But if you listened to the brothers’ side, I’m sure we would have heard a far different story, a story about how Joseph was a braggart, and a pompous know-it-all. It was more than obvious that he was the favored son. His dream interpretations were infuriating – boasting of being so great, when they thought he should just be content to tend the family flocks like they were. They had their reasons for disliking him. With all of this dream talk, he was probably not the best worker of the bunch. In fact, it might teach him a lesson to be a servant to someone else for awhile. Their decision to punish him was rash and cruel – but the whole household probably had some sense of relief that they would be better off without Joseph around.

Some say there are always two sides to every story. Sometimes I think there are more than that – but certainly in this case Joseph and his brothers saw the world very differently – so differently that it led to a rift we find hard to imagine, or maybe not so hard. Family feuds are charged with incredible emotion. Perhaps you have a sister you wouldn’t have minded selling to the gypsies. Perhaps you have a brother that you’ve written off as dead. Sometimes the things we do to our families are worse than the things we’d do to an enemy. We’re close – so close the hurts are multiplied a hundredfold.

That’s why this scene of reconciliation that we turn to today is so dramatic. Anyone who’s ever experienced an emotional reunion after such a painful break in a relationship can sense the courage it takes on both sides to forgive and to be forgiven, to let go of anger, remorse, shame, and years of regret. Can’t you just hear the sound of weeping in this story? It was the kind that neighbors hear through the walls. It’s the weeping of lost time, sadness and joy mingled together. Even if you are lucky enough that this type of painful coming to terms with past regret isn’t in your personal repertoire, I hope that you can overhear what’s going on in this text.

This, my friends, is grace at work. Grace often happens through tear streamed faces. That’s what makes the Christian message so powerful for me – over and over again, the story repeats this tale of love that overcomes not just the minor mishaps, but cries big crocodile tears over the blunders of colossal proportions. That is the human part of our God - experience. To forgive and to be forgiven is at the heart of it all. Knowing the deep love of the universe requires true intimacy with others and a belief that God is at work in the details. Had Joseph not been able to recognize his purpose for going to Egypt, the story might have turned out differently. Bitterness and hatred might have ruled the day instead of love and forgiveness.

But instead listen to Joseph’s later interpretation of the details. On that day he revealed himself to his brothers, he was in a position of power, doing exactly what his former dream had told him, holding over them the possibility of receiving food or starving to death. He chooses to give them life when they had already traded him for dead. He calms their fear and welcomes them saying that their act of hate towards him many years ago had really been an act of God’s providence. It was God who sent him to Egypt. God knew that Joseph could reach the ear of the Pharaoh and interpret his dreams such that the nation could prepare for the famine ahead.

I’m not sure how often we put our trust in God so completely. Sure, I can look back on difficult times in my own life and see God’s hand at work – but going through those tough stretches usually seems rather isolating. From a human perspective, the world is seen in small slices. Our world more often contracts when we feel unloved or unsafe. Our eyes narrow to see only what’s affecting our immediate circumstances. Joseph surely had times he was petrified. For goodness sake, he almost got killed by his own brothers. He landed in prison in a foreign land. But, by God’s grace, he continued to see his dreams as part of God’s gift to him. He relied on God to turn even seemingly impossible circumstances into opportunities.

As Paul said centuries after Joseph reunited with his brothers, we experience both the kindness and the severity of God. In Paul’s time, what was God’s kindness in welcoming the Gentiles to Jesus’ flock was severity for the Jews who thought they were the only ones who were God’s chosen and beloved. Paul had the courage to step back and see the bigger picture. Just like Joseph before him that could see God at work through the fear of his brothers, Paul could see God at work bringing Jew and Greek to the same amazement at God’s love through Jesus Christ.

Our vantage point can mean everything. We can choose to be stuck in our own pain, looking narrowly at a situation only from our own side of the story. Our brother thinks he’s better than us. Our sister is Daddy’s favorite. But that won’t get us anywhere. We can also choose to step outside of ourselves and see God at work in both sides of a situation, in all sides of the story, sifting through the details – offering kindness, judgment, maybe even the severity that wakes us up from our own destruction.

There’s a lesson in here for the church. God doesn’t always treat the chosen with kid gloves. When we need it, we may just get slapped in the face with our own need to repent. Joseph’s brothers thought they might face severe punishment when they met their brother in his new circumstances. Normally that’s how the story would go. But instead Joseph sees all that God has been doing and welcomes them with love. Later Jesus would stretch himself to breaking out of love for God’s people to break the power of sin and death forever. Can we, the church, make that accepting gracious love part of our story in practice as well as in our telling of Bible lessons like these?

Our assumptions sometimes get the better of us – particularly when our surrounding circumstances cause personal pain. In that case, our eyes only focus on our side of the story. Joseph’s brothers were hurting. They felt neglected, underappreciated, and they hated being compared to their younger sibling. Perhaps God could only act through them as they were. But in that tearful reunion, I suspect they gained a whole new perspective. Sometimes that’s what it takes. God shows us love through kindness, but sometimes God shows us love through our pain or our grief, which can cause severe pain. It’s then that our eyes that have the ability to compensate and adjust our focus. Looking beyond ourselves, we get a better glimpse of God’s view that includes all our brothers and sisters.

I saw a sign at an Amish market near my brother-in-laws this week that I wish I had written down. It said something like, "Forgetting oneself in the service of others brings happiness." I think this is true. When we forget about our own selves, we connect to something far greater. When we open ourselves and perhaps even make ourselves vulnerable to others, it is amazing the kind of happiness we can receive.

Amen.