We see the characteristics of a true Christian through Joseph. Among the characteristics, a prominent characteristic of a Christian is forgiveness. One of the greatest acts of Joseph is forgiving the brothers who tried to kill him. Forgiveness makes one’s life complete. One who can forgive his or her enemy is a completely mature person. Another characteristic discovered through Joseph is love. The gospel is love. I pray that you would become like Joseph and be a forgiving and a loving person. What kind of love did Joseph have? We all love; we love our brothers, we love our parents, and we love our country. We want to love. However, our love has many tensions. We love when we feel good. When others are good to us, we are good to them. However, when others are bad to us, we are not good to them. Many spouses love similarly. If the spouse is not good to the other spouse, they get a divorce. This is the love of the modern spouses. We have so many conditions to love. Because our love is conditional, love creates tensions and limitation. We are touched by Joseph’s love. Loving the brothers from another mother is not easy. They tried to kill him and sent him as a slave to Egypt. However, Joseph loved and forgave his half brothers. The Bible does not say that Joseph struggled in loving his brothers. Joseph loved his brothers without a doubt even though Joseph was not in the situation to love his brothers. No one would think badly of Joseph for hating his brothers. However, he loved them and we are shocked by Joseph’s love. We must not ignore the message of Joseph’s love for the love has power. A pastor wrote: “My love as a pastor is fake. I am patient. I try to love. At times I succeed, other times I fail. Because I’m a pastor, I do not outwardly reveal. On the outside, I seem to be victorious. However, it is the not reality. I am a disgraceful pastor.” It is the same for me. This is the love humans have. However, God is not human. Joseph’s love was like the love of God. Joseph’s love is shocking because the love was unconditional. Joseph did not love his brothers because they were good to him. Joseph was hated by his brothers and his brothers were envious of him. The brothers hated Joseph to a point to sell him off as a slave. Still, Joseph did not have bad feelings toward his brothers. Even when he was sold off, even when he was in jail, Joseph never had a bitter feeling towards his brothers. The Bible does not record a single complaint of Joseph to his brothers. Instead, Joseph missed his brothers.
When Joseph met his brothers for the first time in 20 years, he wanted to call them, “brothers” instead of overpowering his brothers with his authority. However, because he had a greater purpose, Joseph did not reveal his identity. So Joseph, with overwhelmed emotions, turn and secretly wept.
Joseph was a person of love. This love is the love of Jesus and the love of God. Being good to those who are good to me-this is not love. Getting mad at those who get mad at me-this is not love. Love those who do not do good to you, those who make you made, and make you face a loss; this is true love. I desire this love. I hope we would grow this love inside us. We must be able to love and pray for even those who have harmed us. This was Joseph’s love. Luke 10 tells a parable: A person fell into the hands of robbers and he was about to die. A Levite and the priest just passed him by. However, a Samaritan saw him and saved him. The Samaritan was able to care for the man because of love. The Samaritan did not ask who the man was. The Samaritan was not interested in who the person was but the fact that he was harmed by the thief; the Samaritan was not interested in the compensation for being good to the man. People often times love more depending on who the person is. However, God loves us all. God does not calculate love with us. I hope you do not calculate love or love based on who the person is. The Samaritan was able to help the man who fell into the hands of the thief because the Samaritan did not calculate the loss and benefit for helping the man. The Samaritan did not wonder whether he would be paid or gain anything for helping the man. The Samaritan simply helped because the man needed the help. If the enemy needs help, we must be able to nurse the enemy. The Samaritan continued to show love to the man. The Samaritan did not help the man only in the scene but the Samaritan took the man to an inn and took out two silver coins, gave them to the innkeeper, asked to look after the man, and said that extra expense would be reimbursed. The Samaritan’s love is similar to the love of Jesus, and to the love of Joseph. I hope we would stop calculating the gains and loss before helping others. God wants love that sacrifices. Romans 5:5 says, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us”. The Holy Spirit fills our heart with love. We cannot do it by our own strength. The Holy Spirit must fill us with the true love; this is the only way we can love unconditionally. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you love. The first fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. Love completes the law. Jesus’ greatest message was “love the neighbors as yourself”. Pray to God so your neighbors would be blessed. Pray so that you would be able to truly love. God must overflow you with love for you to love without calculations. Remember Jesus’ love. Do not love by your own methods and with your own emotions and feelings. The love will fail. Be determined to love like God loves. Love without conditions and despite their actions towards you.
