposes in mind. The first was that we would be reconciled to God. He did not come to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
The second was that we would be reconciled to each other. On the night in which he was betrayed Jesus prayed John 17:20-21 (NIV) 20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
It’s important to God that we learn how to love each other, far beyond the differences that we allow to separate us in groups and factions.
We have been looking at Joseph’s life. As you may recall, Joseph had been betrayed by his brothers who had hated him because he was favored by their father and he had dreams indicating he would rule over them. They sold him as a slave to a group of people going to Egypt to make sure those dreams would never become a reality.
They lied to their father about what happened to Joseph, and their father was sure that Joseph was dead having been torn apart by a wild animal. Their father mourned for a long time over his son. This was a dark family secret among the brothers.
Joseph is a slave in Egypt for 11 years and is then thrown into prison for over two years after being falsely accused of attempted rape. God is with Joseph throughout this ordeal. He keeps raising Joseph up to the top of his circumstances.
Pharaoh has a dream that no one can interpret it. Joseph interprets it and becomes ruler of all of Egypt. Egypt is the only place to get food thanks to the wisdom God gave to Joseph. Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to get food.
Joseph recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him. They all bow down before him just as Joseph had dreamed over 20 years ago. Joseph accuses them of being spies. He asks them about their father and his brother Benjamin.
They have no idea it’s Joseph who is asking these questions and why. He tells them, they can’t get any more food unless they bring Benjamin back with them. He keeps one of them in jail until Benjamin is brought back.
When Joseph’s brothers run out of food, their father Jacob does not want to let Benjamin go back with them. But when they refuse to go without Benjamin, he finally lets him go.
When they come back to Egypt, the second time, Joseph comes up with a plot in which he could keep his brother Benjamin with him, and let his brothers leave to be on their own. Benjamin was not a part of the group that sold Joseph into slavery and he and Joseph had the same mother.
Benjamin is set up as a thief by Joseph and will not be allowed to leave the country. Joseph like us, didn’t really want to forgive his brothers completely.
When the brothers clearly explain that their father would die of sorrow if Benjamin did not come back, because their father never really got over the loss of his son Joseph, Joseph changes his plans. He decides to come clean. He decides to reconcile with his brothers.
Joseph reveals that he is actually their brother, Joseph. They are completely stunned with unbelief. He tells them to go and get his father and all their belongings because there are five more years of famine ahead. He tells them, don’t argue on the way.
The brothers have to confess to their father what they had done to Joseph twenty years ago. Jacob cannot believe that his son is alive, much less ruler in Egypt. But when he sees all the equipment Joseph sent to pick him up, he believes. He comes to Egypt and there is a great family reunion.
Pharaoh gives Jacob and his family some of the best of the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen where they multiply greatly.
Last week, we saw that God was working in all of this in order to continue his plan for the salvation of Jacob and his family, to save the nation of Egypt and to launch the nation of Israel that would lead to the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ.
When we come to our passage in Genesis in Chapter 50 verse 15, it has been 17 years since Jacob came to Egypt. That means the famine has been over for 12 years and life is getting back to normal. Then Jacob, the father of the 12 brothers died.
During those 17 years, 10 of the brothers would talk every now and then about what they did in selling their brother Joseph as a slave and lying to their father. It’s hard when our sins of 30 years ago show up again.
The brothers were convinced the only reason Joseph hadn’t punished them for what they did was because of his love for his father. But they wondered, “what’s going to happen when their father Jacob dies. He was already a 143 years old.
When we don’t seek genuine reconciliation, we live in fear of one another. What’s going to happen when the other person has all restraints removed from them? What’s going to happen when they come into power or when that person dies?
As I mentioned earlier, Joseph is a figure that points us to Jesus Christ. Just like Joseph’s brothers all bowed down to him, so we will also have to bow down one day before Jesus Christ.
Just as Joseph’s brothers would one day have to give an account for the choices they made with Joseph’s life, so one day we will give an account for what we did with the life of Jesus of Christ.
Joseph’s brothers saw that Joseph had provided a home for them. They saw how Joseph had not only kept them alive, but provided generously for them.
They were in the best of the land of Egypt, but it was not because they deserved it or was better than anyone else. It was because of God’s favor on the life of Joseph, and God’s plan of salvation for the world.
My friends God has blessed some of our lives tremendously. I know we want to think we earned it or we deserved it, but without God’s favor, it would not have happened.
Why is it that God has placed us where we are? Why is it that God has blessed you with the resources that you have?
Could it be that God is wanting to use you for the salvation of others? Why do you have extra free time in the midst of COVID-19? Have you asked God what you should be doing with it?
Sure we can lay up treasures for ourselves here on earth, but if we do they will remain on earth. Jesus says we would be wiser to lay up treasures in heaven, by using what we have today to expand the kingdom of God.
It’s kind of sad that Joseph’s brothers were in a relationship with Joseph, but they really didn’t know their brother, they really didn’t trust him, and they weren’t convinced that he could possibly love them after what they had done. That thing happened 34 years ago.
