Betrayal is difficult to overcome. Perhaps a close friend has lied to us. Or someone we trusted deceived us. It could be that the spouse we loved and trusted betrayed that trust. Close friends sometimes turn against us.

In the case of Joseph it was that his brothers sold him into slavery. They had wanted to kill him but settled on getting rid of him. Can you imagine what it would have been like all those years in bondage, then in prison, and then as the second most powerful ruler in Egypt, your new country?

It is of note that Joseph never tried to communicate with his family back in Canaan after he was in a position to do so. Although there was not a postal service as we have today and travel was much more difficult, it wasn’t that it was impossible to do so. As the second in command to the ruler of Egypt, Joseph would have had the means at his disposal to pretty well do what he wished. But he didn’t. I get the impression that he didn’t trust his brothers and, not knowing whether his father was still alive, he wasn’t willing to make contact with them.

But when he saw his brothers appear before him to purchase grain during a famine he could barely contain himself. Despite all they had done to him they were still family! But he didn’t trust them and put them through a series of ‘tests’ to see if they were still the same brothers who had sold him into slavery or if they had changed over the years.

When they made the second trip to Egypt and had brought his full brother Benjamin with them, it was all he could do to contain himself. He saw from the way they treated Benjamin, undoubtedly his father’s favourite once Joseph was gone, it was time to reconcile.

“Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, ‘Make everyone leave my presence!’ So there was no-one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 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.” (Genesis 45:1-3 NIV)

Can you imagine how his brothers felt? That they felt guilt for what they had done can be seen in their conversations during their earlier visit. Now the brother they had treated so badly ended up being the ruler they had been dealing with who had treated them so harshly. What would he do to them now? No wonder they were terrified!

Joseph, of course, was not seeking revenge. In fact, he saw everything that had happened to him as being the hand of God who was taking care of his family (see verse 8). He was now in a position to rescue his family from the famine and he immediately made arrangements for them to come and live in Egypt.

Reconciliation is difficult, especially when you have done something wrong. Yet this is what God wants from his people. It takes that first step of one being willing to talk to the other and apologize for what they have done. It is amazing what can happen from there!

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

This is why Jesus came: to provide reconciliation. When we are reconciled to God through our sins being forgiven, we then have a basis to be reconciled with the people around us.

Be willing to take that first step and correct the wrong we have done. As Joseph’s brothers discovered, the benefits are worth it!

by Jon Galloway