Joseph Forgives his Brothers

For the season of Lent I'll be sharing devotions from Grace Lutheran's devotional book: "Forgiven." 

While these devotions are not my words and may not represent my own faith or theological understanding, they are valuable personal faith perspectives of 40 of Grace's members and I am so grateful for their generosity in sharing them.

Part Two: Understanding Forgiveness

Genesis 50:15-21 (Joseph forgives brothers)

Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 

Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.


Understanding forgiveness is not an easy thing to do.
In this story, Joseph is certainly a model of forgiveness - he has truly been wronged by his brothers, in a really big way; AND, even in their desire to ask forgiveness of him, they wrong him again by lying to him.

In my mind, as I read this story, I think - wow Joseph has every right to withhold forgiveness, to hold these actions against his brothers, maybe to let them starve in the famine - they would deserve that, wouldn't they?

But, the lesson that Joseph gives us is that it's not about them.  It's about Joseph, and it's about God.  Joseph reminds us (and his brothers) about all the good that God worked through Joseph in Egypt.  

One of my favorite definitions of forgiveness is often quoted by Oprah (given her by a guest on her show):  "forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could be any different."  Joseph accepts that this ordeal he has been through as a result of his brothers' actions, has been a part of his life experience, and even better, sees all the good that happened as a result.  He doesn't need to withhold forgiveness, or take revenge - he accepts that it happened, and moves forward with his life.

In our lives, it's not always so easy as Joseph makes it look.  But we can use Joseph as a model and a reminder of how we can strive to do what he did - forgive.

Prayer: 
 God, please help me to remember all of the forgiveness I have been given, and help me to give it freely to others. 
 Amen.

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