Flexing the Forgiveness Muscles – Genesis 45:1-15
/Lectionary Readings for August 16, 2020
Genesis 45:1-15 Joseph Reveals His Identity to His Brothers
Psalm 133 v1 How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 v29 For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28 v18 But the words you speak come from the heart – that’s what defiles you.
Peace Quotes
“We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters.” ~ Rep. John Lewis
“How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!” ~ Psalm 133:1
Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.
Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading
Last week we heard the story of Joseph’s life transitioning in just a few hours from being his father’s favorite and privileged child into being a slave headed for resale in Egypt.
In the seven chapters between last week and this week, there was a scandal with Joseph’s older brother Judah – and when I say scandal, I mean straight-up modern soap opera material.
Meanwhile, back in Egypt, Joseph was providentially sold to Pharaoh’s captain of the guard who ended up putting Joseph in charge of his household. But yet another scandal sent Joseph to prison, though he had done nothing wrong. The prison warden ended up putting Joseph in charge of the entire prison. While behind bars, he interpreted dreams for Pharaoh’s chief waiter and chief baker. Years later, that favor sprung him out of jail long enough to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and thus gain his freedom.
Following the pattern, Pharaoh ends up making Joseph his second in command, and most importantly, the guy in charge of preparing Egypt for 7 years of agricultural abundance followed by 7 years of abject famine.
At some point during the first two years of the famine, Joseph’s father Jacob sends 10 of his sons to Egypt to buy grain. The brothers don’t recognize Joseph, but Joseph recognizes them, accuses them of spying, and holds one of the brothers hostage in demand for seeing ALL of the brothers together. Jacob reluctantly agrees and sends his second favorite son Benjamin back to Egypt with the brothers.
Joseph once again asks the brothers about their father and throws them a feast before sending them home the next day with sacks full of grain. But wait, there’s a cruel twist! Joseph has his personal silver chalice hidden in the youngest son’s bag of grain. Once the 11 sons get a few miles out of town, Joseph sends the palace guards to catch up with the sons, “discover” the hidden cup, and haul their terrified bodies back to the palace where Joseph promptly accuses them of being thieves and threatens to keep the youngest and most favored son, Benjamin, as his personal slave. Judah spends an entire chapter of Genesis recounting the sin of their past: selling Joseph into slavery. Judah then begs Joseph to take him as a slave and release Benjamin.
Joseph is deeply moved by Judah’s story and plea. (It turns out that Joseph is a very emotional guy.)
And all of that connects last week’s reading to this week’s installment.
Will Joseph use his power to punish his brothers for how they mistreated him?
Or will he extend the hand of forgiveness?
Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts to today’s reading.
Read Genesis 45:1-15.
And they all lived happily ever after. Well, no, they didn’t. But they did live. The entire Israelite clan ended up moving south from Canaan into Egypt where Joseph used his power and influence to ensure they were all safe and did not starve during the next five years of famine. So far, so good.
When I was about 12 years old, puberty’s chemical rushes were set to full blast. Being the fledgling barbarians we are, young boys dream of the day when our muscles develop and we look more like our dads or sports heroes. I clearly remember doing pushups and pullups, then running to the full-length mirror in the hallway to flex my muscles like a pro body builder. For better or worse, thanks to my God-given genetics, I have the body for bicycling, not football. Genetics aside, I did the best I could with what I had. Hold that thought for a few minutes.
What is so striking in today’s story – and something our Monday night Bible Study group spent considerable time discussing – is how Joseph chose to understand the sequence of his life’s events. We might say he was optimistic, but that would be a convenient oversimplification.
Joseph had every reason to be vindictively bitter. His brothers conspired to kill him, and compromised on “just” selling him into slavery.
Thanks to them, Joseph endured years in an ancient Egyptian prison.
Thanks to them, Joseph hasn’t seen his any of his family for more than a decade.
Nevertheless, when confronted with his now-starving brothers and with numerous payback options at his fingertips, Joseph says in verse 5, “do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me ahead of you to preserve your lives.” He doubles down in verse 8, “it was not you who sent me here, but God.”
Why would Joseph be so understanding? How could he be so forgiving? The theology of the author’s time informed how they described Joseph’s understanding of the situation. As for how, his emotional (and spiritual) maturity gave him the capacity to forgive the wrongs of the past so he could embrace a future that would be better for everyone involved. Let’s deal with those one at a time.
