Butterfly
MN Landscape Arboretum
July 21, 2023

*Joseph is the favorite son of his father Jacob. Which creates a great deal of resentment among his brothers. Jealousy runs so deep, that when given the chance, they sell him to Egyptian slave traders. 

Covering up their crime  they bring home Joseph’s coat,  soaked in the blood of a goat,  showing it to their father. 

From that moment on, the brothers of Joseph live a lie. Leaving it to their father’s imagination, what must have happened to his precious Joseph.

To live a lie is to hide a certain part of your soul, pretending all is well, when it isn’t. The weight of that lie lived in each of them. With every birth of a child, each son or daughter lost for few minutes, in every sickness they feared would take their precious child, they remembered Joseph.  They remembered their father’s grief and their own loss.  

Famine covered the land. Learning Egypt had food for sale they begin the journey. In all their imaginings of one day having the lie exposed, its doubtful any of them thought,  a secret buried for so many years, would unravel during a trip to Egypt.   Or that their missing brother would rise in this foreign land, to be the overseer of the country’s food supply?

Joseph waited until their second trip to reveal  himself as the brother they sold into slavery. Terror must have rippled through each brother, as they stood in the presence of Joseph. Here  was a moment  for retribution, vengeance and exacting justice.

But, Joseph, had seen God’s hand on his life.  He knew God had  guided him through difficult situations, to the place and position he now had.  Before, his brothers ever sought help in Egypt, Joseph concluded, that whatever evil his brothers had intended, God turned it around and brought good out of it.   Joseph,  given some of the worst life could  toss at him, put his trust in God.  He trusted  that God would  lead him through the  hardship and unfairness he endured.

Another person might have grown bitter, cynical or indifferent.  As  Joseph reflects on life  though,  he  sees how God has led him  from the moment he was a terrified child sold into slavery.   With tears and hugs, he embraces his brothers, then sends them back for their father and their families. 

Later, when their father dies, they fear  Joseph will turn on them.   Again, he reassures his brothers acknowledging. “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” Genesis 50:20    

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever. Psalm 138:7-8a

*The story of Joseph is recorded in the book of Genesis in chapters 30 through 50.