“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. (Genesis 50:17)
Someone shared something about forgiving today,
and while I’m not feeling specifically led to address the issue raised (yet,) I
do feel led to look at the subject. It’s been said that the first time
something is mentioned in the Bible is significant – it’s important to look
there, and the passage above is it: ten verses or 244 words from the end of Genesis.
It’s not mentioned in connection with Adam and Eve, Cain, Able, Seth, or any of their
family line down to Noah, Ham, Shem, Japheth, Canaan, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, Jacob or Esau. Even here, it’s not mentioned in connection with
God. The word pardon doesn’t show up until Judah pleads to Joseph for his brother's life. Excuse doesn’t occur until the New Testament. I’m
not sure what to make of that.
But let’s consider the situation connected
with the request. Joseph’s brothers had sold him to the Midianites, who sold him
to the Egyptians as a slave. They had lied to their father, claiming that he
was dead. These deceptions went on for years. Then the famine hit, and the brothers
negotiated with a disguised Joseph, who eventually revealed himself to his
brothers and convinced his father to move to Egypt, where Joseph could care for him. Jacob and his family had lived there for 17 years. Think about that. They had lived near Joseph for
enough time for a child to be conceived, born, and reach the age to get a learner’s
permit. Then, Jacob died, and Joseph’s brothers went to him in terror that,
finally, he would take his revenge for all they had done to him. They
waited all that time to ask for forgiveness for what they had done.
I’ve told people that I am sometimes like a
steamroller. I turn and ask them, “What
are you doing flattened on the floor? Did I do that?” We don’t always realize
the damage we cause, but that can’t be true with Joseph’s brothers. They
knew. Except for Benjamin (who wasn’t part of it) they couldn’t not know. It
wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t an oops.
Joseph responded that they had meant it
for evil, but God had meant it for good. He doesn’t sugarcoat the situation. But
more importantly, when the brothers ask for forgiveness, Joseph doesn’t change
his behavior toward them. He weeps because, after all that time, they still
expect that he harbors resentment and a desire for revenge… the opposite of
forgiveness.
Let’s shift from Joseph and his brothers to God
and us. How often do we question whether God had really forgiven
us, whether we have sought forgiveness, repented, or the means of atonement?
How often do memories leap to the mind of sins of the past, some stupid failures,
and others cold-blooded rebellions? I often cringe about things I’ve done or
failed to do to/for my parents, my sister, various friends, and enemies.
Like the brothers Jacobson, we may put off
seeking forgiveness until it’s too late or until we are afraid that the one we
sinned against will finally take revenge. Sometimes we are revisited with guilt
over something we were forgiven long ago. We don’t tend to live in a
world like Joseph and his brothers. We tend to assume forgiveness to be granted
– or the sin is forgotten – unless it’s something big. Forgiveness is the norm. Some
think forgiveness is even easy. The result is that few of us tend to
have a real sense of being forgiven. Even if it’s big, it’s something we’re
owed – or almost so.
The brothers Jacobson didn’t have that luxury.
Joseph was the #2 man in Egypt. No one would have batted an eye if Joseph had
decided to put his brothers to death most horrifically and painfully possible. There were only three people to whom they might appeal. One was dead,
one was Joseph’s boss, who trusted Joseph implicitly, and one was God. What shall
we make of the fact that they chose to use the dead man in their appeal to him or that – as far as we can tell – their appeal was based on a conversation
that didn’t take place?
Were the brothers sorry about what they’d done?
Were they just afraid and trying to avoid taking responsibility for their crimes?
It doesn’t seem to matter to Joseph. What bothered him was their fear of him and
their need to get his forgiveness. And so, the questions need to be asked:
1)
From whom do we need to seek forgiveness? Why
are we putting it off?
2)
To whom do we need to give forgiveness? Why are
we putting it off?
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