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We are about to end the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis. Very briefly, the story of Joseph runs this way.
Jacob had 12 sons and one of them was Joseph. The 11 sons were jealous of Joseph because he was Jacob’s favorite. In their jealousy, they plotted against Joseph. They brought Joseph to a secluded place intending to kill him. Fortunately, they chanced upon a caravan buying slaves. They decided to sell Joseph to become a slave in Egypt. The 11, upon returning to their father, told him that Joseph was killed by a lion and showed him their brother’s shirt which had been smeared with blood.
The 11 stayed with Jacob in Israel, while Joseph stayed in Egypt. A famine overcame Israel, forcing the Israelites to go to Egypt where Joseph had become the second highest official. Joseph’s brothers saw him and were fearful that he might take revenge on them. They pressed upon Jacob to ask Joseph not to take revenge on his brothers.
Actually, it never crossed Joseph’s mind to get even with his brothers. From the start, it was clear to him he would not hold grudges against anybody because he believed everything happened according to God’s plan.
We are like the 11 brothers, and Joseph is like God. After we confess our sins, we remain afraid, anxious that God is keeping grudges against us. We go to confession and ask for God’s forgiveness, yet we still harbor doubts. We say we go to confession to cleanse ourselves from the dirt of sin, and then we continue to ask ourselves, “Am I really already clean?”
God does not hold grudges. He forgives without any conditions. When God forgives, He also forgets. When God forgives, He also erases our faults. When God forgives, He also takes away the mounds of sin in our souls. That is how good God is, and that is the same Gospel we should proclaim.
If you have been touched by God’s forgiveness, if you have sinned and have been forgiven, then, the Lord tells us in the Gospel, “You must publish it. You must proclaim it. You must tell people how good God is.” The Lord tells us in the Gospel, “What you have received in private, you must proclaim from the roof- tops.”
If we have been recipients of God’s goodness, if we have been forgiven of sins we thought could never be forgiven, if we have enjoyed God’s favor that in spite of our crimes, God still looks at the light in us, then we should tell other people about it. We should tell our loved ones, we should tell our officemates, we should tell even our enemies, “God is so forgiving, look what He has done to me. God is so kind, behold what He has done in me God is so compassionate, look at me, look at the changes. Look at the miracles God has done in me.”
Let us pray for that grace. We all have been forgiven but unfortunately, we are not all ready to fully accept that forgiveness We are not always ready to tell other people how good God is to us.
GOD DOES NOT KEEP GRUDGES
Gen. 37:5-11
Only Jesus, Always Jesus
