The One Behind the Scenes

Scripture: Genesis 45: 1-15

Sermon: The One Behind the Scenes

Topics: Weeping, Forgiveness, Prodigal

Preached: November 12, 2017 AM Woodlawn CRC

Rev. Mike Abma

Preamble.

We ended last week with a bit of a heart-stopper.

This harsh Egyptian ruler has just told the brothers

That the thief Benjamin has to stay

But the rest could go back home in peace.

That is when

Judah steps up to offered his own life in exchange for Benjamin’s.

Now this….

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.²And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

 ³Joseph 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 – (before his face).

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.⁵And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here;

for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For 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. ⁷God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸So 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. 

⁹Hurry 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. ¹⁰You 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. ¹¹I 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.”

¹²And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. ¹³You must tell my father how greatly I am honoured in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.’ 

¹⁴Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 

¹⁵And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

INTRODUCTION

Can I back up a little in this story?

I would like to go back to Genesis 41 for just a minute.

This is the chapter in which Joseph finally gets out of prison

and rises to power in Egypt.

This is also when he marries an Egyptian wife

and has two sons.

The first son he names Manasseh,

And that name is explained this way:

God has made me forget all my hardships and my father’s house.

The second son he names Ephraim,

And that name is explained this way:

God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortune.

From all appearances,

When Joseph rose to power and started his own family,

He was saying this is my NEW life, I am done with my OLD life;

This is my NEW family, I am done with my OLD family.

That perhaps explains why Joseph never tries to contact his father or his brothers.

He was done with them.

But then, lo and behold, who shows up on his doorstep?

His 10 brothers.

Now what is he going to do?

What is he going to do with all those old memories,

with all those old pains, with all those old hurts?

You have to believe that this was not easy for Joseph.

It was an internal struggle.

It was an emotional time.

And we know it was emotional by the number of times he weeps.

JOSEPH WEEPS

The first time we are told Joseph weeps is during that first visit by his brothers.

Remember how Joseph throws them all in prison.

Then he overhears them whispering –

whispering about what they had done to their little brother all those years

ago and how terrible they still feel about it.

Joseph hears and Joseph weeps.

We are told Joseph weeps again when the brothers eventually return, this time with their little brother, and Joseph’s full brother Benjamin.

They come before Joseph, and Joseph says, “So this is the little brother you told me about.” At that, Joseph is so overcome with emotion, he rushes out of the room where he weeps so much he has to wash his face and compose himself before he goes back in.

Up to this point in the story, it really looks like Joseph’s plan was simply to have Benjamin stay with him, and let all those other brothers go back to their father.

But then Judah steps up.

Judah offers his life for the life of Benjamin – that is what Bryant preached on last week.

When Joseph hears Judah,

he is overcome with the reality that his brothers have really changed.

They are now united in their love for little Benjamin,

And they are united in their concern for their old father.

That is when Joseph loses it.

He can’t control himself any longer.

He orders everyone to GET OUT of the room.

Then Joseph stands there, alone and vulnerable before his brothers

weeping loudly and uncontrollably.

The weeping seems to be doing something to Joseph.

The weeping seems to be letting the pain leak out

and letting the love sneak in.

For Joseph suddenly realizes

He doesn’t simply love Benjamin, his little brother.

He love them ALL – all his brothers.

And he Forgives them all too.

JOSEPH REVEALS HIMSELF

In the middle of his tears

Joseph reveals his true identity – I AM JOSEPH.

The brothers are speechless.

Our text says they are dismayed – a rather weak word.

The word here means more like terrified,

They are terrified before his “face.”

You know the word “face” is used 12 times in the Joseph story.

This is the 12^th time — the brother’s see his true face and they are terrified.

But Joseph says, “Come closer to me.”

What was it like at the very moment

when the brothers were terrified

and Joseph said, “Come closer to me”?

Reminds me of the time my younger brother and I were playing chicken on our bicycles. The object of the game was to force the other guy into this prickly hedge we had growing beside the driveway (hey, when you are kids, you have stupid games).

One time, instead of cutting me off into the hedge, my brother cut me off into the lawn on the other side of the driveway.

