February 23, 2025
Pastor John Hering
Genesis 45:3–15
Genesis 45:3–15
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”
His brothers could not answer him, because they were terrified by his presence. 4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me, please.”
They came closer. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves for selling me to this place, since God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. 6 For two years now the famine has been in the land, and there are still five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as survivors on the earth, and to keep you alive by a great act of deliverance. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord over his entire household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. 9 Hurry, go up to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not delay. 10 You shall live in the land of Goshen, where you will be close to me—you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will take care of you here, for there are still five years of famine. Otherwise you will come to ruin, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’ 12 Pay attention. Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You shall tell my father all about my position of honor in Egypt and about everything that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
14 He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. 15 He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that his brothers talked with him.
We all know how difficult it is to forgive someone. Your heart gets hurt by a friend, and you’re supposed to forgive them? Your reputation gets destroyed by someone spreading rumors about you behind your back, and you’re supposed to forgive them? Someone hurts one of your family members, and you’re supposed to forgive them? This is one of the hardest things to do in the whole world! Can you do this? You pray about it all the time in the Lord’s Prayer, “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That’s not easy! Today we will meditate on the story of Joseph to be motivated to forgive others by the Holy Spirit and
Learn To Overcome Evil With Good
Trusting in God’s Forgiveness
We all have read passages in the Bible and thought to ourselves, “How am I supposed to do that?”
“26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple”
Luke 14:26
Or
“2 Consider it complete joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various kinds of trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces patient endurance”
James 1:2,3
Or
“29 If your right eye causes you to fall into sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell”
Matthew 5:29
Or in today’s second reading St. Paul said,
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For by doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head”
Romans 12:20
And in the gospel lesson Jesus said,
“27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too”
Luke 6:27ff
Yet all these passages have something in common for Christians (outside people would have a very difficult time understanding these passages!). We get it: We are not to get revenge on those who oppose us or cause us grief by hating them, but by loving them. But we also know from experience, that when we love them all too often that just makes them get more angry at us (that would be the burning coals). So, how is it possible for us to Overcome Evil With Good? It isn’t until we learn to Trust in God’s Forgiveness, first!
How many brothers and sisters do you have? Joseph had 11 brothers and a sister. In large families the children born in the middle of the pack may think that they are not noticed by their parents as much as the 1st or the last born. This certainly wasn’t the case in Joseph’s family. Joseph was a middle child, but he was noticed the most by his father, Jacob. But this led to difficult days ahead. We know how jealous the brothers got!
“When Joseph was seventeen years old…. Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, …. and he made him a special robe. 4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him in a friendly way”
Genesis 37
It got worse. Joseph had a dream about his brothers and parents where they were bowing down to him! Then the day came when the brothers had their chance to get rid of Joseph and they did by selling him as a slave into Egypt. Joseph’s difficult days were just beginning. While in Egypt Joseph was accused of attacking a man’s wife and he ended up being through into prison. It was a difficult day. Then he interpreted the dreams of Pharoah and ended up becoming 2nd in command of Egypt! Talk about a difficult day—being in charge of a whole nation! Yet, none of these days compare to the difficult day in Joseph’s life that we have before us today.
There was a famine in the land and Joseph’s family ran out of food back home and had to come to Egypt to buy food. They didn’t recognize him, but Joseph was the one from whom they had to buy their food! Joseph wasn’t dead, as they thought he might be. He was alive, and alive with power! Joseph did put his brothers through a series of tests to see if they had changed their ways. After learning that the brothers did have a change of heart toward Benjamin (Joseph’s brother), Jospeh gets ready to give these brothers the shock of their lives.
“Joseph was unable to control himself in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone out from my presence!” When no one else was left with him, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. 2 He wept out loud. The Egyptians heard him, and the house of Pharaoh heard about it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him, because they were terrified by his presence.”
How could Joseph Overcome Evil With Such Good? The Lord had been training Joseph over the past 20 plus years to reveal (Epiphany) what St. Paul wrote to the Romans,
“28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose”
Romans 8:28
Joseph believed in God’s forgiving love for him, and was all to eager to share it with his brothers!
