Bread of Heaven (10/05/24)
When the famine came it was not only in Egypt. Soon there was no grain in Canaan. So Jacob sent his ten sons to Egypt to buy food, keeping only Benjamin, the youngest, with him. As soon as he saw them, Joseph recognized the brothers who had
treated him so badly. But they did not recognize him. He made them go back to their own country and bring Benjamin to Egypt.
And then, after giving them food
and sending them away, he had them brought back and told them who he was. When they knew that this great man was the brother they had wronged so cruelly his elder brothers were very frightened. But Joseph was both wise and kind. He forgave them for the wrong they had done him, and told them not to be afraid. He said that what they did they had meant for evil, but the Lord had meant it for good, so that he might be in Egypt and do this work which had saved so many people from starving to
death.
…[This is also a] story about the Lord Himself, a story which tells how the Lord was received when He came into the world. It tells how He was rejected by the
[the church], how He suffered temptations and how He made Himself the Lord of heaven and earth. And it is in connection with the Lord that we would remember Joseph's words to his brothers: "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, that I might save this great people alive." That was why Joseph's brothers had been allowed to sell him into slavery. When the [people of the Church] had the Lord put to death, they meant it for evil. But the Lord knew in that way He could become
our Savior - that He could save us - not from the death of the body through hunger, but from the death of the spirit which comes when the bread of heaven can no longer be received. (Henderson, NCL 1952)
