Do Good to Your Tormentors

Do Good to Your Tormentors

Gen 45: 1-15

v.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.”

Let the bad experiences help us grow in maturity and grace

Jesus taught his disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Mt. 5:44). Doing good to ones tormentors is not as easy as it is said. Joseph was loved so dearly by his father Jacob over all his brothers. But his envious brothers had done injustice to him that could never be forgotten or forgiven in human standards (Gen. 37:18ff). Now the scene is reversed and Joseph is the highest officer of Pharaoh in Egypt (Gen.42:6). All his brothers are at his mercy. The pain and sufferings that were endured by Joseph had not made bitterness to abound in his heart against his brothers. Instead it made Joseph to grow in maturity and grace of God. The way Joseph perceives his sufferings inflicted by his own brothers is reconciliatory and curative. Joseph says that, “for God sent me before you to preserve life” (v.5b).

Let forgiveness bridge distances in relationships

Joseph draws his brothers closer to him by removing the distance that exists in their relationship (v.4); though the fact is that the distance was something deliberately created by his brothers. The reunion with his brothers makes him weep and hug them as closely and tightly he can. Joseph simply forgets the untoward incidents of the past and thinks only about his responsibility towards his ailing family. Jesus on the cross not only forgives his tormentors but seeks his Abba’s forgiveness on them, “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). Forgiveness is a quality that grows in us when our dependence on God’s guidance and providence become strong.

Prayer

Dear God, may the sufferings and pain we endure in our relationships with others help us to grow in maturity and grace. Amen