It’s really sad when people boast of who they haven’t spoken to in 5, 10, 15,or 20 years ago. How many blessings did God have that could have been theirs if they had forgiven?
Jacob had wanted to be buried near his wife Leah. So all the brothers had to go back to where they grew up for the first time in 17 years. It was Joseph’s first trip back home in 34 years. All those old memories came back to the surface, the good as well as the bad as they saw the places they had grown up.
When the burial was finally over, probably about three months after the death of Jacob we come to today’s passage. Genesis 50:15 (NIV) 15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?"
Can I ask you something? Why is it so hard for us to admit that we are wrong even when we know we’re wrong? Even in the smallest of things? The brothers have had 17 years to individually or even as a group to go to Joseph and actually ask for forgiveness. We would simply rather try to do something nice for the person and hope they just forget about it.
But that’s not how reconciliation takes place. When we sin, the Holy Spirit will come to us and keep bothering us until we do something about it or until we let our hearts grow cold and become hard.
Some people want a relationship with God, but will never admit their sin has broken the heart of God. They think if they just keep doing nice things for God its enough. You have to repent to be brought into a right relationship with God.
We have to repent and admit the wrong we have done to each other for a real reconciliation to take place. Even the wrong that was unintentional. We can stage all kinds of protest marches, but if there is no genuine repentance, there is no real reconciliation.
The brothers won’t humble themselves, and allow Joseph to freely forgive them. That’s where so many people are today. They will not humble themselves to admit they are sinners in need of a Savior and therefore will not allow Jesus to forgive them.
Look at verses 16-17. Genesis 50:16-17 (NIV) 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died:
17 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
Instead of just coming clean, they are still trying to hide behind their father. Joseph, if you want your father’s memory to be a happy one, this is the last request he made beyond the grave. They are telling Joseph what he should do because of his relationship to their father.
The brothers are completely oblivious to the reality that God is at work in their family despite all their problems. They do not see that they are as much a part of God’s plan for salvation as Joseph is.
They have gotten so comfortable with this awkwardness in their relationship to Joseph they are willing to accept it as normal. They see Joseph through a pair of very distorted eyes.
I wonder who they sent word to Joseph by with this alleged request from their father. Did they send a servant to announce this to Joseph verbally? Did they send a servant with a note? They must have expected the person to come back with a message “all is forgiven” or a “Thumbs UP” with a smile, but it didn’t happen that way.
Instead they get the report, when Joseph got your message, he started crying. They assumed the worst. “Joseph is so angry at us, he couldn’t hold in his emotions any longer. “If we don’t get over there and apologize in person, we are going to get what we deserve and probably a whole lot more. He can wipe us out and our families.”
Why has it taken them 17 years to come to this conclusion they need to confess and to repent and to try to make things right.” How long are we waiting until we own up to things we have done that have hurt others and we both know that we hurt them?
The brothers ran in and fell at Joseph knees and said, “we are your slaves.” In other words, “you have the right to do to us as we did to you.” They were afraid of Joseph’s tears. But those were not the tears of anger but the tears of sorrow.
They were the tears of Jesus which would flow centuries later when Jesus looked at the people of Jerusalem and wept over them on Palm Sunday because he knew they would reject Him. He knew the people were blind to what God was trying to do for them through Him.
Joseph knew that his brothers were likewise blind to what he was trying to do for them. So we find in verses Genesis 50:19-21 (NIV)
19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph’s brothers could have had lives filled with peace and joy in their relationship to him. But they lost out, because they were afraid and would not believe he intended to bless their lives.
Joseph had matured to the point where he could see a much bigger picture beyond Himself. He saw the salvation of families taking place. He saw the hand of God in everything that had happened to him. He had quit seeing things as mere coincidences.
Jesus could say of us, “you intended to harm me in your rebellion and choosing of sin over choosing me. But all the while God was still working in your situation to bring us together so that you and others could be saved.”
Joseph went through a lot. He went through pain, abandonment and rejection before finally being exalted. He learned to see that God was sovereign and in full control even when it looked as though God was absent.
Jesus likewise went through abandonment, pain and rejection. While on the cross he cried out “My God , My God why have you forsaken me. In that moment when Jesus took all of our sin upon Him, God the Father turned away as he unleashed His wrath against our sin.
To many, Jesus’ death looked like a total defeat. But in the plan of God, in three days he was exalted and given a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
God was able to keep a promise to Abraham which covered a 450 year period to send his descendants into Egypt and to bring them back out as a nation. If God could keep that promise over the course of 450 years, surely he can keep His promise to you, that one day you will confess that Jesus is Lord and you will bow down before him.
Isn’t it better for you to do it now so that it will lead to your eternal salvation, than it will be for you to bow and then the words here “depart from me into the place prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus is not an option that we can throw out of lives without eternal consequences for doing so.
We all have a sin problem that keeps us separated from each other and keeps us separated from God. We’re never going to be good enough for reconciliation to happen on our own. It is in surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ, that we will find what we need to be made right with others and made right with God. Who do you need to be reconciled with today?
