October 23, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Test the Taste

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Loving Lord, You are with me: Father, Son, and Spirit, three in one. Be my strength and hope today.

Read Genesis 42:25-38

[25] Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, [26] they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. [27] At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. [28] “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.” Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” [29] When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, [30] “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. [31] But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. [32] We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.’ [33] “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. [34] But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.'” [35] As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. [36] Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!” [37] Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.” [38] But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

Reflect

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt. 5:7). We are called to reflect God’s mercy to us in all our relationships.

Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf has explored deeply the theology of forgiveness and reconciliation. His book Exclusion and Embrace grew out of his own experience of the brutal wars that engulfed the Balkans after the collapse of communism. In the introduction he writes: “After I finished my lecture, Professor Jürgen Moltmann stood up and asked one of his typical questions, both concrete and penetrating: ‘But can you embrace a Chetnick?’ It was the winter of 1993. For months now the notorious Serbian fighters called “Chetnicks” had been sowing desolation in my native country, herding people into concentration camps, raping women, burning down churches and destroying cities. I had just argued that we ought to embrace our enemies as God has embraced us in Christ. Can I embrace a Chetnick – the ultimate other, so to speak, the evil other? What would justify the embrace? Where would I draw the strength for it? What would it do to my identity as a human being and as a Croat?”

The dilemma of Genesis 42 is the same: Can Joseph forgive his brothers? The drama is heightened by the fact that he does not do so immediately. He is gripped by emotion and faced with choosing between the twin possibilities of revenge and reconciliation. The elaborate charade he comes up with buys him time and tests his brothers: will they abandon the hostage Simeon, as they abandoned him? Joseph is not ready to take revenge on his brothers, but he is not ready to forgive them, either. Even in the test, he cannot bear to take their money. He returns it to them, without explanation. He is confused, but even now grace is surfacing in him. We who have followed his journey wait for the answer. Can Joseph forgive? Can grace overcome the stubbornness and hatred of men?

Apply

Are there people who have offended you, hurt you or let you down? If the tables were turned and you had power over them, what would you do?

Closing prayer

Father, You’ve been merciful to me beyond measure! Grant me a merciful heart that I may honor You in all my relationships.

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