It had rained.

The grass was wet.

My bike started to slide out from under me.

My bike went one way.

My body went the other.

My ankle got caught between the handle bars and the bike frame.

There was a “crack” sound.

There I lay, on the wet grass, calling to my brother,

“Hey, come closer to me!”

“Yeah right,” my brother said, “Once I get closer, you are going to jump up and beat the living daylights out of me.”

That is how I think those brothers felt at that moment.

Come closer? Are you kidding?

But they risk it.

They come closer.

Then Joseph gives one of the most eloquent descriptions of

both forgiveness and providence there is.

FORGIVENESS AND PROVIDENCE

Joseph says again, I am Joseph, your brother.

You did me wrong.

You sold me into Egypt.

You sold me into slavery.

But my story isn’t just about me and you.

There is someone else in my story —

someone behind the scenes.

You sold me as an act of evil to take away my life.

But God sent me here as an act of good to preserve lives.

You sold me to get me out of our family.

But God sent me here to help save our family.

You sold me here,

but God sent me here.

With these two verbs, sold and sent

Joseph is able to do two things at the same time:

On the one hand,

Using the word sold

Joseph is able to acknowledge the reality of evil:

That life is hard,

That life is unfair

That people are cruel and will sell you down the river.

And yet on the other hand

Using the word sent

Joseph is able to say

God is always good.

God is always sovereign.

God’s purposes are always bigger

Than any one person

Or any one problem

Or any deep pain.

Joseph hated what had happened to him,

but he happily confirms what the Heidelberg Catechism

says about Providence —

that God is able to turn to good

whatever adversity we face in this sad world.

God is able to turn it to good.

Joseph also realizes in this moment

that to take vengeance into his own hands,

to make his brothers pay,

would be the fastest way of becoming like Satan.

But the best way to become like God

would be to act like God –

To act with mercy,

With compassion,

With forgiveness,

All with the goal of reconciliation.

THE LETTER

An older woman once came to me for advice.

She told me that she had been born in the Netherlands but immigrated when she was a young teenager.

When she immigrated, her older brother was left back in the Netherlands.

Soon after immigrating, she wrote her older brother a letter, telling him how things were going.

A number of weeks that letter came back to her.

Her older brother had simply returned the letter to her

with all her spelling and grammatical errors

corrected in red ink.

She never wrote to him again.

She never spoke to him again.

Now it was over 50 years later.

She was planning a trip back to the Netherlands for her very first time.

This is what she asked me: Should she try contact her older brother or not?

As she told me her story,

she wept,

and it seemed like

some of the hurt and pain was leaking out

but also that love was trying to sneak in.

Should she risk being rejected all over again?

Should she dare to hope for the impossible possibility —

that something might go better this time?

CONCLUSION

See this picture on the bulletin cover?

Isn’t this the impossible possibility we all hope for, pray for —

that we are not worlds apart,

but close enough, close enough to give

a brother, a sister, a friend a hug?

The bulletin cover picture was actually drawn

to illustrate the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

In an odd sort of way

the Joseph story is a like an upside-down version

of the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Let me explain:

The Prodigal Son storms off voluntarily.

Joseph is sold into slavery against his will.

The Prodigal Son leaves with a fortune.

Joseph leaves penniless and a slave.

The Prodigal Son wastes it all and become penniless.

Joseph works hard, stays faithful, and becomes rich and powerful.

In many, many ways

the Prodigal Son and Joseph are the completely opposite.

When the Prodigal Son finally must face his family

What he needs more than anything else is to be forgiven.

When Joseph finally faces his family

What he needs more than anything else is to forgive.

That is where both these stories meet –

For both Joseph and the Prodigal Son

go from being lost to being found

from being dead to being alive

when the impossible possibility of grace happens in their lives.

It happens when

grace is given.

It happens when

grace is received.

Joseph kisses and hugs all his prodigal brothers.

The prodigal son being hugged and kissed by his eager father.

The estranged sister and brother hugging and kissing after all those years.

And behind the scenes….behind the scenes

Is God moving all things

in the direction

of reconciliation.

Amen