After a family reunion, the mother of the host house has to do the dishes at the kitchen sink. Her daughter is watching her and suddenly observes that her mother has several strands of white hair. She looks at her mother and curiously asks:
Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?
Her mother replied:
Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hair turns white.
The little girl thought about this response for a while, remembered her grandma, and then asked her mother again:
Momma, how come all of Grandma’s hair is white?
No family is perfect! We all have skeletons in the closet, relatives that drive us crazy, and unresolved issues involving hurt feelings and jealousy. All of us deal with dysfunctional family relationships on some level. However, despite these facts, family reunions are important. They establish healthy family relationships and are a means of sharing family history and stories. A family reunion makes family memories for everyone involved.
In our study of Joseph's life, we now encounter an unusual family reunion. It was a shocking reunion, or I should say a very unusual family reunion.
Why is this family reunion unusual? And what lessons can we learn from this reunion?
I think the reunion of Joseph's family was unusual simply because it was prompted by a shocking revelation. Joseph's brothers were terrified at Joseph's presence after the revelation. They never expected that such a shocking meeting with their brother would happen. And so I think the first lesson we can learn from this unusual family reunion is this:
God has a proper time to expose sin to light no matter how hard you try to cover it.
In the previous article, I talked about the uncovering of the guilt of Joseph's brothers. They were so concerned about surviving the famine, but God had a different concern: to expose their guilt and set things right between Joseph and his family.
We learn that confessing our sins is the most important action to take in facing economic hardship. We also know that this is difficult to do because basic to human nature is to excuse or hide our sins. Nevertheless, God can use difficult situations to uncover hidden sins.
There is a popular saying:
Crime doesn't pay.
It means that in the end, any offender or lawbreaker will not benefit from his wrongdoings. For a short time, by removing Joseph from their presence, his brothers were able to relieve themselves of their insecurity and jealousy. But in the long run, they suffered a guilty conscience and burdened their family with numerous difficulties.
God was indeed good by removing this family's guilt from them. It has burdened them enough for too long. For this to happen, a painful operation is necessary, a shocking encounter with Joseph that reminds them of their betrayal of him in the past.
Though this encounter was painful, it must happen to remove the guilty feeling and to reveal the years of anger, loneliness, and isolation, to replace them with forgiveness and reconciliation. Only through this process healing can take place.
Observe that after Joseph revealed himself in front of his brothers, they were terrified. In order not to be overcome with fright, Joseph comforted them by saying:
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 (v.5).
And then he adds:
It was not you who sent me here, but God (v.8).
And so the second lesson we can learn from this unusual family reunion is:
Forgiveness on the part of the offended can only be possible through a repentant and humble recognition of God's sovereign plan.
Without such realization, Joseph could have paid evil with evil. Joseph could have severely punished his brothers for all the suffering he had undergone for so many years. But No! Joseph realized the hand of God in all of his painful experiences. And because of that, he changed his mind. He was able to forgive his brothers, and he was even able to embrace them as proof that indeed he had forgiven them and was open to genuine family reconciliation.
Forgiveness and reconciliation are important to make a family reunion real and lasting. Without them, a family reunion is superficial. It is because of God's grace working in the life of Joseph that such forgiveness and reconciliation could take place. This is because Joseph recognized the sovereign plan of God not only for the world, for Egypt and Israel but also for himself and his family as well.
The third and final lesson is:
God can provide abundantly to meet the needs of His people even in times of economic hardship.
This story blows my mind. It sounds unreal. I think this is one of many reasons why people find it difficult to accept biblical stories. They are too good to be true. But this is part of sacred Scriptures and we accept this as a true piece of history.
A family seeking to survive a famine now finds abundant provision in Goshen. This is another instance of life reversal that we see as a dominant theme in Joseph's narrative. Such reversal was made possible simply because Joseph was a powerful ruler in Egypt. And as a display of abundant provision, Pharaoh said to Joseph to bring his family to Egypt and he would provide the best and the fat of the land (v. 18).
This story shows that even in Egypt God is sovereign. This also tells us that even in times of famine, God is powerful enough to supply abundantly the needs of his people.
Conclusion
In this unusual story of a family reunion of the patriarchs, we learn that God has a proper time to expose sin, and that forgiveness and reconciliation can only be made possible on the part of the offended through a repentant and humble recognition of God's sovereign plan, and that God can provide abundantly to meet the needs of his people even in times of economic crisis.