By Wayne M
I was reading in the Bible this morning out of the book of Genesis chapter 45 . This is part of the story of Joseph in Egypt (you know, Donny Osmond in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ). This is where Joseph makes himself known to his brothers after they come to Egypt for help during the famine that Joseph had foretold to Pharaoh.
By this point in the story it is true that Joseph has had his fun with his brothers, taunting them and psychologically torturing them. But keep in mind all the torture that he had endured in those years in prison. His treatment of them was very mind and it was also a test too see what they had become as men, what their character had become. He now knew how they loved their father and their youngest brother Benjamin. They were even willing to give their very own lives to protect their youngest brother. They are feeling the knife of their guilt for treating Joseph so badly and they have lived with that guilt for these many years.
A normal man of spite and retribution would have had his brothers killed for what they had done to Joseph. But Joseph was a man submitted to God, and Joseph could see God’s will in all of his own suffering, “because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
Yes, it is true that Joseph’s current position of power and wealth and comfort could have softened the blow of the pain of all of those lost years, but I don’t think that was the major influencer in Joseph. Joseph was a man of God and he carried with him the Grace of God in the living out of his life.
This story makes me cry whenever I hear it. The best I can tell, this reaction comes from a hope and desire that I could be more like Joseph; that I could be a man of grace. I just hope I don’t have to be sold by my brothers into slavery to become a man of grace.
Wayne
This is a lovely story. I’d be interested in your reflecting more and writing more about why the story of Joseph touches you so deeply.
Is it that being a man of grace is so big? Or that it means so much to you? I think there’s a lot more there
Jill,
Is this the psychoanalyst in you, the English teach or the theologian?
I guess you are right to probe and I would have to say it is kind of a both and situation.
I know my lack of patience with children and others at times. I am a bit of a perfectionist in some areas, to the desire for me to be a man of grace is a real desire. It is an issue that I deal with on a regular basis.
That being said, there is nothing like the experience of real true grace. Several years ago I had a moving experience of realizing that even though I am in general a schmuck at times, my family takes me back with complete grace. That was an epiphany of the importance of family. They are there for you even though they know painfully well that you are not perfect. This was my first deeper understanding of the effect of grace at a human level.
Of course that grace of God is light years beyond this but at a human level experiences like this gives us a bit of a glimpse at what Christ has done for us and for what God continues to do for us. I think it is these human experiences that give us a glimpse of the heavenly realm. And isn’t that what we are here for?