Nelson Mandela led the emancipation of South Africa from white minority rule, serving as president and a symbol of reconciliation globally. Before ascending to the presidency, he spent 27 years in prison. He, his family and his people had been grievously wronged over generations under apartheid, and now here he was with all of the power as the top official in the country—power over all of those who had wronged him. But he did not use that power to exact revenge. Instead, he authorized the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” a restorative justice body, to bear witness to and record the crimes of apartheid, and move forward with reparations, and reconciliation. He chose truth and healing rather than bitterness and revenge. When describing the day he left the prison, he says that he made a decision: Mandela said “I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."
Mandela’s story resonates with the story of Joseph. We jumped into the Genesis reading today right at the climax of the story. Let’s rewind so that we can appreciate the power and depth of the scene we just read.
Joseph was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. When he was a boy, he was the favored son, and he was disliked by his brothers. He showed off his favor and bragged to them about his dreams where they all would bow down before him. His brothers attacked him and sold him into slavery, telling their father that he had died. Joseph went to Egypt as a slave, working for Potiphar. There, he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife of adultery, and he was unjustly imprisoned. In prison, he interpreted dreams of the people imprisoned alongside him. When years later, Pharoah had a dream that no one could interpret, one of the people who had been in prison with Joseph told Pharoah that Joseph could interpret the dream. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream about seven years of plenty that would be followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh was so impressed that he elevated Joseph from the bowels of a prison to a place of power in Pharoah’s court. In that role, Joseph ensured that the Egyptians kept full granaries during the years of abundance to prepare for the famine to come.
And several years after the famine has overtaken the land, Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt at the request of their father Jacob to buy grain so that they can survive. They did not know that the Egyptian official they were pleading their case to was in fact their brother. At first, he doesn’t give himself away either, and speaks through an interpreter. He began by accusing them of spying, put them in prison for three days, and then sent them on the long journey back home to return with their youngest brother as well, Benjamin, who was Joseph’s full brother. When they returned, Joseph tested them, by framing Benjamin, by placing one of Pharaoh’s cups in his bag. Joseph told the brothers that the punishment would be for Benjamin to be his slave.
This is a crucial moment to see if the brothers have learned anything in the years since they harmed him and sold him into slavery. Have they changed? Unlike before, Judah steps forward. He pleads with Joseph not to take Benjamin and asks that he be enslaved in place of his brother. He volunteers to take on the punishment in place of his brother, to save his brother and to spare his father, who favors Benjamin, from further heartbreak.
The passage we read today is the verse following Judah’s speech. Although Joseph had cried several times already throughout the interactions with his brothers, he was now completely overwhelmed. He could not control himself and he sent everyone away except for his brothers. He wept so loudly that everyone outside of the room could hear it.
And Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, those who hated him, beat him, and sold him into slavery. His brothers could not speak. They could not even answer his question because they were so dismayed at his presence. Another translation is that hey were terrified. They had had the power last time they met, physically overpowering their brother both in age and numbers. And they had used their power to harm. Now, Joseph is in one of the most powerful positions in the world at the time, deciding who could buy grain and who would starve, and they were at his mercy. This is a complete reversal of power dynamics, and I can only imagine how terrified they would have been.
But Joseph does not exact revenge. He repeats who he is, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.” Joseph has not forgotten what they have done. In fact, he restates for the record. Like the truth and reconciliation committee, they can only move forward by acknowledging the truth of the wrongdoing—facing the extent of the harm that was caused. But Joseph does not then enact revenge. Instead, Joseph retells his story with God’s hand leading the events, not theirs.
He says that it was God who sent him to Egypt, not them. And it was to preserve life, not to end it. Joseph does not say that he forgives them exactly, but he is not consumed by bitterness. He sees that they have changed, or at least Judah has, in putting Benjamin and his father’s well-being above his own. He has seen how even though they intended evil when they threw him in the well and sold him into slavery, God took what was intended for evil and has used it for good. Not only Joseph’s good, but the good of the nations. Without Joseph, Pharoah would not have known about the upcoming famine in order to fill the storehouses. Joseph has preserved a whole people, including the brothers who wronged him.
Joseph tells the brothers to go back and bring their father. The whole family will move to Egypt and dwell there, so that they will have food to survive the remaining 5 years of famine.
Joseph then falls on Benjamin and wept, and then he kisses and weeps upon all of his brothers as they share tears together in this powerful moment of catharsis. His brothers could not even speak until this moment of shared tears. Were the tears of grief at all that had passed between them, all of the years that they had been apart? Tears of regret, that they had wronged their brother so grievously? Tears of relief that Joseph was not going to harm them even though he could have? Or Tears of joy, perhaps, at the mysterious way that God had been with them all along?
Joseph’s story is unlike the stories of his father, Jacob, or his grandfather, Isaac, or great-grandfather, Abraham. In those stories, God speaks directly to his forebears, making covenants, wrestling, and blessing them. In Joseph’s story, God does not appear in such a direct manner. Joseph knows that it is God who provides the interpretation of dreams, and his actions in refusing Potiphar’s wife, are based in a desire not to sin against God. But it isn’t until this moment that Joseph describes how God was present with him in the pit, in the jail cell, in the betrayals. Perhaps Joseph only really sees God’s presence in hindsight. Joseph recognizing God’s fingerprints after making it through the trial. There is a lesson there for us—no matter how far God feels in a time of darkness, God is always at work. God can take something intended for evil and make it good. God can redeem anything.
And God does. Many years later, there was another beloved son, Jesus. He sojourned for a time in Egypt. And he too was betrayed by someone he loved for pieces of silver. He too was unjustly imprisoned. And he also chose love over hate. Jesus gave up himself on the cross, taking an instrument of execution that was meant only for evil, and using it for good. Sacrificing himself so that we might have life and have it abundantly.
In closing, I have three invitations for you this morning, following the examples of Nelson Mandela, Joseph, and Jesus:
1) Where are you holding on to bitterness in your life? Bitterness only poisons the one who holds it.
2) Are there truths that you need to acknowledge in order to move forward? Forgiveness does not mean forgetting. Acknowledging the truth of harm can facilitate reconciliation and release.
3) Where is God present with you right now? Joseph’s journey showed that even when everyone was against him, God was for him. By opening our attention to God’s presence rather than focusing only on the wrongs we have experienced, we can prevents bitterness from consuming us. We can let in hope, and allow God to turn something meant for evil into good.
Amen.