Some reunions are simply joyful. Others are joyfully… complicated.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is February 12, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called A Complicated Reunion. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Genesis 45, Mark 15, and Job 11.
Please open your Bibles to Genesis 45.
I was at a football game one time and right before the game started, they took a moment to honor families in the stadium who had a parent or a sibling or a child deployed overseas in the military. To represent these families, they had a mom and a little girl come out on the field; the little girl’s father was deployed in Afghanistan. But, there was a surprise: they had brought this husband and father back from Afghanistan and while we stood there clapping, he snuck up behind them and surprised them. The place goes nuts; they’re crying their eyes out, we’re all cheering. Who doesn’t love a happy reunion? On that day, it was a simple reunion of pure joy.
In today’s Scripture for Students, we’re going to read of another reunion. It’s joyful in many ways, but it is also… complicated. We’re picking up the story right when Joseph has been reunited with all his brothers, including his younger brother Benjamin, but they don’t know yet that he is Joseph.
Please follow along with my as I read Genesis 45:1–15,
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.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Maybe you can understand why I would describe this reunion as complicated. That family on the football field—pure joy. In this story, Joseph seems genuinely happy. He’s overcome with emotion. But can you imagine the complicated feelings the brothers must have had?
Remember, they were going to kill him but decided to make a few bucks off him by selling him into slavery instead. Maybe the resentment and anger of that moment bubbled back up. Or maybe they were reminded of the guilt and shame they must have felt for committing such a terrible sin and then lying about it for so many years. And I’m sure that they felt fear, wondering what Joseph would do to them. If there was ever a chance for someone to take revenge as part of a story of great reversal, this would be it.
But that isn’t even close to what Joseph does. In verse 9, Joseph is concerned for his father and wants them to go with haste to Jacob to assure him that his son Joseph is still alive. And in verses 10 and 11, Joseph tells his brothers that he wants them to come live near him, in the land of Goshen, and he will use his position of wealth and authority to provide for all their needs. What an amazing display of grace and kindness to his brothers who would have deserved any wrath or retribution they received.
But even before Joseph looks to his father’s emotional needs or his brothers’ physical needs, he first addresses their guilt. It says in verse 3 that they were dismayed at his presence. They must have expected a violent payback for their treachery so many years before. But Joseph surprised them with a theology lesson.
In just a few sentences, Joseph reframes the entire situation. No longer is this a revenge story: the wronged brother getting even for a real and serious sin against him. Maybe Joseph used all that time in prison well, thinking about God and his purposes, because he is able to point his brothers directly to God’s preserving power on their behalf. 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.” And again in verse 7 and 8, “And 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. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
This is remarkable! Joseph doesn’t believe for a minute in luck or fate or karma or any such nonsense. He is so confident in God’s wisdom and goodness that he tells his brothers—the men who sold him for money—that it was not them that sent him there, but God himself. And all for the purpose of preserving life. Where these brothers planned to take life and then took money for a life, God wants to preserve and protect life and he used Joseph to do it.
Let’s learn from Joseph. This story is so full of the sovereignty of God: it is a great example of how God rules the world and sees to it that his purposes are accomplished in the lives of his people, even if they can’t recognize it while terrible things are happening to them, like being sold into slavery, framed for sin he didn’t commit, and then forgotten in prison. When suffering comes into our lives, let’s learn from Joseph how God is at work in ways that we can’t recognize to accomplish plans that we couldn’t guess at. Now, as you read Mark 15 about the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, think about how God was doing the same thing: using what seemed to be a massive betrayal of justice to bring about a salvation greater than we could have ever dreamed possible.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!