Matthew 18:21-25 (NIV)  

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  Up to seven times?”

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.  ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

Genesis 50:15-21 (NIV)

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father (Jacob) was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”  ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ¹⁷ ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’  Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.”  When the message came to him, Joseph wept.

¹⁸ His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.  “We are your slaves,” they said.

¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid.  Am I in the place of God?  ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.  ²¹ So then, don’t be afraid.  I will provide for you and your children.”  And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

This story is about forgiveness, growth, love, and characteristics that Jesus will later come to embody completely.  Today we will look at two questions: Why did Joseph weep?  What did Joseph say?

Joseph was weeping because the message he had received was a fabrication that Jacob had died.

Joseph had been living in Egypt with Joseph because of the famine.  Jacob knew who Joseph was and knew he would protect his brother.

Joseph wept because he had been trying to love by taking care of and changing his brother’s heart.

Joseph was giving the brothers a series of tests to determine whether his brothers have grown, to see if attitudes had changed and their thinking had matured to think about others beside themselves.

What have we learned from this story of a family with all kinds of sin, deception, lying, and cheating?

1)      God is a God of truth and love.  The way Joseph treats his brothers is foreshadowing of how Jesus will treat us.

Joseph was characterized by both truth and love, and the fruits of those character traits produced growth and change in the lives of his brother.

2)      God allows hard times, not out of anger in desire to not forgive, but became God is graciousness.  Joseph points us to God.  Joseph gives them a feast.

Joseph had forgiven them; God deals with our mistakes by His grace and forgiveness given to us.

We understand God saves us through grace that He can allow us to go through dry and hard times.  This helps us understand we are forgiven, no matter what happens.

3)      Joseph is trying to soften the hearts of his brothers; to help them to be able to forgive others.

There is a pattern in the Old Testament: the very people the deliverer is sent to are rejected by the people.

Joseph saves his family even though he had been sold into slavery, and that led eventually to him being in a position of authority where he could save them.

Think of Moses’ story and think about Naaman’s story; both stories have similar themes.

Joseph’s story is pointing to God’s love, truth, forgiveness and trying to turn us toward to Jesus.  (All they who were a deliver in the Old Testament are pointing us toward Jesus, who is coming in the future.)

Philippians 12:7-8  …but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

We are set free when Jesus comes in truth and love.  Set free from the eternal consequences of our sin, but aware of the penalty Jesus paid for us.  That brings change, repentance, in the human heart.

We need to be able to forgive others because we understand that we are sinners.

Joseph had a spiritual awareness to be able to see that what his brothers had intended for evil, God had used for good.

Jesus ties our willingness to forgive to our ability to be forgiven.

Being able to forgive, is living in an understanding we have a God who can take evil and turn it into good, if we allow Him to do that.

Remember our place before God; we stand forgiven, so we are able to forgive others.

God provides for our every need, so we are wealthy.

When we forgive, we resolve to treat others the way God has treated us.  It isn’t that we forget what happened, but what happened against us no longer controls our behavior.

God is both truth and love.  He is a God who weeps, and because of that, Jesus comes to see, find and save the lost.

Our goal is to behave like Christ toward the people in our lives, leading others to God, the God who loves them.

This week think about Joseph, Jacob and the brothers and how God worked in those people’s lives and that process continues in our own salvation’s history we are living each day.  God bless.