Joseph in today’s passage tricks his brothers with a great purpose. The brothers persuaded their father to sending the youngest Benjamin to Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph treated them with a feast and with grains they were about to head home. Joseph put a silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. It is written in verses 4 and 5: 4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, "Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.' "
Joseph’s plan led his brothers to become mature. The brothers who always complained to their father now loved their father deeply. They made efforts so their father did not get hurt. The brothers who were jealous of one another now tried to help and encourage one another. We can see that the brothers tried to protect Benjamin. It is written in verses 7-9: 7 But they said to him, "Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? 9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves."
In verse 11, the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. The brothers did not do anything wrong. However, they could not think of an explanation. Have you ever experienced a similar situation? An unjust situation where there were no ways you could justify yourself. The brothers could only give up now. There was no one to help him. The brothers were in a completely different circumstance than the circumstances they were in 20 years ago. I hope you are different now from 20 years ago. Some people do not want to change because of pride. However, faith makes you change. Personality is the frame of faith. No matter how much you try to put in a new picture, if the frame does not change, only the old pictures would be able to fit in. Verse 16 says, “"What can we say to my lord?" Judah replied. "What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. We are now my lord's slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.” Even though they have not sinned, Judah said “we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup”. The brothers truly changed. They used to only think of oneself. They said that they would equally receive the punishment. Verse 17 says, “But Joseph said, ‘Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave.” Joseph declined Judah’s request. Judah could go home and say to his father, “I have tried my best but there was nothing I could do.” However, Judah continuously made a request to Joseph. Verse 18 says, “Then Judah went up to him and said: "Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.” From verse 18-34, Judah continued to make an appeal to Joseph. In summery Judah said, “You have asked us to bring the brother my father loves the most. So we persuaded our father to send us his son. Now this has happened to Benjamin and how can we go back home and see our father without him?” Judah thought of his elderly father. He did not think of a way to survive first. I hope you have the same attitude towards your father. Think of your weak and elderly father. When we were young we followed the powerful father. However, when our fathers are old, we can obey or disobey him. Judah thought of his father. He said that he would rather die than to disappoint his father. God raised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the ancestor of faith, and Jacob’s 12 sons were raised as the 12 tribes of Israel. However, up to chapter 42 of Genesis, Jacob’s sons were pitiful. They slept with the wife of their father and they even murdered. God still used them to raise Israel. Now the sons were starting to change. God was waiting for this moment.
I believe we can change. We may have lived by our own methods in the past. But God does not give up on us just as He led the 12 pitiful sons to become the tribes of Israel.
I believe that you can become God’s tools despite your past. Even though you have made a mistake and was immature in the past, God revives you little by little. This is the message we need to receive through the brothers. Judah continued to make an appeal in verses 32-33: 32 Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!' 33 "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
Judah says that he cannot hurt his father once again. So he made an appeal to be taken as a slave so Benjamin could return home. Judah’s appeal by risking his life made Joseph reveal himself. This is the secret to prayer. We try to pray without facing a loss. However, the prayer has no power. True prayer is praying with your life. Abraham truly prayed. Abraham’s prayer interfered God who was about to bring judgment upon Sodom. We must have this cry of desperation in our prayer. Real prayer is holding unto the cross and dying on the cross. This prayer saves the nation, church, and family. I pray that your true love and prayer would be blessed. Remember Joseph’s unconditional love and characteristics. Remember Judah’s prayer. Then we will change and become a proper Christian.
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