Forgiveness For the Win || Joseph vs. Jesus #7

As we progress throughout the book of Genesis, it’s time to look at the long and comprehensive story of Joseph. While studying the material, I found a list of parallels between him and Jesus. I’ve learned that much Old Testament literature and storytelling often repeats itself, so does Joseph’s story truly prepare us for the story of Jesus. I have chosen eight parallels they both went through, which we might be going through, to see how they wrestled with them and what we can learn from their responses.

There are more parallels to discuss that focus on the Messiah and leadership-like stories. If you want to hear that side of their stories, let me know, and Part 2 of this series will return. Enjoy the latest series I’m calling “Joseph vs. Jesus.”

The seventh parallel is that they both forgave those who wronged them.

Genesis 45:1-15

1             Joseph could stand it no longer. There were so many people in the room, and he said to his attendants, “Out, all of you!” So he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was.

2             Then he broke down and wept. He wept so loudly the Egyptian could hear him, and word of it quickly carried to Pharoah’s palace.

3             “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them.

4             “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt.

5             But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.

6             This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.

7             God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.

8             So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharoah – the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt.

9             “Now hurry back to my father and tell him ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all the land of Egypt. So come down to me immediately!

10           You can live in the region of Goshen, where you can be near me with all your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own.

11           I will take care of you there, for there are still five years of famine ahead of us. Otherwise you, your household, and all your animals will starve.’”

12           Then Joseph added, “Look! You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that I really am Joseph!

13           Go tell my father of my honored position here in Egypt. Describe for him everything you have seen, then bring my father here quickly.”

14           Weeping with joy, he embraced Benjamin, and Benjamin did the same.

15           Then Joseph kissed each of his brothers and wept over them, and after that they began talking freely with him.

Joseph has one of the biggest hearts to forgive his brothers for sending him through all the chaos he had to endure. Joseph’s story will have a common theme that we’ll talk about next week: that he ended up where God wanted him to be. Everything that Joseph had gone through led him to be the one to rescue his brothers from the famine that was happening in the land, which was the primary reason why the brothers were in Egypt to begin with. (I’d summarize their parts of Genesis 42-44, but there’s not enough time, and I don’t think I’d do it justice.) Joseph’s heart is still so big for his family that he wants his dad and everyone to relocate near him so that he can take care of them.

Although Joseph’s brothers wanted him gone because he was Daddy’s favorite and slightly arrogant about it, God used their evil deeds to fulfill his ultimate plan. Joseph was sent to save them from the famine that was going to happen. Not only would the brothers be saved, but also Egypt. This incident alone would lead to the beginning of the Israelite nation. The ultimate thing that Joseph remembered through his entire journey was that God is powerful. God’s ways are far beyond any of the ways humans can go with or against it. His plans aren’t decided by human actions, but it’ll be through them that he gets the ultimate victory.

Remember Joseph’s words to his brothers when others intend evil towards you. (Words that we’ll take more on next week):

You intended to harm me, God intended it all for good. He brought to this position so I could save the lives of many people. (Genesis 50:20)

Y’all…this verse hit me like a ton of bricks. Despite everything I’ve been through in the last 365 days (as of writing this), reading this verse said more than any words I could have. We’ll talk more about this in the finale, but still.

For Joseph, this is where it all began.

Genesis 37:28

28           So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.

Although Joseph’s brothers never actually killed him, they figured he was as good as dead as an enslaved person. They were quite willing to let the slave traders work Joseph to death before they’d do anything. The blood wouldn’t be on their shoulders at that point. They received their part of the trade, got rid of the arrogant favorite, and their problems disappeared. Joseph probably was facing a 30-day journey through the desert with chains around his ankles. He would be treated like baggage and, once in Egypt, would be sold as merchandise. Joseph would suffer all this. The brother believed they wouldn’t see him again. God controlled Joseph’s life and had other plans for Joseph and his brothers.

Now, we’re jumping to the conversation Joseph had with his brothers.

Genesis 46:31-34

31           And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s entire family, “I will go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘My brothers and my father’s entire family have come to me from the land of Canaan.

32           These men are shepherds, and they raise livestock. They have brought with them their flocks and herds and everything they own.’”

