Missions Paul

There is a message you don’t expect from someone who has been betrayed. It is ‘come close’. Years later, it would be said again. Still today, the Spirit breathes the same message. Will you hear it today?

“Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. ⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, 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. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” (Genesis 45 v 3-7)

I see a beautiful parallel with Jesus.

Here, the brothers were terrified in Joseph’s presence. But the invitation was to ‘come close’.

^“37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. ³⁸ He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24 v 37-39)

Without minimising what they had done, Joseph speaks of a higher purpose, “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you …” The evil they had done was, without their knowledge, the path God used to raise him to the position he holds today to save lives.

The cross was not a tragedy which God had to find a way through. It was meant to be. The wounds in Jesus’ body were not evidence that something had gone wrong. They were proof of the plan that was successful.

Suffering, in both stories, turns out to be the road to salvation.  The repeated message, generations apart, is this: ‘Come close’  

Stiff upper lip. Hold it together. Dignify yourself. We understand these phrases. Today, we read how Joseph lost it. We might think that his emotions got the better of him. But maybe the tears are not a weakness. Maybe it is the whole point.

“Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.” (Genesis 45 v 1-2)

The second most authoritative person in all of Egypt, who had masterfully handled the famine crisis and had contributed to the nation’s stable position, is now undone.

Combustion happened inside of Joseph. His own brothers had sold him. God had kept him. These two major factors of his life were now standing together in the same room after all these years.

Joseph didn’t begin with a speech. He didn’t launch into a severe reprimand, setting the record straight. Surely that would have been understandable, even expected. He wept. Uncontrollably and loudly weeping.

Do you remember Jesus weeping before he called Lazarus out of the tomb? It is the shortest verse in the Bible and probably one of the most powerful (John 11:35). The connection to this story is very close. The one with all the power chooses to enter the pain first rather than simply deal with it. Both were heard. “See how he loved him, ” was partly the response from the crowd. Others were frustrated, thinking Jesus should have prevented the death.

Both wept.

Love never treats suffering as merely a problem to be solved.

Joseph’s brothers were seeing a man losing control, his heart was breaking, and his world could hear him. His brothers are still not recognising him, but they would never forget this display of weeping, especially when his identity is revealed.

When they finally understood who he was, they would remember that the most powerful man in their world had wept for them before he said a single word. That is the shape of grace.

Joseph weeps in Egypt, and Jesus stands at Lazarus’s tomb in tears. Love always weeps first.

Judah and his brothers have been caught. A silver cup that had been planted in Benjamin’s sack, and yet they don’t know that, and they have no explanation. So we open the reading with them on the floor before the most powerful man in Egypt, second to Pharaoh, just as the old dream prophesied.  

Judah speaks, and as he does, we see something of Christ.

“Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. ¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?” ¹⁶ “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.” ¹⁷ But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.” ¹⁸ Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ ²² And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’ ²³ But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴ When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him what my lord had said. ²⁵ “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’ ²⁶ But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷ “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸ One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. ²⁹ If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in misery.’ ³⁰ “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, ³¹ sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the grey head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. ³² Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’ ³³ “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. ³⁴ How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.” (Genesis 44 v 14-34)

Firstly, Judah is not perfect. He was very much to blame for parts of this story, as were his brothers. Yet in v33 he says this, “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.”

Take my life. Let him go. I will be the one who stays.

Judah will not let history repeat. He knows what it would cost his father to lose another son. So he offers himself as a substitute. He stands between Benjamin and punishment, and he says, “Take me instead.”

Here we see a descendant of Judah who said the same, not for one brother but for the world. He is the Lion of Judah. He took the penalty so we could go free. Calvary is echoing back in time. Mercy is calling us to dwell here for a moment and be thankful.

Before we get into the next section of the story and a new chapter for Joseph, let’s be reminded of the past.

These men had previously hated their father’s favourite, the one with the special coat and dreams of a future in which he would be promoted above them.  So they hatched a plan which led them to sell their brother and hatched a lie so that their father would think he had been killed by a wild animal.

Today, we will read the section where the other favourite son, Benjamin, is caught with a stolen cup. They have all been tricked by Joseph, of course, and it looks like they are going to have to return again to their father to say another son has been taken from him. Or will they?

“Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. ² Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said. ³ As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. ⁴ They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? ⁵ Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’” ⁶ When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. ⁷ But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! ⁸ We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹ If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.” ¹⁰ “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.” ¹¹ Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹² Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.” (Genesis 44 v 1-13)

The last verse reveals something different from the first story about them selling Joseph. “Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.”— Genesis 44:13

They all went back. That was the test. Benjamin wasn’t as cheap as Joseph had been. They couldn’t return without him. It wasn’t that Benjamin was more important than Joseph. It was because they had changed. They tear their clothes; this is grief, and they decided quickly to return to Egypt with Benjamin.

Maybe Joseph needed to see this. Maybe he had wondered if they had learnt anything from their sin, if they had changed at all. That was perhaps the reason for the cup in the sack. If it was and if this was a lesson of repentance, which is far more than being sorry, then they passed the test this time.

Thank God for the repeated tests in our lives, which help us make better decisions. Real change isn’t usually planned for and declared. It usually just happens.

There were no fanfares and vision-casting moments. They just went back. Sometimes that is exactly the way grace works. The opportunity to go down a road similar to one that has gone before. But this time, you decide to do things differently.

Have you ever had to hold yourself together when everything in you wanted to fall apart? To smile and put a brave face on? Joseph knows that feeling. He is paying the cost, and that is to sit across the table from his brothers, the very men who sold him, pretending not to know them. Then he sees Benjamin.

“The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. ²⁵ They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there. ²⁶ When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. ²⁷ He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?” ²⁸ They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him. ²⁹ As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. ³¹ After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.” ³² They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. ³³ The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. ³⁴ When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.” (Genesis 43 v 24-34)

The brothers are doing everything right, but they do not know the truth. They do not know that the man asking after their father is their brother. They do not know that this man is barely holding his emotions intact.

Then Joseph sees Benjamin. His own mother’s son, he had longed for this moment, and here he was, standing in front of him. He manages one sentence, “God be gracious to you, my son”, then he has to leave. He finds a private room, and he weeps.

• He hid his emotions. He did not express his grief in public. He kept the plan intact and removed himself before he broke.
• He controlled his emotions. He washed his face. He came back out. He said, simply: serve the food. 
• His actions spoke louder than his emotions. Benjamin received five times as much as anyone else at the table. Not because he earned it but because he was loved.

There is a time for everything. Maybe today God’s plan for your life is pressing on your emotions, and you are not sure how much longer you can hold it together in front of everyone.

Joseph shows us a way through. Keep it secret when you need to. Get alone, away from people, and weep before God.  There is a time for everything. A time to know when to be private and when to hold on to the plans of God above, regardless of how you may be feeling.

Ever walked through a door you were dreading, and it turned out to be better than expected?

The brothers had every reason to be afraid. The last time they stood in Egypt, silver had appeared in their sacks that they had not put there. They had looked like thieves.

“So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷ The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. ²⁰ “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. ²¹ But at the place where we stopped for the night, we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. ²² We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.” ²³ “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.” (Genesis 43 v 15-23)

Guilt fills in the silence with the verdict it expects. Grace fills in the silence with a welcome it hasn’t earned.

They confess, before they are accused. They pour out their explanation. Here are men trying to get ahead of a disaster they are certain is coming.

However, the steward says, ” It’s all right.”

Not an accusation. Not arrest. Peace.

Then Simeon walks out to them. The brother they left behind is free.

They arrived with their explanations and their double silver, but the grace they received had been arranged long before they got there.

Perhaps you are walking toward a door right now that you are certain will go badly. You have rehearsed the worst outcome. But God may have already been in that room, arranging something you could not have imagined. Grace that meets you may arrive sooner than you expect.

Some days we need a friend to simply remind us, “It’s all right.”

Do you know that feeling when you have run out of options? When you have tried everything, and there is still no clear way forward? Jacob knew it. He is an old, grief-stricken man by now. He lost Joseph years ago, or believes he has. Famine has now brought him to this place of releasing Benjamin, his last treasured son. This is high-risk. He doesn’t know it all sits in the providence of God.

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. ¹⁴ And may God Almightygrant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” (Genesis 43 v 11-14)

Egypt is demanding its remaining loved son, Benjamin. He has already lost the other one, Joseph. All that Jacob truly has left, beyond the spices and the gifts, is an appeal for mercy. He does not understand why God is allowing this. He does not know the heart of this man in Egypt or his intention. Nothing is certain anymore.

He has done what he could. He has prayed all the prayers. It is out of his hands now. His surrender comes before he knows that the story does not end in tragedy but in blessing. Faith is faith when we let go in the dark. He prays, and he opens his hands in complete trust.

Perhaps you are at a similar place right now.  You have prayed more times than you can count. And you are still waiting for the answer you need.

