Mercy and Grace from the Beginning

 Read Genesis 45

Finally, after 9 chapters, Joseph’s brothers find out what happened to Joseph. They were dumbfounded, shocked, and in disbelief. 

Ain’t no way!

Yes, way.

Joseph could no longer contain himself.  He kicked all of the Egyptians out of the room and revealed himself to his brothers. That had to be a moment.  That had to be an emotional roller coaster ride compressed into a moment.

He’s alive!

We’re going to be slaves.

He’ll kill us!

This can’t be real.

This is real.

It’s him.

No, it can’t be him. Not with all of this power and authority and wealth.

Our brother is alive.

We’re dead men.

We have not even gotten to the part where they are going to have to tell their father.  What will he say after the story they had told him was revealed to be false? What will Israel say when he finds out that Joseph is alive?

What would he say if Joseph told him what we did to him? Maybe, Joseph will just have us all turned into slaves or killed and we won’t have to explain ourselves to our father.

What a mix of joy, anxiety, excitement, dread, amazement, and who knows what other emotions flowed into this confluence of thoughts and feelings.

Joseph was alive.  We sold him into slavery.  This can’t be good for us.

Now consider what Joseph had to say about this.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!  And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.  For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping.  But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Joseph personalized this even more.

So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

Does anyone remember Flip Wilson?  The devil made me do it!

It sounds like Joseph was telling his brothers that God made you do this terrible thing.  That’s not exactly what Joseph was saying.

There was evil in the hearts of these 10 brothers, but God used it to accomplish his purpose.  Joseph was going to Egypt. Joseph would be the only person on the planet able to know what was coming and how to deal with it.  The 10 brothers were just part of the logistics.

You were just playing your part in this divinely orchestrated deliverance of Israel and his family, which would come to be the nation of Israel in Egypt.

Yes, the 10 brothers gave in to evil and should have felt remorse and regret and come to repentance, but Joseph told them that revenge would not come their way.  Joseph, who trusted God in all circumstances, had eyes to see what God had done and was doing through him, and as it turned out, through his brothers.

That doesn’t mean that Joseph enjoyed his time in the hole.  It doesn’t mean that his lifelong ambition was to be a slave.  It doesn’t mean that he had always hoped to do a bit in prison.

Prison would have been a chance to get a tat before the law said don’t get inked and the discussion about what that actually meant ensued. Prison was never on Joseph’s bucket list.

It means that through it all, he trusted God. Through it all, he grew where he was planted.  Through it all he bloomed where he was.  And through it all, he gained eyes to see his part of God’s plan. 

Joseph could have exacted revenge and nobody on the planet would have had anything to say about it. But Joseph saw that his suffering was nothing compared to the salvation he would bring to this part of the world.

Centuries later, the apostle Paul would remind us that our present suffering is nothing compared to what the Lord has in store for us and the glory that will be revealed in us.

Jesus told us to love our enemies.  When your own brothers sell you into slavery and an unknown future, they might just fall into the worst class of enemies.  They were your brothers but they did this to you.  How could you not hate them?

We are beginning to see what mercy and grace look like.  These 10 men deserved punishment.  Joseph could deliver punishment in any form or fashion he desired. No one would question him.

Instead, he delivered mercy and grace.  He did not hold his brother’s sins against them. In fact, in the worst time that the world had known since the flood, he would bless these brothers, his father, and everyone related to them.

We see mercy and grace at work in Joseph.  Those qualities could only come through God.  Human nature would have said, “This is your time now Joey boy.  Make them pay.”

Do you remember the Parable of the Lost Sheep?  The shepherd left 99 in the wilderness to search for the 1 that was lost and when he found him, he rejoiced like crazy.  That’s the first part of this story.

Then, Jesus then told those with ears to hear that there is more rejoicing in heaven over a single sinner who repents than there is over 99 who don’t need to. Okay, I’m sure that Jesus wouldn’t have ended his sentence in a preposition, but you understand the parable.

Joseph was rejoicing that his brothers who were lost to him—who had surely sinned against him—were with him again.  Yes, he had a special affinity for Benjamin, but his joy, his mercy, and his grace were for all.

We get a glimpse of our Divine Father in this encounter.

We have all been through some stuff, some suffering.

Death of a loved one.

Divorce.

Imprisonment.

Job loss.

Protracted unemployment.

Addiction.

Ridicule.

Abuse.

Isolation.

Bullying.

You might think that at least nobody was sold into slavery, but we have people who have sold themselves into slavery with significant debt.

We have all been through some stuff, but for those who believe and trust, we can be confident that God will use whatever we have been through for the good.

Knowing this, can we forgive those who wronged us.  Can be content that God will take everything that happens to us and use it for good?

Can we be content in the sovereignty of God that vengeance belongs to him alone?

Yes, what happened to us or those we love might have been unforgivable, but can we forgive?

It probably won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. Joseph is our example.  In a series of stories that have bad decisions, deceit, and being downright dirty, we get this model of mercy and grace.

Joseph showed mercy and grace. He was going to bless his father’s family with the best land in Egypt. The Pharoah said, “Oh we can do better than that.”

There should have been no forgiveness for these 10 brothers, but God was at work here not only saving people with the storehouses of food that Joseph had put together but with this revelation of mercy and grace in Joseph.

We are reading the Old Testament but we are seeing mercy and grace.

We are going to wrap up Genesis in just a few weeks.  We will then do some seasonal messages.  In 2024, we begin a series that we are calling the Words of Jesus.  I know, some of you can’t wait to get there.

Words like mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love abound in the New Testament, but we should clearly see that mercy and grace have been there since the beginning.  We know and we worship a God of love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

God, whom we know best through Christ Jesus, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has always been a God of mercy and grace. We see those qualities manifested in Joseph.

Joseph went through so much that all traced back to his brothers selling him into slavery. Who could fault him for seeking vengeance, but he did not.

Joseph realized the sovereignty of God and if God’s plan required him to be sold into slavery and thrown into prison to get where he needed to be to save those God directed him to save, then so be it.

But beyond accepting and embracing God’s sovereignty, Joseph embraced God’s mercy and grace. Joseph practiced mercy and grace.

It’s one thing to post these words online.  It’s another to practice them.

If Joseph could do this long before anyone was talking about a Savior that we know as Jesus, what is our excuse?

We should be modern-day models of mercy and grace.

That means that we can’t park ourselves in the judgment seat.

We are not to be the ones sitting on the sidelines pointing fingers at the wrongdoing of others.

We are not building a clubhouse. We are building God’s house upon the solid foundation of Christ Jesus. There is no other foundation!

We are people of mercy and grace because we have received the mercy and grace of our Father in heaven through Christ Jesus his Son.

As we face this world which can inflict so much pain and suffering upon us and those around us, let us have eyes to see how we may live by mercy and grace.

Our mercy and grace should be for all. We can start at home, but here are a few places where we might start looking to apply them as well.

With those who are broken in spirit.

With those who are hurting and mourning.

With those who are not bold in the ways of the world.

With those who have forsaken the ways of the world and truly seek to live right by God.

With those who practice mercy with others.

Those who endure the process of truly trying to resolve conflicts.

Those who are persecuted.

These should sound familiar. If you need a place to start practicing mercy and grace, look in these places. The opportunities abound.

What did we learn from Joseph this week?  Let mercy and grace be the mainstay of your life.

As you go into the week ahead, let these two words abide in your hearts and minds this week.

Mercy.

Grace.

Amen.