15Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” 16So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, 17‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.”
Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” 19But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? 20Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. 21So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them. Genesis 50:15-21 (NRSVA)
It was five days before Christmas when a stranger approached ten-year-old Christopher Carrier, claiming to be a friend of his father. I want to buy him a gift, and I need your help, said the stranger. Eager to do something good for his dad, Chris climbed aboard a motor home parked up the street.
The driver took Chris to a remote field, claiming to be lost, and asked Chris to look at a map. Suddenly Chris felt a sharp pain in his back. The stranger had stabbed him with an ice pick. The man drove the wounded boy down a dirt road, shot him in the left temple, and left him for dead in the alligator-infested Florida Everglades.
Chris lay lifeless for six days until a driver found him. Chris miraculously survived his injuries, though he was blind in his left eye. Because he was unable to identify his attacker, police could not make an arrest.
Joseph’s life was like that…except for the fact that he had seen the faces of the ones who had violated his freedom – often! His brothers had sold him into slavery. Twenty years later he had the opportunity for revenge, but did not take it. We understand the beneficence of Joseph in not exacting that revenge. But what of the brothers…what was their life like?
The scenario goes like this – you have had a problem with a friend or member of your family. You were wrong; he accepted your apology, and said it was all done. Still, in the back of your mind there is this nagging doubt, an insecurity that says it’s going to come back on you some day. He says he forgives you…but, does he really?
Joseph’s brothers had that kind of uncertainty about the forgiveness they had received from him. Could it be that the experience of Jacob, their father had come home to roost, the sins of the father visited on the sons? Is this a generational repeating of Family Feud?
If you recall, there is a lot of similarity between the events of Jacob with his brother, Esau, and the brokenness of Joseph with his brothers. Note the similarities:
• Thieves…Jacob the father was a thief, conning his brother Esau right out of his birthright and blessing…Reuben the son of Jacob, along with his brothers, sold their young brother Joseph into slavery, stealing his childhood and relationship with their father.
• Liars…Jacob the father was a deceiver, manipulating conditions to deceive his uncle Laban…Reuben the son with the other siblings, in order to cover their own tracks of mischief, lied, deceiving their father into thinking a wild animal had killed Joseph.
• God crisis…Jacob the father was driven to a crisis at the river Jabbok where he faced and wrestled with what kind of a man he’d be for the rest of his life…Joseph’s brothers also had a crisis brought on by the famine at home, where they had to face their past, and how they would handle the future.
• Tortured by Fear…Jacob had been forgiven by his brother, but he spent many anxious moments wondering if he would really be accepted back by Esau, the man who swore he would only wait until their father Isaac died – then he would kill his brother Jacob…The brothers of Joseph also wondered if Joseph was only waiting for Jacob to pass off the scene before he had them exterminated.
I’m not at all convinced that an “uncertain forgiveness” is better than just an outright not being forgiven at all; at least when someone tells you to your face that you’re a no-good so and so, you know where you stand. A Pastor and his bride had planned an outdoor garden party with meticulous attention to every detail. The night before the social event of the year in this small town, an horrific discovery was made – Mrs. Snodgrass, charter member of the church and president of every society that was worth anything, had been left off the invitation list. With anxiety pulsating through his heart to his temples and clear down to his shoes, the Parson dialed Mrs. S’s number.
Hello, Mrs. Snodrass, this is the preacher.
From the other end of the phone came a loud grunt, Hmmph!
Listen, I am sorry, there was an oversight; we would dearly love to have you come to the garden party tomorrow if you haven’t already made plans.
Said the rumpled voice, It won’t do you any good to beg, Preacher, I’ve already prayed for rain.
Some people find it difficult to forgive. No, make that: MOST people find it difficult to forgive. That is because genuine forgiveness includes restoration of relationship without resentment or feelings of blame. It is an internal event with external application. Literally, to forgive means to grant a pardon.
