Title: Forgiveness and Sacrifice (Genesis 44:18-34)
[Genesis 44:18-34]
Today's text is about Judah's argument before Joseph to save Benjamin. Joseph puts his silver cup in Benjamin's sack and tests how much his brothers have changed. To Joseph, the brothers were the ones who wanted to kill him, and they were the bad brothers who sold them to the land of Egypt. They were brothers who were divided because they had four different mothers. There was no sight of them trying to make sacrifices for each other and for each other. The biggest reason seems to be Jacob's favoritism. He loved only Joseph, and after Joseph was gone, he loved only Benjamin. In verse 27 of today's text, Jacob said, "You know that my wife has bore me two sons," as if Jacob's wife was only Rachel and had only two children, Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob's sons suffered great pain from not receiving the love of their father. Please do not favor and compare your children. This is a huge wound for children.
However, today's text shows how the wounds from the father are healed. Who was Judas? Wasn't he the one who offered to sell Joseph? However, in verses 33 and 34, Judas says that he will become a servant in place of Benjamin. He is counting the heart of his father Jacob first.
Looking at their father Jacob, who had lost his beloved son until now, and his heart aches and struggles, they probably regretted it and grew up. Jacob didn't change, but Judas changed and he accepted his father. Here we can find the two most important factors for relationship restoration.
The first is acceptance. Tolerance is accepting the other person as they are. It's not about the other person changing, it's about changing me. The second is sacrifice. Judas has a wife and children, but is sacrificing himself to save Benjamin. Sacrifice is necessary to restore the relationship. You can see the real sacrifice in the figure of Judah. The relationship that had been broken for a long time was restored by Judah's tolerance and sacrifice. Eventually, Joseph's heart melts.
In order for your broken relationship to be restored, you must accept and sacrifice. It should be noted that these were the two methods God used to restore our relationship with us. He accepted and accepted us as we are. He sacrificed to save us. He restored the broken relationship by sacrificing his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Now we too must live a life of tolerance and sacrifice for broken relationships.
Do you have any wounds? Do you have a broken relationship? I hope that you will recover with acceptance and love. I bless you in the name of the Lord that you will be used as peace makers who spread love and peace to those around you through the blessings of acceptance and recovery that God has given us.