Family Matters

My Bible reading is taking me through the story of Joseph right now. This morning, I read the chapter where a famine sends Joseph's brothers down to Egypt to seek food. Lo and behold, who is the prime minister? Their brother Joseph. They don't recognize him, though, so he decides to mess with them a little bit. He sells them food but holds one of them in captivity until they bring their little brother, Benjamin (the only one in his family who is his full brother), down with them. He also puts their money back in their sacks, which they don't discover until they are halfway home. They're scared to death because they think he will accuse them of being thieves.

To be honest, even though they sold Joseph into slavery, I started feeling a little bad for his brothers. When they go home to Jacob and tell him that they have to take Benjamin to Egypt or they won't get Simeon back, Jacob makes it so obvious that he loves Benjamin more than the rest of them: "But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left." (Gen. 42:38) The rest of Jacob's sons apparently don't matter--only the two he had by Rachel. The blatant favoritism Jacob shows here must have had an effect on his other sons. They obviously resented Joseph. It doesn't excuse their actions, but it does put them into perspective. Nobody's sin comes from nowhere.

It is interesting to trace the history of bad decisions in the Bible. Why do Rachel's sons matter more to Jacob more than the other ten? Because he never wanted to marry her older sister, Leah. Why did he marry Leah? Her father Laban tricked him into it, putting her in the tent in the dark with Jacob on his wedding night instead of Rachel so that he could get a double dowry from him. Why was Jacob working for Laban in the first place? Because he tricked his brother Esau out of his inheritance and had to get out of Dodge. He never saw his parents again. Why was he able to take his brother's inheritance? Because his mother, Rebekah, favored him and helped him trick his father Isaac into blessing him instead of his brother. On and on, it goes...all the way back to the Garden.

We all have family issues, skeletons in the closet, unresolved pain from our childhood. Some people spend their whole lives trying to resolve these issues. But they can't be resolved apart from God's grace in Christ because your issues go all the way back to the Garden. You are "in Adam." But there's good news. Jesus Christ took your sordid family history into the grave with him and rose again to make a new identity available for all of us. If we trust in him, we are no longer "in Adam" but "in Christ," healthy branches connected to an even healthier vine. No matter what your family saddled you with, if you're in Christ, you're part of a new family now. You are not doomed to repeat past mistakes.