First the theology – and stay with me on this because, well, it’s not what we’re accustomed to. Long story short… the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible and our Bible) was written in the late 6th century BC during the time of the Israelites’ captivity under Babylonian control. So we’re talking 580s to 590s BC – which is roughly 3,000+ years after the legendary events of Genesis and Exodus.
When these stories were written, the Israelites believed that God was the singular source for everything that happened. Describing events or circumstances as good or bad simply reflected the speaker’s personal perspective. All events came from God. This theological understanding is shoved in our face when we read in Exodus about Moses trying to get out of Egypt, and God hardens Pharaoh’s heart – but that’s a whole ‘nother sermon!
So Joseph, remember Joseph? His story is recorded from the 6th century Israelite understanding that God is a part of everything that happens. The great news here is that Joseph sees God as an active agent throughout his life – a belief that remains key for many modern Christians.
That covers the how; now let’s dig into the why. Why was Joseph able to offer his brothers such forgiveness? And to what extent should we hold ourselves to his ability to forgive?
This brings us to emotional capacity – what we now call Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence “is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use [this] emotional information to guide [their] thinking and behavior, and [finally] manage and/or adjust [their] emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal(s)” (Wikipedia). That’s a lot!
In today’s story and the chapters leading up to it, we see that Joseph is repeatedly closely in touch with his emotions and able to manage them – until today’s story when he is finally overcome by his affection for his brothers. During all of this, he is also able to perceive his brothers’ emotions, and Joseph adjusts how he deals with his brothers based on this.
Did he manipulate his brothers? You bet he did. Like herding cattle into a transport trailer, Joseph herded his brothers into a social and emotional space where they had to confront and confess the sins of their past and accept the potential consequences for their actions so many years prior.
So what can we learn from this story, and how can we apply it to our modern lives?
In Matthew 18:21-22, Jesus begins a parable on forgiveness by saying we should forgive people who “sin against us” 7 times 70. Literally, that would be 490 times; Jesus’ point was that we should offer forgiveness repeatedly.
Modern psychologists tell us that Emotional Intelligence – our capacity – is determined by both the physical characteristics of individual brains as well as by people’s efforts to develop their capacity.
Trying to combine the teachings of Jesus and modern neuroscientists and psychologists, it may be helpful to think of the muscles in your arms or legs. We all have muscles, but some people are born with more than others. No matter what you’re born with, everyone can stretch and grow their muscles. In fact, muscles grow when you push them beyond their level of comfort. The “burn” weightlifters talk about is muscle tissue tearing; the healing process includes new muscle cells growing to fill in the micro-tears.
Our capacity to offer forgiveness to others works in a similar way.
Jesus tells us to stretch our muscle of forgiveness 490 times. The natural consequence of doing anything 490 times is that 1) you’ll get better at it, 2) you’ll increase your capacity to do it, and 3) you’ll develop “muscle memory” so that you can flex your “forgiveness muscles” instinctively.
Here are a few great things about building up your forgiveness muscles.
First, you don’t have to buy a gym membership – our worship and Bible Study meetings, these are your spiritual gyms.
And like an athletic gym environment, our spiritual training is best done together, which is one reason I call our “church” a faith community.
Another bonus is that you don’t have to drink protein powder and raw egg milkshakes, but you do need to ingest Scripture – God’s words of encouragement and guidance as well as prayer. Too often we think of prayer as something going from us to God. Think of it also as God speaking into us.
I’m also convinced that, if we stretch it, our capacity to give and receive forgiveness actually increases with age – wisdom we can share with others.
Today, this week, and ongoing, I encourage you to look for opportunities to flex your forgiveness muscles, regardless of their size. Try to lift more than you think you can. Tackle the big forgiveness challenges in your life. Feel the burn of discomfort that may come in the form of letting go of your desire for payback or accepting someone’s apology despite the harm they caused you.
Like Joseph, we are all works in progress. Out of our free will, when we let God work with us and in us, we can live happier lives and be greater blessings to our families, friends, and communities. In Susanville, a town known for hosting multiple prisons, perhaps – working together – our faith community can become known as an overflowing cup of forgiveness, healing, and joyful living.
Amen? Amen!