Feasting At The Table Of Grace Series

14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.

What a beautiful display of mercy and grace in the life of Joseph. Arguably, Joseph was the most powerful person on the face of the earth at that given time. Egypt was a powerful nation, and Pharaoh had given Joseph command of everything. In Genesis 41:40 Pharaoh is recorded to have said to Joseph: “You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.“ The only way in which Joseph was second to Pharaoh is that Pharaoh sat on the throne, and Joseph didn’t. And so, here we have the most powerful person on earth with ten unsuspecting brothers in his council chambers. Ten unsuspecting brothers who had hated him so badly that they had almost killed him, but decided it would have been better to make a little money by selling him to slave traders instead. Joseph could have carried forth all of the wrath and powers available to Pharaoh himself, and nobody would have been the wiser. Nobody would have questioned him, his father Jacob would never have known, and Joseph could have justified his actions by saying that he was carrying out justice on those who had done wrong.

And yet, in a beautiful display of mercy and grace, Joseph shows us a glimpse of God’s Divine attributes, as he displays the Image of God to a watching world. As we look at Joseph, we become aware of God’s attributes of mercy and grace. Mercy and grace, which we see evident in our Gospel lesson from Matthew 15.

Jesus is approached by a Gentile woman who cries out to Him, identifies Him as the Messiah, and asks Him to have mercy on her and her daughter. Initially, Jesus seems to ignore the woman not saying a word to her. His disciples quickly tire of her cries, and begged Jesus to send her away so that she wouldn’t bother them anymore. Jesus responds to the woman, indicating that His mission at that point was only to the Jews, and not to the Gentiles. Not deterred by His response, she continues to plead with Him. In explanation, he uses an analogy of children and dogs, saying that it’s wouldn’t be right to feed the bread meant for the children to the dogs under the table. His statement indicates that His mission at that point was to the Children of Israel, and not to the Gentiles outsiders. Continuing to beg for mercy, the woman makes a great claim of faith when she says “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” The woman recognizes that even a crumb of Jesus’ mercy and power would be enough to set her daughter free from the demons which plagued her. Jesus recognizes the great faith of the woman, and heals her daughter.

Paul sheds some light on the Jewish-Gentile relationship in Romans 11. Paul gives every indication that it was because of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah that caused those blessings to be available to all people. Jesus came first for the Jew, and then for the Gentile. When the Jews did not receive Him, He went to those who would receive Him, displaying the power and mercy of God to the watching world. In our Romans lesson this morning, Paul indicates that all is not lost for the Jews, as they will return to God through the ministry of the Gentiles. We might initially think that Jesus’ reaction to the Canaanite woman was rather harsh, but at that point, He was devoting all of His energy to bring about the redemption of the Jews, through which all peoples could be saved. And yet, He is deeply moved by her display of faith, that even a crumb of His power and mercy would be enough to free her daughter. And so, displaying God’s mercy and grace to all people, Jesus declares that her daughter is set free.