“THE END COULD
BE NEAR”
GENESIS 45:33-44
45:1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those
who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself
known to his brothers.
2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and
the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”
But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me,
please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves
because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6 For the famine has been in the land these two years,
and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant
on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.
8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made
me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus
says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry.
10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall
be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.
11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five
years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’
12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin
see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and
of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept,
and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After
that his brothers talked with him.
When you were growing up
did you ever fight with your best friend? My best friend was Brian Manson and
we usually got along just fine. We grew up together. We went to school together. We played sports together. We went to
Red Sox games together. Of course that was back in the day when you could ride
the train into Boston and get a ticket on the day of the game. We usually got
along just fine, but we did have our disagreements from time to time. When that happened my parents would eventually notice
that something was wrong and they would ask me why they hadn’t seen Brian lately. I never wanted to answer that question
because I knew that they would encourage me to give Brian a call and patch things up.
I my response to that suggestion was always the same. “Why should
I? He started it.” My parents
would ignore my alleged innocence and always end the conversation with the same words of wisdom. “Maybe he started it, but you can end it.”
I always hated
it when my parents said that, but my attitude has changed over the years. You
could say that my attitude was similar to the attitude that Mark Twain had toward his father when he was growing up. Mark
Twain once said, “When I was a boy of
14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at
how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
Mark Twain’s father
must have known my parents because my parents also seemed to get a lot smarter as the years went by. Today their words of wisdom still come to me when I’m not seeing eye to eye with someone. Maybe he or she started it but you can end it. I think God
must have said something like that to Joseph when his brothers showed up in Egypt looking for food. You see, Joseph had every reason to be bitter when it came to the relationship that he had with his brothers.
His brothers really did a
number on him. If you know Joseph’s story, then you know that the brothers
were jealous of Joseph. The brothers could tell that he was their father’s
favorite son. So, one day, in a fit of rage they threw Joseph into a ditch and
then sold him as a slave to a band of traveling Ishmaelites. As bad as that was
though it was only the beginning of Joseph’s troubles.
Joseph eventually ended up
in Egypt where he served a general by the name of Potiphar. Unfortunately for Joseph, Potiphar’s wife thought that Joseph
was kind of cute. So, she tried to seduce him. When Joseph refused to play along
she decided to get even with him. She accused him of trying to seduce her and when
Potiphar found out he had Joseph arrested and thrown into prison.
That’s where Joseph
stayed until the Pharaoh of all Egypt had a dream that no one could interpret. Fortunately,
Joseph one of the Pharaoh’s servants knew that Joseph had a gift when it came to interpreting dreams. So, Joseph was summoned and he correctly interpreted the dream. In
the dream there were seven fat cows and seven lean cows. Joseph explained that
the seven fat cows symbolized Jesus years of plenty and the seven lean cows symbolized seven years of famine. Joseph then suggested that the Pharaoh save as much food as he could during the seven years of plenty so
there would be enough food during the seven years of famine. The Pharaoh
was impressed and showed his gratitude by putting Joseph in charge of his entire kingdom. So, Joseph went from being a slave
to being a very important person which means he could have made life miserable for his brothers when they came to Egypt looking
for food.
Have you ever wished that
you could really let someone have it? When someone makes you angry the temptation is always there to react the way a judge
did one day when a lawyer put his patience to the test. The lawyer’s client
was an atheist who was suing his employer because he felt his employer’s holiday policies were unfair. The atheist felt that because of Christmas and Easter there were holidays for Christians, and because
of Passover and Yom Kippur there were holidays for Jews but there were no holidays for atheists. The judge didn’t agree though and quickly dismissed the case.
When the atheist’s lawyer protested vehemently the judge replied, “It’s not my fault if your client
is too confused to celebrate his own atheists’ holiday!” Now the
lawyer was confused. “Your honor,” he said, “we are not aware of any holiday for atheists.” The judge just smiled. “Well,” he said, “it’s
right there in the Bible. Psalm 14 states that only the fool says in his heart
there is no God. So if your client says there’s no God then he’s
a fool and April 1st is his holiday. Case dismissed.”
Joseph didn’t
get even with his brothers that day. Instead of doing that Joseph decided to
put an end to it. He decided to put an end to all of the battles and all the
year of bitterness. So, he embraced his brothers and told them not to be dismayed.
In fact, you can almost feel the love in his heart when he said to them, “Come near to me, please.”
What would you have done
that day? Would you have been able to end it?
Is that something you need to do with someone right now? Maybe you have
some unfinished business with a friend who took advantage of you. Maybe you have
some unfinished business with a sister over an inheritance that your parents left you. Maybe you have some unfinished business
with a parent who had a drinking problem or a child who refuses to grow up or a spouse who left you.
If you just can’t bring
yourself to end it here’s a poem that might help. It’s about a woman
who felt she had a good reason to be angry. The poem goes like this:
A woman
was waiting in an airport one night,
With
several long hours before her next flight.
So
she went looking for a book in the airport shop.
Bought
a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She
was engrossed in her book but happened to see,
That
the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be.
Grabbed
a cookie or two from the bag in between,
Which
she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So
she munched on the cookies and watched the clock,
As
the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
She
was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking,
"If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye."
With
each cookie she took, he took one too,
When
only one was left, she wondered “What will he do?”
With
a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,
He
took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He
offered her half, as he ate the other,
She
snatched it from him and muttered, Oh brother!
This
guy has some nerve and he's also quite rude,
Why
he didn't even offer any gratitude!”
She
couldn’t remember ever being so galled,
And
sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She
gathered her belongings and went to the gate,
Refusing
to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She
boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
Then
reached for her book, which was almost complete.
As
she looked in her bag, she gasped with surprise,
There
was her cookies, in front of her eyes.
If
mine are here, she moaned in despair,
The
others were his, and he tried to share.
Too
late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That
she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.
When I look back at the fights
I had from time to time with my friend Brian I realize that he wasn’t the one who was always wearing the black hat. My hat also had a little black in it. Joseph’s hat also had a little black in
it. The next time you’re not seeing eye to eye with someone take a look
a your hat and if you see a little black in it you’ll realize that my parents were right. The other person may have started it but you can end it. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
August 17, 2008