33           Then he said, “When Pharaoh calls for you and asks you about your occupation,

34           you must tell him, ‘We, your servants, have raised livestock all our lives, as our ancestors have always done.’ When you tell them this, he will let you live here in the region of Goshen, for the Egyptians despise shepherds.

Jacob moved his whole family to Egypt, but they wanted to live separated from the Egyptians. This may seem selfish, honestly. Pharoah was willing to allow Joseph to move his family to Egypt without issues. Still, Jacob wanted his family to live separately away from the Egyptians. There’s a reason for this, though. It was to help Jacob’s family keep their identity as God’s chosen people intact. Joseph wanted them to let Pharaoh know they were shepherds to ensure this. Why this mattered, we don’t know. Pharoah could have been sympathetic to shepherds because culture wouldn’t allow the Egyptians to willingly accept shepherds living among them. Whatever the reason, this worked. Jacob’s family was able to benefit from the Pharaoh’s generosity as well as from the prejudice of the Egyptians.

Joseph forgave his brothers for what they did. God used their evil actions for His good. From this, Joseph was able to save and reunite with his family. How did Jesus’ story of forgiveness go then?

Luke 23:34

34           Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

Jesus asked God to forgive the people who were putting him to death. The Jewish leaders, Roman politicians, soldiers, and bystanders were those people. God answered God’s prayer by opening up the way of salvation, including to the people killing Jesus. Jesus was suffering the most horrible, painful death possible at the hands of sinful humans, and he looked at the people responsible for his suffering and prayed for their forgiveness. The Roman officer and soldiers, who had seen many crucifixions, had one of their own come forward and say, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

After all this, many priests would be converted to the Christian faith. Because of us being sinners, we all had a part in putting Jesus to death. It’s not the fact that we were there physically, but the sinful attitudes continue today. Because of our sinful nature, Jesus still needed to suffer this death. Yet, because of our sinful nature, we have been saved from our sin and have our path to salvation and eternal life. God is gracious. When we ask for forgiveness, it happens, and we have a new life through Jesus. In my decade of work in the church, I’ve had my fair share of issues. Leadership discrepancies and power structures, political arguments, backbiting, and more. It’s taken me years to forgive them. Things that were done to me that I wished they would share forgiveness with me. Things that I have done that I had to ask for forgiveness for.

Yet, forgiveness was never for them. The forgiveness was for me. Here’s what I mean. Forgiveness may reconcile the relationship between two people, but it also might not. However, forgiveness allowed me to move forward. While forgiving the person was complicated or waiting for forgiveness was painful, I forgave the situation that both I caused or fell into. I forgave the pain that I caused and was caused. God has forgiven me for what I did, which is more excellent than any other forgiveness we could receive from people. God saw in my heart that I repented and was ready to change my ways and attempt to forgive his creation. That’s what led me to peace. The peace that I had been waiting to gain from others. Peace that I needed to progress. Peace allowed me to heal.

Changing subjects back to the Roman soldiers, they divided up the clothing of killed criminals among themselves as per customs. I’m not sure they knew this act with Jesus would fulfill a prophecy.

Psalm 22:18

18           They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.

It’s a great insult to human dignity to rob someone of everything, including their clothes. This leaves the person naked and vulnerable. No one likes to feel vulnerable today for various reasons, or at least it’s uncomfortable. Jesus was being forced into this type of suffering and vulnerability. Most of us will never understand or comprehend being penniless and virtually naked in public as the Jews experienced during the Holocaust or even the same of being homeless on the streets of Palestine and Gaza right now. We would feel exposed and naked if some secret sin was uncovered in our lives. It’s how I felt with the results and consequences of my sextortion incident. It exposed the temptations I wrestled with, the thoughts that I acted on that weren’t from God, the kind of Christian I was, and it sucked. It felt like I had a target on my back from others because of it, with the guilt and shame of the situation looming significantly overhead. Yet, after months of healing, therapy, prayer, and more. I was forgiven by God for it. I was scared straight because of it. I was able to move on through it. Forgiveness is our way to move forward rather than being stuck in a moment. Jesus showed us that. Joseph showed us that.

It sucks. These situations should not have happened to us, but they did. As we’ll talk about in the last part of this series next time, what others did to hurt us is what God used for good. Until then, my friends, stay blessed.