Intentions: Good and Evil

Psalm 37: 1 - 11

Genesis 45: 3 – 13

Feb. 23, 2025

When Ashley and Kristie were in college – both at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo – they chose to participate in a semester of study that was basically located in London, although they traveled extensively throughout Europe.

Ashley is our oldest and so she was the financial icebreaker for participation in the program. Looking back, I was probably a little tough on her. I made her justify every expenditure of the program. It was very expensive – far exceeding the costs of normal, stateside study. On an associate pastor’s salary that was a tough bill to pay.

Nothing was a given, everything was negotiated: food, travel, lodging, and coursework. There were a number of excursions one could participate in, all of which were additional costs. I asked Ashley to justify every penny. She did, she traveled to London, and Ashley had a really wonderful experience. In many ways she grew into a full and responsible adult while on that trip.

A year or two later it was Kristie’s turn. Kristie is our advanced planner; she likes to get all ofher ducks in a row. Clearly, she had spoken at length with her sister and had put together a full and complete argument for everything that she wanted to do. Kristie showed up with all of thefinancial commitment sheets and with her sister in tow for moral support.

Kristie placed the paperwork in front of me and immediately launched into her supporting arguments. That’s Kristie – the best defense is a good offense. Ashley was ready to chime in with her support. But after looking at the total bill, I quickly stopped her and simply said, “Show me where to sign. We don’t need to go through all of this.”

Kristie, I think, was a little deflated. She had prepared her sales pitch; she was ready to go! Ashley, her older sister, the one who spent hours and hours with me proposing and defending her choices, was stunned. “Dad!”, she said, “I can’t believe this! You made me financially justify every single thing that I did. I can’t believe Kristie is getting off this easy!”

In response, I said, “You’re right. You had to justify everything. But your semester abroad was worth every penny that we ever spent on that trip. It will be like that for your sister as well.” To this day, Ashley good naturedly uses my willingness to quickly sign off on her younger sister’s trip as an example of how older siblings had it so much harder than their younger siblings.

Our second scripture lesson is really the final act of a long running sibling rivalry drama. Joseph as a much younger, favored son of his father Jacob – later known as Israel – was clearly his father’s first choice. Joseph was the second youngest of 12 and Genesis 37, at the beginning of this rivalry drama, tells us “Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”

This wasn’t just jealousy and envy; this isn’t just older brothers thinking their younger brother is getting away with murder; the brothers of Joseph actually act on their hatred. One day, Joseph travels to see how his brothers are doing in the family sheepherding business. His brothers plotted against him, threw him in an empty well, and later sold him as a slave to some traveling Midianites. Applying animal blood to Joseph’s fancy, multicolored robe that had been the final straw in all of this, they returned home and made their father Jacob believe that his son had been killed by wild animals.

In the meantime, Joseph was taken to Egypt and sold to the captain of the guard, Potiphar, as a household slave. Through a series of events – primarily centered around the interpretation of dreams – Joseph ascends in power until he is appointed second in command over the Pharoah’s household.

Famine hits the land, and the brothers of Jospeh come to Egypt to buy food. This is 20 years after his brothers, out of envy and rage, had sold Joseph to the slavers for 20 pieces of silver. They don’t know who they are dealing with. Joseph recognizes them right away, and as you might imagine, he deals with them harshly.

The text we have just read is the story of the great reveal. All of this envy, the rivalry, the distortions, the lies – sons lying to their father, Joseph thrown in a well and sold to slavers, ascending to a place of great prominence and power in Egypt; this all comes to a shocking and fearful discovery.

Surely these brothers thought they were doomed. Surely these brothers thought it was time for a little Joseph payback. The brothers are speechless for, as the text tells us, they were “dismayed” at who their little brother had become.

They have come, hat in hand, to try and buy food in Egypt only to find out that their little brother – the one they sold into slavery – would decide their fates.

The story of Joseph and his brother is an important story – for both what it says, what it offers, but also for what it does not say. If we accept that the general theme here is one of forgiveness, let’s look first at a few important things that it does NOT say.