“4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me, please.” They came closer. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves for selling me to this place, since God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.”
Joseph had the power to throw them into prison until they rotted or could have reminded them of his dream about them all bowing down to him. But he graciously invites them to come close. And those fear-filled brothers came because they Trusted in Joseph’s forgiveness. Joseph continued to calm their fears.
“5 Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves for selling me to this place, since God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.”
Joseph learned all about God’s providential care and his forgiveness in spite of sinful actions. Now he was sharing it with his brothers! Ouch! Can you feel the burning coals on their heads? They had been so selfish, unloving and hateful. Through Joseph the Lord God was being merciful and loving, yes, Overcoming Evil With Good By Trusting In His Forgiveness!
Application: If you haven’t thought this yourself, you’ve certainly heard another person say, “How could I ever forgive that person?” They lie, are self-centered, full of deceit and anger and so stubborn! They don’t obey their parents and have an awful desire for the things God has forbidden, and a lack or desire for those things God commands?….. Well, I don’t know? How did God ever forgive you? You know. God sent Jesus to die for you and pay the penalty of all your sins when he died on the cross. Our gracious Father in heaven has been merciful to you for Jesus’ sake. God Overcame the Evil of sin, death and the devil with the Goodness of his Son. Believe in his forgiveness. Then let’s be eager to share that forgiveness with others as we
Trust in God’s Control
We have talked about how much we want to be in control. If you don’t think I want to be in control of things, then you really don’t know me! And we know how frustrating it is when we think we’ve got control of the situation, but we really don’t. The brothers thought they were going to Egypt to buy some food and control the affect of the famine on their family. They weren’t even close to being in control. But, Joseph patiently taught them to Trust in God’s Control.
“6 For two years now the famine has been in the land, and there are still five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as survivors on the earth, and to keep you alive by a great act of deliverance. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord over his entire household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.”
Can you see what’s really going on here with a coat of many colors, jealousy, selling a brother, the brother becoming a ruler, and that ruler saving his family? If Adam and Eve were here today, they could tell you. God had promised to send a Savior. God’s chosen family through whom he would send that Savior were living in a land of heathen nations and were in danger of losing their relationship with the Lord. So, God controlled the situation by having Jacob and his family of 70 move from Cannan to Egypt. They were given the “Land of Goshen” in which to settle. Look at a map. This land was surrounded by the Nile Delta and separated from the influence of the Egyptian false gods. For the next 450 years God would grow a nation to an estimated 2 million people. Yes, God was in Control. And this was to fulfill an even greater purpose when 1,500 years later Jesus was born. God was in control of the whole situation.
Back to the brothers. Would they believe it? Well, right before their eyes was Joseph who had learned the words of Jesus,
“28 Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”
Matthew 11:28
There was Joseph as the example for the brothers to see someone who learned to trust in God’s control. The Lord God went to work to show them (Joseph and his brothers) their sin and show them forgiveness.
“14 He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. 15 He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that his brothers talked with him.”
The Lord took away their guilt. Now, they could cope with reality. They were sinners (the smoke was still rising from their heads), but they were forgiven sinners through whom God was controlling everything to carry out his greatest promise to send the Savior. God’s people trusted In God’s Control.
Application: We all know how difficult it can be to forgive someone. First, remember you’re not God. Jesus forgives and forgets, we can forgive but we can’t forget. That’s why we need to be in church. We need to hear God’s law so we can remember who we are and repent for our rebellion against God. We also need to hear repeated over and over and over, “The Lord has taken away your sin. He has removed your guilt forever!” That is the perfect time to remember that God is in control of our lives. Come, listen, and trust in God’s promises. God doesn’t want to heap coals of fire on your head, he wants to heap piles of forgiveness in Jesus upon you. So, are you ready? Like Joseph’s brothers let’s Trust in God’s Control, Trust in God’s Forgiveness for Jesus’ sake, and let’s leave here today free in Christ to Overcome Evil with Good with the people in our community. Amen!
