The brothers return home to try and convince Jacob to let
Benjamin go down to Egypt with them.
They faithfully recount their time in Egypt and Joseph’s treatment of
them in their plea. The test is to see
if they are honest men as they claim to be and it is based on their need for
food due to the famine. In the end,
Jacob will have no choice but to allow Benjamin to go with them, but he isn’t
ready yet. The money in the bags is a
significant problem, they have the grain and now they have to convince their
father that they did pay for it and not steal it. They could have hidden this fact from him but
they didn’t, they have grown at least a little bit. Jacob’s last remaining connection with his
beloved Rachel is Benjamin and it is heart-rending to think about the
possibility of losing him as well. The
brothers, particularly Reuben, have come a long way since their earlier
jealousy of Joseph. Reuben’s willingness
to sacrifice his own sons is a powerful statement that he trusts this man who
had dealt with them so roughly in Egypt, the lord of the land.
The kingdom of God isn’t a mystery but it is certainly
mysterious how it grows. It is a difficult
thing to comprehend because what can be seen in the beginning seems
inconsequential and then suddenly God gives the growth and it becomes what no
one could have imagined at the beginning.
The seed may look tiny but it can produce something incredible if God
gives the growth. Our problem is
normally a measurement problem, we want to measure when it isn’t time to
measure. We don’t understand God’s
development plan for things and we give up on them before their time. Joseph could have measured God’s plan along
the way and determined to walk away at several points along the journey but he
waited for the timing of God in the belief that the Lord would do all He
revealed to him.
Everything matters.
Christianity is strange that way.
We acknowledge death and the decay of the body but we believe that the
body matters, it has a dignity and purpose.
What we do with our bodies matters, they are for honorable
purposes. Libertarian politics argues
that prostitution is a “victimless crime” as both parties are willing
participants in the “crime.” In this
passage Paul would argue that such an argument is ridiculous on its face as the
crime is against our nature and our God, a crime against design and purpose. The purpose of our bodies is to be a temple
of God, we are image bearers and that image is more than familial
likeness. The image we bear has
something to do with the stewardship we have been given over creation and in
particular the stewardship we have with respect to one another in this
life. If we would indeed see the
kingdom of God we need to consider that love matters in that equation.
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