What If ... Joseph?

 [This is my Faith Post for March 2025.] 

I am always moved by the words of Genesis 45:3 "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”  These words come from the great reunion of Joseph and his brothers.  After many years of Joseph living in Egypt, having been sold off as a slave, and then imprisoned and forgotten, there is a moment of reckoning and reconciliation.  In those words Joseph reveals his true identity to the brothers who for all intents and purposes thought him dead.  No doubt the brothers are shocked ... and likely mortally afraid.  But Joseph comes at it from a different emotion.  He is full of joy.  He is full of tears.  He is ready to be reconciled to these brothers who had wronged him terribly.

In the conversation that ensues Joseph makes a pretty spectacular claim about all the events that have transpired to this moment.  In Genesis 45:7 he says "God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God."

Joseph sees God as being behind all that has happened.  To most ears this would come across as a surprise.  One could easily have anticipated Joseph casting blame upon his brothers here.  He could have justifiably exacted revenge on them.  After all, they had been awful to him.  When these brothers were last together as brothers, they had just sold Joseph off as a slave to the Ishmaelite traders. Hardly a nice good bye.

Nonetheless, Joseph now looks in hindsight to all that has happened and sees the hand of God. While I agree with Joseph and applaud the faith that recognizes this, it is still a challenge to my fallen ears to contemplate it.  Here is what I mean.  Joseph endured no small amount of evil.  His brothers beat him.  His brothers sold him as a slave.  His master Potiphar unjustly imprisoned him.  He languished as a forgotten man for many years in the Egyptian prison all the while doing the right thing and glorifying God.  Do we look at Joseph's past and Joseph's present mindset and really say God did all of it?  Did God cause the evil things Joseph endured?  Does God cause any of the evil that comes in this broken world?  That is the real question.

Here's what we know: God is good and God never causes evil or sin.  When God causes death or brings about catastrophe (think Noah's flood as one example of many) it is not intrinsically evil for God causes such an action out of righteous judgment.  It is like saying the judge in the courtroom rendering the death sentence upon the convicted is not committing evil in rendering the judgment.

But there is more to God's hand at work when bad things happen.  Joseph's story provides great opportunity to illustrate this.  Consider for a moment Joseph's story from a different perspective.  What would we say if Genesis 37 revealed to us that Joseph had gone out into the field that day looking for his brothers.  When the brothers saw him they had murder in their hearts against this younger brother and they killed him that day.  It would be awful wouldn't it?  A tragic case of murder amongst brothers, a repeat of Cain and Abel.  But we know that is not what happened.  God stayed the heart of the brothers that day.  Genesis 37:22 specifically tells us the oldest brother Reuben intervenes.  He can't shed the blood of his brother.  Was it God the Holy Spirit who softened this heart we wonder?  Later on in Gen. 37:26 it is Judah who determines they should sell their brother to the slave traders rather than let him die in the wilderness.

When we look upon what happens to Joseph we can take a narrow view and conclude "I can't believe God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery."  Or we can consider it from a broader perspective: "The brothers very well could have murdered Joseph that day, thank goodness the Lord God intervened and softened these hearts away from murder that Joseph was only sold away instead."  

Either way we acknowledge God is always watching over us.  God is always at work for us.  St. Paul is right on when he notes in Romans 8 "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good... (Rom. 8:28)"

We can never say for sure precisely what God does behind the scenes in our lives.  These answers are all part of the hidden things of God.  But what we can say and we can know is revealed to us in the Word of God.  Consider Isaiah 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."  Whatever God may be doing we can have complete trust and faith that it will ultimately be for our good.  To that end, we have our certainty in Jesus who is the proof of God's good ways and God's good plans for us

When we really want to know what God is like and what God is up to, looking at the life and ministry of Jesus is our best answer.  Listening to His Word is also our best answer.  For it is in Christ, who is the Word made flesh, that God reveals Himself to us.  Don't just listen to fallen humans like myself or any other voice on the internet or on your television.  If you really want to know the truth.  If you really want to know God.  If you want to know Jesus.  He tells you all about Him in His Word.

To God be the glory.

Mark Witte is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church.
You can contact him at pastorwitte@gmail.com