Now, on the other side of this is the reality that some people cannot receive forgiveness. I believe this is what was wrong with Joseph’s brothers. I do see in the scripture that Jacob actually instructed the brothers to beg Joseph to forgive them; but that is what they told Joseph. It may have been a little historical creativity, putting words in Jacob’s mouth to protect their own guilt-ridden hides. It is similar to a child asking if he can go out and play and having the Mom say, go ask your father. The child runs to Dad and says, Mom says I can go out if it’s ok with you. The child hasn’t told the whole truth, but manipulated what was said to get his own way.
Joseph had already extended forgiveness to his brothers; they had not really accepted it, refusing to trust that their awful treatment of Joseph years earlier was going to go unpunished. Knowing themselves, they refused to think better of their brother. That is the way with sin – a sinner always knows how badly he, himself behaves; trusting someone else (even a brother) to act better doesn’t come easy!
And so, we come to expect that life is going to be unfair, not make any sense, and that in some ways we’re gonna get creamed. It’s called fatalism! I want to tell you this morning that it is a lie, it was formed in the pit of Hell, and you can smell the smoke!
Why do bad things happen to good people?
The question of bad stuff happening in our lives is always on the table. Why, if God is love, do bad things happen to people like Chris Carrier? Or me?
A fellow-minister suggested to me this week that the cause may be explained by something called recurring non-Euclidian fractal geometry, seen in the light of chaos theory.
I said, Huh? Now, I knew that geometry is that class I took twice or three times in high school, and chaos is mentioned in the Genesis creation account. Math and Bible!
But what does that have to do with all the crummy stuff happening in the world? What does geometry have to do with the levy failing in New Orleans, or a Tsunami? What does it have to do with a nut kidnapping and almost murdering Chris Carrier?
When I read the life of Joseph I want to scream…but that’s not fair! I know God is God, and I’m not; but I just can’t understand why Joseph, and us other good people have to suffer like that. Why, if God was going to use Joseph, couldn’t he just “zap” him right from Hebron’s sheep pasture to Egypt’s throne? Why all the bad stuff – the suffering?
And, why in the world did the brothers of Joseph get away with it for so long? The related question is, why does it take so long for good to triumph over evil?
The questions are endless at this point.
• Jacob made a vow to God as he was making his way to Haran to serve God. It took over twenty years for God to begin to bless Jacob, and even at that God tested him so severely Jacob had to limp the rest of his life.
• Joseph was a good kid, and an even better man, yet he had to suffer being sold into slavery by his brothers, a ruined reputation and false imprisonment before God finally gave him a break.
• Jeremiah died as an exile, he had to go to heaven before he got to see some relief.
Why is it that some of God’s choicest servants always had to suffer the most, meanwhile evil-doers seem to go to the head of the class? It makes you want to scream with Jeremiah :
Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
Somehow the answer “fractal geometry” is kind of dry when your insides are crying out for some sense of justice. But, for the sake of giving my pastor-friend the benefit of the doubt, let’s hear him out on how to make sense of life’s chaos (besides, we have few other answers that last even a few moments when put to the test!).
Fractal geometry has to do with being able to see/measure some kind of order or pattern in what is seemingly a chaotic environment. “Fractals” are picture trails of movement. A snowflake is a fractal. As a child I once built a fractal without knowing it; it was the year my parents got me an erector-set for Christmas. It was a chaotic-looking structure, but in my mind the thing was the next Frank Lloyd Wright artistic masterpiece. It had all the meaning and order a seven year-old possesses!
The point is this…there is nothing really random about anything in the universe. The reason bad stuff happens is that God allows bad stuff to happen in accordance with His nature, and because of His love. When God created the world He set it up to run within certain parameters…cold is the opposite of hot, stopped means you are not going, old is not young, etc. All of those parameters relate to God, and His overall concern for His creation (to wit: …and God saw that it was good).
When God created, everything was “good” or in order. Those things (namely, sin) which have happened to “fracture” that goodness (from our viewpoint) are but part of the overall permissive will of God. In one sense God allows the fracture of His perfect creation, because it is within the geometry covering the whole equation of His will and design.
Close-up it seems chaotic and like our lives are headed in zig-zag fashion through time. From God’s perspective, He may allow us to zig away from Him (which may cause a collision, or bad event with another person)…but ultimately we cannot go outside of His creation. God has containment on this reactor-like existence we are living.
