Proper 15A’26
16 August 2026
Genesis 45.1-15
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>
But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Am I [ not ] in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.’ In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them. Amen. – from Genesis 50.19-21 NRSV
Recap from last week we heard about the 11th of 12 sons who was his father’s favorite who became despised by his older brothers, was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused and thrown into prison, interpreted dreams, was invited to interpret Pharoah’s dreams, which he did and was paroled from prison and given a high position in Pharoah’s court. This week we will pick back up hitting the high spots and finally arriving at the conclusion of Joseph’s journey of faith.
With the interpretation of Pharoah’s dreams pharaoh praises Joseph’s wisdom and places Joseph as his second in command, and tasks him with supervision of the harvesting, storing, and distributing of all the grain during what would be seven years of famine.
The famine spread throughout the whole region of the middle east, to the point that all were coming to Egypt from the surrounding countries in order to buy food. Word comes to Jacob that there is food in Egypt so he sends his older sons to Egypt to buy food, but he kept his youngest son Benjamin at home with him. Upon arrival, they bow down before Joseph whom they didn’t recognize, but he recognized them. He treated them harshly like strangers, accusing them of being spies from a foreign land.
Joseph wanted to see his younger brother Benjamin so he plays games with the older brothers, testing them. He tells them that they are going to have to go and get Benjamin and puts them in prison for three days to think it over. Then Joseph softens slightly and makes them an offer for one of the brothers to stay in prison while the other brothers take grain back home and to return with the youngest brother, Benjamin. He and Joseph were the two sons of Jacob and Rachel.
The older brothers start understanding that Karma is at work, bad karma indeed. Reuben the oldest said ‘I told you we shouldn’t have done any harm to Joseph.’ This broke Joseph’s heart and he went into a side room where he cried.
He came back in to the brothers instructing stewards to fill their bags with grain and to put the money they had paid for the grain with, back in their sacks. On their way back home, they stopped at a roadside inn to rest, feed, and water their camels. One of the brothers opened his bag to get out some grain to feed the animals with and aghast, he found money in his sack and was sick to his stomach. He cried aloud, “What is this that God has done to us?”
They got home and told their father Jacob all that had transpired, and the deal that Joseph had made with them to leave a brother behind, take grain back home, then return with Benjamin. If they complied their brother would be released and all would be well. Jacob was greatly grieved and disappointed with his sons.
As they were nearing the end of the grain they had brought from Egypt, Jacob knew that his sons were going to have to go back. He told his sons to take some fruit and sweet treats and take double the money that was put in your sacks and take Benjamin with you.
They went back to Egypt presented themselves to Joseph. Joseph instructed his staff to prepare a feast and to have the brothers sent to his home – the brothers figured their gooses were cooked for sure. When Joseph arrived, they gave him gifts of fruit and sweet treats and bowed down to him. He asked them if their father was still alive, and they told him that Jacob was still alive.
When Joseph saw his brother Benjamin, he greeted him but quickly as the steward to serve the meal as he excused himself, he was overcome with emotion at seeing his youngest brother. Then they feasted and Joseph saw to it that Benjamin got five times more food that the older brothers. Joseph then orders the stewards secretly to put an abundance of grain, along with their money just like he had done the first time, into their sacks, but this time he added a silver goblet form Joseph’s table.
They left the next morning, not long after they left Joseph dispatched his steward to follow them, and to catch up with them, open their sacks and reveal their ‘thievery.’ They each opened their sacks and when Benjamin opened his there was Joseph’s silver goblet. Joseph chooses Benjamin to be a slave as punishment for the theft. He orders the other brothers to go home to their father. But the brothers explain the family situation and that it would kill their father to not only have lost Joseph but to lose Benjamin. One of the brothers offer to take Benjamin’s place and for Pharoah to send Benjamin home. Now this friends, brings us to today’s passage from Genesis.
Up to this point, let’s face it, Joseph has been having some fun by putting his brothers through the emotional wringer, causing them to sweat and regret the evil they had done to him and their family. But he had reached the breaking point he revealed himself to his brothers. Joseph wailed so loudly that the entire palace could hear him. Then he asks them to come up close to him, and what he says to them is the key to the whole story:
Do not be afraid! Am I [ not ] in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.’
The family is all reunited including their father Jacob, as the family resettles in the land of Goshen, a province of Egypt.
If you were asked to come up with a success story about a successful person, what might you include? Well, their family would be highly functional, treating each other equally, they would have plenty of money, education, cattle, properties, and political power. That’s the way the world works right? But not so with God and the life of faith. When God is tasked with bringing success to a person for the Glory of God, he often calls of those who come from a dysfunctional family where the father or mother played favorites. There would need to be plenty of sibling rivalry and jealousy. Key ingredients would need to be added, like deception, trickery, crazy dreams, seduction, false accusations and imprisonment, betrayal, seduction, sprinkled with plenty of tears and heartache. It would take all of this plus faith to equal the salvation of an entire region from starvation. One person at the center would make a hero’s journey and save the day for his family and the entire region of the middle east.
Joseph reveals the rewards of the life of faith. Every life has it’s struggles, comedies, and tragedies, and without faith, it becomes just a series of unfortunate events. But when viewed through the lens of faith, we find that the events are connected, nothing is wasted, and a divine purpose is possible. Through the lens of faith our lives have meaning, even the dark times when it seemed that God was asleep at the wheel. The truth has always been that God has a call on our lives. Ephesians 2.8-9 is a very well-known passage: “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone boast.” But seldom do we hear the tenth verse read: “10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” God has ordained that our lives are to have meaning and purpose with works of faith for us to do that have been prepared in advance! Spiritual writer Henri Nouwen will get the last word today:
“Ecstatic living, real joy, is precisely connected with
stepping onto unknown ground, trusting that you
are in safe hands.”
• Henri Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing