March 22, 2022 (Lent Week 3)

 

Joseph reconciled with his brothers

 

Gen 45: 4-5

 

"So Joseph said to his brothers, 'Come near to me, I pray you.' And they came near. And he said, 'I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.  And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.'"

 

When I was a child my mother read Bible stories to me as my bedtime story.  I much preferred these stories to the fairy tales which were also on offer.  The Bible  talked about real humans doing real human things which I found endlessly fascinating.  People were shown in all their goodness, frailty, wickedness, tenderness, courage, timidity, etc.  What drama!  No fairy tale could come close to competing with the exciting human spectacle recounted in the Bible.

 

The story of Joseph being thrown in a well and finally sold by his brothers to slave traders and after a series of ups and downs, rising to the second highest status in Egypt is one of my favourites.  Joseph just never gives up hope regardless of how dire events seem to be.  But what has always astonished me has been Joseph's full hearted and unreserved forgiveness of his brothers' cruelty to him.  And not only does Joseph forgive his brothers, he also urges them to forgive themselves.  There are always 2 sides to forgiveness - that of the victim and that of the perpetrator.  And as challenging as it can be to forgive someone who has wronged us, it can be equally challenging to forgive ourselves for wrongs that we have committed.

 

The Bible is crammed full of stories and teachings about forgiveness: the prodigal son; Jesus instructing his disciples to forgive a single person seven times seventy times!; Jesus forgiveness spoken from the cross; Jesus forgiveness of Peter's betrayal, etc., etc.  Next to love, forgiveness which is closely intertwined with love, is one of the major Biblical themes.  This is a message that God really wants us to get! Embedded in the stories of forgiveness is the healing that follows forgiveness.  How many times does Jesus heal people with the words, Your sins are forgiven"?  We also see the damage caused by the shame felt when people can not forgive themselves.  Peter, after his betrayal, hid himself away, and Judas, alas, killed himself.  Forgiveness of others and of ourselves is absolutely essential for a healthy life.

 

One of my favourite poems by the mystical poet, George Herbert, was put to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams in the composition, "Five Mystical Songs".  Herbert beautifully illustrates the supreme humility of Love (God) in forgiving us, and that this forgiveness is always free, we cannot earn it, because the price has already been paid on our behalf.

 

- Allison and Barry Adams

 


Five Mystical Songs, by Vaughan Williams

Northern Sinfonia, Richard Hickox conducting

 

 


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