Near a town in the state of Washington, millions of gallons of radioactive atomic wastes are being stored in huge underground tanks. The tanks have a life expectancy of 20 or 30 years. The wastes within them will remain deadly for about 600 years. We live in a society which, like those tanks in Washington, can no longer contain its anger and bitterness, which in some cases has led to violence and destruction. Haven’t we learned that this anger and inability to let go of hurt, real, imagined or manufactured is a societal cancer. It's particularly troubling to know that we allow the not so subtle transition from justifiable anger to a carefully manufactured agenda to destroy our society. Why do humans find it easier to hold on to anger than to let go and find a way to forgive. Over the past months our readings and discussions of Matthew remind us that our forgiving and our being forgiven is what it means to be Christian.
No character in the book of Genesis better illustrates the fundamentals of forgiveness than Joseph, and no chapter more clearly defines and describes the essentials of forgiveness than the last, chapter 45(Genesis 45). The years that Joseph spent in slavery and prison could have been the occasion for a slow burn that might have ignited into an explosion of anger at the sight of his brothers.
And how angry was Joseph with God who he "credits" for getting him into such a situation? Yet through it all Joseph recognized that God was with him in his sufferings and that these trials he believes were from the loving hand of a sovereign God. Most of all, Joseph could have been angry with his brothers, who had callously sold him into slavery. While we justifiably credit Joseph being a model for forgiveness, I am puzzled by the number of times God is “credited” for setting up obstacles for Joseph that creates threatening situations for him as if it were God’s plan. This Genesis reading leaves us deep in the mystery of God and how God’s interacts with humans. Some folks see God directing their lives, while others express God’s presence in other ways. Genesis was just the first book of the Bible. Where and when did the concept of a punitive, retributive God begin in these very early writings? The universe is about 14 billion years old; Genesis was written only 5,000 years ago. God didn't just show up when man started to write about him.
Personally, I have a difficult time believing that the God of love as made flesh by his incarnation in Jesus, would purposely inflict pain and entrap us in order to test our faith. It just doesn't make sense. But then, that’s what I believe and I suppose we all must come to terms with this question; some will be comfortable with Joseph’s theological speech and others will not. The great benefit of the text is the opportunity to ponder what we believe and why.
Ok, back to Joseph, the high point of Joseph’s relationship with his brothers comes in
chapter 45. Here reconciliation was made possible on the brothers’ part by
their genuine repentance, regretting their sin with regard to Joseph, and
reversing it when a similar situation was presented with regard to their
youngest brother, Benjamin. Joseph’s reconciliation was achieved through his
sincere and total forgiveness of his brothers for the evil they had committed against
him. Forgiveness is pivotal to what it means to be a Christian. It is essential
to our relationship with God.
Based
on The Fundamentals of Forgiveness (Genesis 45:1-28), Bob Deffinbaugh, May 2004.
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