by Pastor Chris Wall as printed in the Covenant Home Altar the week of August 27th
GENESIS 45:1-15
Joseph’s story is an excellent place to start as we engage Scripture with our hearts. In many ways this passage is the emotional climax of his tale. The story started back in Genesis 37 and is full of drama (and trauma) as Joseph’s own brothers sold him into slavery. In today’s text, he meets his brothers again. As he speaks, his emotions drip off the page like his tears. How would you describe Joseph’s emotions? He seems caught between the pain of his brothers’ betrayal, the pain of the lost years with his family, and a sense of hope and excitement about God’s redeeming work. This hope allows him to interact with his brothers’ feelings of guilt and shame, forgiving them their sin against him.
GENESIS 45:1-15: joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers
45 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘Send everyone away from me.’ So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ And they came closer. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.” 12 And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father how greatly I am honoured in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.’ 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
What emotions come up when you read Joseph’s pain and hope? Feelings of pain are never the end of the story when God is involved. Bring those feelings to God, and watch for his redeeming work.
Our God who walked with Joseph, as we sit with our own jumble of feelings, give us hope in your continued work. AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: THOSE WHO CARE FOR OTHERS
pick up your own copy of the Covenant Home Altar from the Welcome Center at church