Think back to the days we used to drive three days to get to our vacation spots. Now a days we fly everywhere, but when I was growing up we would take three days to drive form Florida to Wisconsin to see family members without personal CD’s and headphones or TV video apparatuses! Now, can you remember what it was like to load up the car and squeeze both kids and luggage in for a road trip? And if you have young children, you have to have at arms length, the diaper bag, the cheerios, the bottles, the toys, the tape of songs, the snacks and when you can’t stand the crying or the "interaction" between siblings, you bring out the "Benedryl" — the stuff that makes them sleepy enough to take a little nap!

You know when you get siblings together for a long period of time in cramped quarters, there is bound to be bickering going on. "Jane’s hogging all the pretzels; Kevin won’t give me the activity book; Matt threw the banana peel on me!" And who can tell me what parents say to all this bickering (after, of course, they ignored it for as long as they could!)? The driver looks in the rear view mirror with one eyebrow raised and firmly says, "Don’t make me pull this car over!" And then silence — at least for a while anyway!

Our Old Testament lesson this morning has so many twists and turns in this highly dysfunctional family of Joseph’s, but one statement of Joseph’s caught my attention and reminded me of the times my parents would threaten to pull the car over because my brothers and I were having a little spat in the backseat. Joseph’s statement comes after one of those "gusher moments" — you know, moments when you are so overwhelmed by emotions that they just gush out of you. Joseph was so overwhelmed with emotion in seeing his brothers that he lets out a loud sob. After a while, he composes himself enough to talk with his brothers and instructs them to tell his Dad to move here with him so as to live through the famine. He then loads his brothers up with lots of gifts to bring home to his dad.

Just before the brothers head home, Joseph flings the zinger at them all, "By the way, brothers, on your trip back, please don’t quarrel with each other." Of all the things that he could have said, why does Joseph warn his brothers not to argue? Couldn’t he have just said something like "safe travels" or "blessings on your way back" or "Tell dad I love him."? Is Joseph just getting caught up in the moment and just doesn’t know what else to say? Or is he being a little backstabbing with his power over his brothers that he commands them not to do something. Or is this like a bribe — something like, "ok, I gave you all of this food and all of these animals to live on, and now you have to do something for me" Or is this the Spirit at work here giving Joseph wise advice to pass on to his brothers.

Of course, being the pastor I am, I am going to say it was the Spirit. I say this because if the Spirit wasn’t at work, this story could have ended way differently and much more bitterly and tragically. I say the Spirit is at work because Joseph understood the whole picture, so much so that he was able to say to his brothers "God sent me here. Don’t be scared or angry with yourselves for doing what you did to me." Do you remember what lead up to today’s reading? It begins with a love story between Jacob (Joseph’s father) and Rachel (Joseph’s mother). Jacob worked for seven long years to get to marry Rachel and on the wedding night, he was tricked by his father-in-law, Laban, and ended up marrying Rachel’s older sister Leah. Then he had to work another seven years and finally got to marry Rachel too. And then the dysfunctions really begin. Leah had lots of children, but Rachel, for the longest time, had none. The story gets more sordid as servant women came into the picture. But suffice it to say that after ten children were born by Leah and others, Rachel finally bears a son, Joseph. As theologian Rick Brand states, "So Joseph begins life as the first born son of Jacob’s favorite wife"

Can you imagine being Joseph’s brother or sister? Think in your own family of origin — who was the "favored one" in your family and how did your parents treat him or her? What were the reactions from your siblings? I saw a great example of this on the show "Providence" this past Friday night. Syd, the older more successful daughter, was in the younger sister, Joni’s mind, the "Favored one". At times this caused resentment in Joni toward Syd. Snippy remarks and angry behavior ensued from Joni to Syd — which left both of them feeling bad.

Same thing happened between Joseph and his brothers so much so that the brothers conspired to kill him, but finally decided against that and instead sold him into slavery for twenty pieces of silver.

Fast forward to our scripture lesson this morning where we find Joseph so full of emotion that they just gush right out. Through his sobs, he reveals to his unsuspecting brothers that he is their brother Joseph. And the brothers are left speechless — it’s like one of those moments when the boss says something and you don’t know if it’s a joke or not so you are sitting there not knowing if you should laugh or be serious, that is until the boss says "get it" or clues you in a bit more.

Joseph’s brothers don’t know yet the motive behind Joseph’s revelation. Is he still mad at them for selling him into slavery so long ago? What do they say to this brother of theirs who they treated so badly — would "I’m sorry" do? Or should they start running for their lives?

They are left speechless and bewildered until Joseph said, "Don’t worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives — God sent me ahead of you to keep your families alive." Joseph sees the big picture even in the worst times in prison or in the loneliest times without a family. Joseph senses God’s providence and care and trusts God is with him and responds in faith. I am not sure Joseph’s brothers had experienced this sort of assurance yet — did they get it? — Did they understand that no matter where they were or what circumstance they were in, God had a plan. And God could even bring good out of malicious intent and seemingly hopeless situations.

Did Joseph’s brothers really understand the power of providence and could they respond in faith? On their way back home, would the brothers do to Benjamin what they did to Joseph? After all, Benjamin got a bit more than everyone else when packing up. Did the brothers have it in them not to start pointing fingers on the way home as to whose idea it was to sell Joseph so long ago? In those gusher moments of weeping and revelation, were the brothers moved by the presence of God?

The Spirit gives Joseph wise words to say as the brothers start their journey back home — "please don’t argue with each other."

I think Joseph was trying to say, "remember this sacred moment when good comes from bad. Don’t get bogged down in the past — though suffering is present, ultimately good will reign." I think Joseph was trying to tell his brothers that in whatever circumstance you are in learn from it and try to find the meaning in it all. I think Joseph was trying to communicate that responding in faith matters — that forgiveness bears sweet fruit and resentment bears bitterness and that those sweet gusher moments of tears, providential words, and cathartic acts point to experiences of the Holy.

Isn’t this the way it is for us? Haven’t we all experienced those cathartic gusher moments, those moments when all our emotions come spilling out and then, we feel less burdened and more in tune with God, our family and our friends. Haven’t there been moments of cold silences between spouses that finally get broken because one or both see "the big picture" or respond in sorrow or forgiveness. And what do spouses do when reconciliation is experienced — they "make-up" of course! Experiences of grace make all the difference in our lives.

Joseph was able to say to his brothers, "Don’t belittle yourselves — I can see God’s plan at work — come and wait out this famine with me."

The power of forgiveness lets us move through our losses, guilt, grief, and anger and helps us to find meaning in the challenges that are present and to grope for the hand of God stretched out somewhere in the midst of it. Can you imagine the ending of our scripture reading if Joseph remained unmoved and resentful? What happens to us when we don’t let go of our resentments — anger consumes, silence widens gaps, guilt depresses, bitterness disturbances. Is this the way we want to live our lives??

Experiences of grace make all the difference — Extend it today! Amen.