Tag Archives: Joseph

a touch, before Joseph’s passing, life, from the Lord touches

3 May
from Genesis 50


22 ‘Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years 23 and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.’

On Sunday 2 May the news show 60 minutes had a doctor speak about why he fought so hard and long with the American government to reveal the seriousness of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Carter Mecher stated in response to John Dickerson’s question: “Michael ( Lewis ) writes that all of you are motivated by your, your love of life. Do you agree with that characterization?

Dr. Carter Mecher: My training was in critical care medicine, so I operated ICUs. And in an ICU, what I got to see and what I got to witness was the final struggle for a lotta human beings. I got to see the last, last days, last weeks, last moments of a lot of people. And, you know, in sports they talk about, you know (emotional) – sorry. They talk about, like, you know, players leaving it all on the field. And you know when I would see these patients in the ICU, I would watch them in that struggle. And they left everything on the field, everything. And you know, my question for us is, almost 600,000 people in this country have left everything on the field. And the question is, have we?”

Joseph answers the doctor’s question.

Joseph of Genesis, betrayed and rejected by his family; enslaved and in- prisoned within a foreign people, Egyptians; rescues all. He rescues, as a trope of Christ Jesus, Egyptians and his family Israel; himself and the world; his earthy father Jacob, and his future descendants.
Joseph leaves all on his field, his world of famine. And in doing so, so rescues. How?

He rescues by touch and forgiveness you, me, all. Joseph left nothing, leaves nothing on the field.


In these days of Zoom, where we long for community; for face to face moments and experiences, where we desire to remove our masks, Joseph feels his great grand children on his body, his knees.
He feels here the enduring, eternal, everlasting arms of our Lord, the promise of a personal life with the Saviour Jesus to come, on his knees as he rests.
And he will return home.

What joy. How loved. Touched, Joseph lives.

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come, to me

20 Apr

Joseph, after being favoured by his father Jacob; after being beaten, robbed by his brothers in an empty well; sold as a slave; unjustly imprisoned; and made by Pharaoh the chief steward of all Egypt, Joseph has his brothers come unknowingly to him for salvation.

He devises a series of plans to bring his youngest brother Benjamin, the loved son who never never leaves his father’s side, Joseph’s only full blooded brother, to Joseph’s Egyptian side.

But plans change. Joseph changes. Hearing Judah describe how Jacob/Israel would die if the brothers return to their father without the beloved Benjamin, Joesph changes. How?

The leader, the planner and controller of Egypt and the known world, breaks down. He cries out in anguish over his plan. He cries out I need for a family. He cries out openly, vulnerable, to those who betrayed him. In this particular moment, when Joseph’ s plan to keep Benjamin close to about to come to pass, Joseph sees the big picture: Joseph sees the eternal plan of Yahweh- Joseph sees God.

At this emotional moment Joseph sees both the specific and the eternal; his brothers as they were and how the Lord intends them to be: embraced and forgiven. Loved…

from Genesis 45

‘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.’

The brothers, not yet changed as Joseph, cannot speak separated by silence, Joesph continues,

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.’

Joseph sees and understands God’s eternal plan: deliverance, rescue. so…

8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.”

God’s eternal plan to for Joesph, for you, for me, for all to invite all betrayers, our failed lovers, to come. Personally we are to speak and invite. With the uttered ‘to me’ the specific become eternal, personal.

Joseph’s one desire to for those who have left him for dead, who placed him in forgotten years of slavery, who never, ever loved him, Joseph’s heart asks them to come close, come down. And this request, this forgiveness, is personal, open with total vulnerability, as two words repeat with come here: to me. To me….

And the brothers came and wept with Joseph. Forgiven, they can cry love.

Today, Lord, help me to ask those who do not see, those who do not love, those who have forgotten me to come close.

Help me to forgive. Come. Do not delay. Come.

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come close

7 Apr

http://poemof-theday.blogspot.com/2010/04/come-to-edge-christopher-logue.html?m=1

Come to the Edge – Christopher Logue

Come to the edge.

We might fall.

Come to the edge.

It’s too high!

COME TO THE EDGE!

And they came,

And he pushed,

And they flew.

Today, and everyday, Priscilla and I spend about a morning hour in Bible study. The last question we faced today was ‘ how has the story of Joseph and his brothers moved to forgive another, others, easily? What cam make forgiveness easier? ‘

Forgiveness is hard because of: broken trust; resentments; bitterness. Memories that- which – never leave. That, what makes forgiveness difficult was the first part of the question. Why something is hard, difficult, is somewhat easy for me to listen to, to define usually. Usually.

But defining actions, principles, on how to make forgiveness easier is problematic. I find that there are no ‘cookie cutter’ one size fits all steps. But, Joseph, in Genesis 45, in hard wrung tears and cries, illustrate my forgiveness steps,

“ 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. 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. 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.”

How did, does, Joseph model making an easier path to forgiveness?

First, Joseph chooses to ask his betrayers to come close to him. ( verse 4 ) He chooses who to be vulnerable with.

Next, Joseph chooses when and where to come close with his betrayers.

Fourth, and finally, Joseph defines why he can forgive.

Joseph can forgive because he ‘be came close’ to God, his betrayers and his own self and failings. He asks his brothers to come close to him, to take their steps, so he can take his. He cries only with them : his hurts and tears are only for his brothers eyes. The Egyptians no not see him in this vulnerable exposed state. He speaks to them after understanding Judah’s plea not to return without his, their loved brother Benjamin. He hears and listens. Joseph comes close to Judah’s words in the right time and place. And in doing so he, Joseph, is changed.

Forgiving, being vulnerable, allowing possible pains to come close, heals.

Today, I change. I forgive. Daily, I come close. Daily I must forgive to change.

Forgive.

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