This section of the story shows us that surrender will not necessarily feel peaceful. But it is the deepest form of trust.

You do not have to see the whole story to trust the one who is writing it.

Some days, all you have left is mercy.

What have you been delaying because fear has gripped you? In this story we are reading, the food is scarce, and action is needed, but no one is stepping forward, well, no one except Judah.

“Then Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy along with me, and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. ⁹ I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. ¹⁰ As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.” (Genesis 43 v 8-10)

Judah stepped up when everyone else was looking at the ground.

Jacob’s family was starving. The grain was in Egypt, but Benjamin, the youngest, the beloved, could not go unless Judah vouched for him. So Judah offered himself. There are times in our lives when we don’t need advice; we need someone to step forward and be there.

Judah took responsibility. He accepted blame if things went wrong, “… all my life.” Anyone can step forward when there looks like a guarantee of success. That’s not taking responsibility.

Judah decided there would be no more hesitation, for it was costing them. He knew they had to “go at once”. Sometimes courage is immediate.

Judah was the one who had proposed selling his brother Joseph into slavery (this was at the time, out of greed, but it was mixed with the desire not to kill him). Now, he is willing that harm come to himself if something bad happens to Benjamin. This is an offer of redemption.

There are times when the situation needs someone to say, “I’ll go. And if it goes wrong, it’s on me.”

What is fear keeping you from? Who is waiting on you? Is God asking you to step forward? Is He waiting on you also?

There are moments in life when the way forward is perfectly clear, and yet we cannot bring ourselves to take it. Not because we don’t see it, but because the price it demands feels too high. What do you do when the only forward seems harder than standing still? Another difficult question: Can you still trust God when you cannot see His hand at work? This is exactly where Jacob’s family find themselves.

“Now the famine was still severe in the land. ² So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” ³ But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶ Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?” ⁷ They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?” (Genesis 43: 1-7)

The answer is obvious, but there’s a condition that the sons knew but hadn’t revealed to Jacob until now: they would have to take Benjamin.

Do you know that experience when the only way is the way ahead, and it comes at a price you are reluctant to pay?

This is the exact situation for Jacob.

The whole family are at an impasse. Jacob won’t release Benjamin, and the famine isn’t going away. “Why did you bring this trouble on me?” The answer is, of course, they didn’t; in Egypt, they simply told the truth when asked.

The family are stuck between a famine and a condition.

Do you sometimes feel stuck like this? You are in a bleak situation, but the only road out of it seems bleaker.

I choose not to read further than this and to pause here. For there are times when we find ourselves in this exact situation.

The question isn’t whether they will return to Egypt. Your own predicament may mean you have no choice but to follow a certain path.

But the real question is this: will you trust God in that process? Even when the terms seem unfair, the sands are shifting, and no one seems to be thinking about how you may be feeling in this. Necessity will mean you have to follow this path, no matter how you feel about it. But can you answer this: Is God still Lord of your life even when you cannot see Him or His hand in your situation?

We all have something we are holding on to. Something we have decided we will not let go of, no matter what. It might be a plan we refuse to abandon, a relationship we won’t let go of or a fear we have dressed up as wisdom. We hold our ground, but then the difficult season does not end, and we are struggling to hold on. What happens when one morning you wake up, and the sacks are simply empty?

“Now the famine was still severe in the land. ² So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” (Genesis 43 v 1-2)

One morning, there were no more sacks. The grain had been eaten. So Jacob changed his mind. The crisis, which hadn’t ended, made him do so. The famine was still severe, so Jacob instructed his sons to return, but the non-negotiable condition still hung before them. If they ever return, they must bring their youngest brother, Benjamin, with them. That was the warning they were given. Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal, so Jacob had thought. There was no way he would release Benjamin; he couldn’t risk losing him as well. But the famine spoke louder than his decision.

Maybe your situation hasn’t yet lifted. It could still be ‘severe’. It is speaking to you every day.

It was only when the grain was completely gone that Jacob finally relented. Here is a man who has run out of options. Little does he realise right now that Benjamin’s journey to Egypt is the very thing that will reunite the whole family and show Jacob that the son he had mourned for years is very much alive.

Jacob released the thing he was most afraid to lose because hunger finally broke his grip.

Sometimes God just waits for the grain to run out, for then He knows we will move in the direction He wants us to.

God has not forgotten you in your severe season. He may simply be waiting for the grain to run out. Not to punish you, but to help you release everything (even your past hurts and your present Benjamin).  What God has waiting on the other side of your surrender is more than you have dared to hope for.