In short, fractal geometry may be a good place to start in understanding what Paul wrote about trouble:
28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (NRSVA)
In a practical sense it is like having a perfectly baked loaf of bread. It was lovingly stirred, kneaded, shaped and baked…it is golden brown, with just the right split down the top revealing where the butter soaked through…AND it is STILL HOT from the Oven!! Now, the idea of a perfect loaf of bread is not to let it sit there and get stale, hard and green with mold. The idea of bread, as the idea of life, is to eat it so it will nourish the body! You must fracture the bread to consume it. In the case of bread, fracture does not destroy, it makes consumption possible. It is that for which the bread was created. Fractal geometry only seeks to understand the pattern in the fractures. Romans 8:28 is a blanket statement that the fractures are there, and God knows what He is doing when He breaks open life for us.
I read a poem once entitled “Dark Threads the Master Weaver Needs”. It presents life as a tapestry. On our human side (the underside) of the tapestry we see chaos…threads woven in every which way….making no sense. On revealing the other side of the tapestry you look at a beautiful masterpiece God has put together; all the reason and pattern are there.
Looking at life from our perspective is like looking through a microscope at a lab slide; all you see are little bugs swimming around in the puddle, fighting with each other. If you “zoom-out” like a telephoto lens in reverse, you get the picture – the doctor is using antibiotics, germs to beat-up the other germs. That is how God sees what is happening.
I believe Joseph was the prime example Paul had in mind when he wrote the words of Romans 8:28. Bad stuff…really bad stuff happened to Joseph, but even as a young man Joseph saw the fractal geometry of God…he knew all things were working out for God’s good will and purpose. Joseph was patient, and God was faithful….and that is a match you can’t beat!
The response of the forgiver
Please notice Joseph’s response to his brothers; it is a two-fold picture of how God himself feels about His forgiveness extended towards us:
First, Joseph wept. Joseph had already extended his forgiveness, and had no intention of harming his brothers. That they would think otherwise hurt Joseph. Joseph was a man of character and integrity. Even during the worst days of his suffering, treated unfairly in Potiphar’s house, forgotten by those he’d helped, falsely accused and jailed…in all of it Joseph never retaliated.
God is also hurt by our mistrust of His offer of forgiveness. Much like Joseph’s brothers, our own sinful ways make it hard to believe God would actually forgive and forget.
The second response of Joseph the forgiver was to reassure and provide for his brothers and their families. He reassured them that not only would he not harm them, but would take care of them. As Genesis closes we find Joseph drawing his brothers to his bedside to give comfort and instructions before he dies. You don’t do that with those you haven’t forgiven, or don’t love.
Do you remember Chris Carrier? For a long time young Chris remained frightened, despite police protection. Finally at an invitation given after a church hayride, Chris trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior. He eventually decided to pursue full-time ministry, helping others find the peace he had discovered in Christ.
In 1996 a detective told Chris over the phone that a man had confessed to the crime that had cost him his left eye. The man’s name was David McAllister. Chris made plans to visit the feeble and now blind man, living in a nursing home. The strong young man Chris remembered was now a broken, humbled 77-year-old.
McAllister had been hired by Chris’s father to work as a nurse for an ailing uncle. Chris’s dad had caught McAllister drinking on the job and had fired him…Chris said, "I told him, ’What you meant for evil, God has turned into a wonderful blessing.’" Chris told his attacker how God had allowed his wounds to become open doors to share the good news of Christ. The entire [Carrier] family began almost daily visits to McAllister’s nursing home. During one Sunday afternoon visit, Chris popped the most important question he had yet asked McAllister: "Do you want to know the Lord?" McAllister said yes. Both men basked in forgiveness as McAllister gave his heart to Christ. A few days later McAllister died—peacefully—in his sleep.
Carrier says it is not a story of regret, but of redemption. "I saw the Lord give that man back his life, and so much more," Chris said. "I can’t wait to see him again someday—in heaven."
Friends, you may not be entirely certain of the reason some things are happening in your life, but when you can’t get your mind around the circumstances, you can remember God has His hands under them! And there is nothing uncertain about His forgiveness!
