With that he embraced his brother Benjamin around the neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; only then were his brothers able to talk to him. (JPS, Genesis 45:14-15)
These verses from parashat vayigash presses upon my soul. After Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy and wrath, God uses this evil for their very deliverance (much like the events surrounding the murder of the Meshiach on the Cross). This single event of fraternal betrayal has caused a seemingly irreparable rift in the family of Jacob, the final patriarch (who is still ignorant to what has really happened as his sons have fed him lies). Finally, as Joseph breaks down into tears, so much so that “His sobs were so loud that the Egyptians could hear, and so the news reached Pharaoh’s palace” (Gen 45:2), he forgives his brothers. It is after his forgiveness that “his brothers are able to talk to him”.
What presses on me here is that they just finished a lengthy conversation. Have they not been talking to Joseph up until this point? There an implication here that there is a renewed type of communication and connectedness happening between Joseph and his brothers post-forgiveness.
I think what this text is getting at is that true communication and relational connectedness can only happen upon reconciliation.
Jesus has died and rose again. We have been forgiven. And now, we are able to talk to him.
Talk to Jesus today, you’ve been forgiven.