First, in verse 5 Joseph says, “And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Later on, Joseph says, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Nowhere does Joseph say the evil was God’s plan. Nowhere does it say that the suffering of Joseph was God’s will.

Friends, God is in the redemption business. God is not the originator of evil, God is the answer to evil. Yes, we are people created with freedom of choice. We can reject God’s will, God’s purposes, God’s designs, God’s teachings for our life. When we do so, evil will occur.

Sometimes we are the victims of the evil choices of others. Sometimes we are the victims of the brokenness that exists in the world resulting in human and natural disasters. Sometimes we are the ones tragically hurt by our own bad decisions. Eil occurs, not because of God, but because of humanity.

But friends, God is in the redemption business. Just as God took the evil of Good Friday and turned it into the glory of Easter; just as God too the evil of the brothers of Jospeh and turned it into the glory of Egypt so God does reclaim, refocus, redirect our imperfect actions to bring bout God’s design for Creation.

Where was God when Joseph was in the pit? Where was God when his brothers sold him into slavery? Grieving, getting angry – yes; but also, at work to bring a redemptive purpose for Joseph and his entire extended family – including these brothers.

Second, notice that nowhere does Joseph demand confession, a payment to compensate Joseph for his trials, or a period of groveling and servitude to make Joseph whole. In fact, later on – in Genesis 50 at the death of their father Jacob – they are still worried that Joseph is going to demand his pound of flesh after their father dies.

I am thankful to Pastor John Hamby who points me to a quote from Dr. David Seaman, who writes in his book “Healing for Damaged Emotions” stating, “The two primary causes of emotional stress are the failure to forgive and the failure to receive forgiveness.” We probably all know people who are defined by their anger, defined by their bitterness. There is something about that sense of entitlement – we deserve, we think, to be made right – there is something about that kind of self-centeredness that poisons our very being.

Friends, how many times do we hold on to our hurt, hold on to our pain, hold on to our victimhood until that holds turns us bitter and resentful? I know people who haven’t spoken to their parents, their siblings, their children, to people who were once their best friends for decades! Some of these feuds become generational – being passed down from parents to children so that bitterness becomes a part of the family inheritance.

No, Joseph may have been thrown in a pit, but he is not falling for that trap. No, for the greater good of reconciliation with his family, Joseph extends unilateral forgiveness to his brothers.

Now, quickly, what are we shown?

First, that no matter how great the offense, the power of forgiveness is even greater. Joseph models for us that reconciliation is possible in even the worst of circumstances.

Second, Joseph continues to do his part even as his brothers struggle to truly receive his forgiveness. Sometimes forgiveness is two steps forward, one or more steps back. Rarely is forgiveness a straight path. Sometimes it meanders and wanders. The brothers of Joseph continue to struggle with receiving Joseph’s forgiveness right until the very end. Buth that doesn’t stop Joseph from continuing to act in a forgiving, even graceful manner.

Finally, Joseph does not lose sight of God working out God’s purposes in his life. Sometimes – many times – spiritual maturity is gained in hindsight. Spiritual maturity is gained as we look back and see that God never gave up on us. Seeing God as a faithful, ongoing presence in his life allows Joseph to see his brothers in a different light. Importantly, that hindsight allows Joseph to embrace a new beginning for his brothers, a new relationship, a different way of understanding what it means to be in relationship.

Offering forgiveness – especially unilateral forgiveness – is hard. But forgiveness is a decision to let go of bitterness, to let go of that pain, to let go of the negative energy that it takes to nurse and maintain a grudge. Forgiveness is hard….. but holding on to hate and bitterness is harder.

Lewis Smedes, a former professor at Fuller Seminary once wrote, “The miracle of forgiving is the creation of a new beginning. It does not always take away the hurt. It does not deny the past injury. It merely refuses to let them stand in the way of a new start.”

Friends, let us be people of new beginnings. Let us be a people who are increasingly aware of God’s redemptive care for our lives. May we be a people of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Amen.