Reconciliation
God’s Grace Fosters Forgiveness and Confession
Genesis 45:1-15
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. August 16th, 2020
God is not content to simply protect Joseph. God is not content to simply save Egypt. God is not content simply to bring Joseph’s dream to fruition. God is not content until, by his grace, there is reconciliation. This morning we see the fruition of Joseph’s dream. We see what God had always intended. And we might understand more how God works in the world, and how God would have us reconcile with one another.
Last week we left off with Joseph in prison. Pharaoh had two troubling dreams. Pharaoh dreamt he was standing by the Nile, and out of the Nile came seven sleek and fat cows grazing on the grass. But then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came after them. The ugly cows ate up the fat and sleek cows. And Pharaoh woke up. The second dream was similar. This time there are seven good ears of grain growing on a stalk. Then, seven ears thin and blighted sprouted, and ate up the good ears. Pharaoh woke up again. The dreams deeply troubled Pharaoh, and he sought an interpreter. But there was no one to interpret the dreams.
But the Cupbearer remembered Joseph, who was still in the prison, and told Pharaoh Joseph could interpret the dreams. Pharaoh summoned Joseph, who explained that both dreams foretold the same future. There are going to be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph suggested putting a wise man in charge who would buy up grain for the good years, so it may be sold on the bad years. Pharaoh, impressed by the young man, appointed Joseph to be overseer of Egypt. He gave him all his powers, that he might carry out the task he suggested.
Everything happened as Joseph interpreted. There are seven years of plenty followed by seven terrible years. When the famine hits Egypt is well stocked with grain, and able to feed not only members of the Kingdom, but people from far off. Jacob hears of Egypt’s grain storage and sends his sons to go and buy some grain. When they arrive Joseph recognizes them. And he toys with them a bit, accusing them of being spies and testing their faithfulness. But finally, even Joseph can’t take it anymore and he reveals himself to his brothers. And in doing so he reveals two things that I think are important for us to grasp this morning.
First, he tells his brothers not to be distressed. Why? “For God sent me before you to preserve life.” As we make it to the climax of the story, we can see how God had acted throughout to make Joseph’s dream a reality. “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.” What the brothers meant to do for evil, God intended for good. When his brothers thought they were ending the dream, God used their very evil act to accomplish the dream. This is how, time and again, God acts. God takes evil, and works it for our good.
We see this most perfectly in the Cross. The crucifixion of Jesus is the height of injustice. Not only is Jesus sinless, but Jesus is God. Yet the world puts Jesus to death, hanging him on a tree. Disgracing and disfiguring Jesus. But instead of preventing the cross, God uses the cross for our salvation. So that by his stripes we are healed. By his blood we are forgiven. Jesus takes on our death, and is raised, that we might take on his life.
Now if you had told Joseph the day after he was sold into slavery “This is part of God’s great plan for life, to save your brothers and your father’s household” he might spit in your face. But that is what God was doing. And when the time came for the plan to come to fruition, Joseph was ready to reconcile, and his brothers ready to seek reconciliation.
Maybe you’ve seen God act this way in your life. Perhaps you have experienced something that was downright terrible, evil even. But looking back you can see how God brought something good out of it. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at a young age. What a terrible thing to experience when you are in elementary school. And it would get quite bad when I was in grade school. But I see now how those experiences have drawn me closer to God, in whom I’ve come to rely, and have centered me and prepared me for a life of ministry.
That’s the first thing Joseph reveals. God can work through evil to bring a greater good out of it, and indeed did that in the case of his slavery. The second is something I only recognized a few months ago reading this story again. Having announced God’s gracious work, Joseph also announces his forgiveness. He will not use his power against his brothers, he is not after revenge. He has known the grace of God and will share that grace in forgiveness. But he does something that’s very subtle, and it is important. He tells his brothers to go and tell Jacob, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.”
He tells his brothers, in other words, to admit to what they have done. There can be no reconciliation that is not founded on confession, or truth. That can be very hard. We do not like admitting we are in the wrong. We do not like the public humiliation. But I imagine Joseph’s brothers were eager to admit their wrongdoing. When the time came their confession of sin was simultaneously the proclamation of good news. They could only confess because of the good news they have heard, and the grace of God they had received. It is exactly the same for us. Confession may seem hard. But there is no way around it. Confession is necessary if we are to be reconciled. But confession becomes easy when we truly grasp the grace that makes confession possible. Our forgiveness, God’s grace, precedes our confession. Like Joseph’s brothers, when we confess it is another way of announcing the boundless grace of God.
And that is why I love this story so much. It is a story about grace, about reconciliation, about God’s power, and about the Gospel. And at its close Joseph reveals two truths about God’s grace. The first is that it is stronger than evil, and can even make good come from evil. The second is that there is no reconciliation without confession, but grace makes confession all the more easy.
God made a promise to Joseph, and kept that promise in a powerful way. When the promise was kept, God brought about reconciliation between brothers. God has made a promise to us. Eternal life. God will keep that promise. And in keeping that promise offers reconciliation with him, and with our sisters and brothers.