How do we know when someone has really changed?
In Genesis, Joseph faces that question when the brothers who sold him into slavery appear before him more than twenty years later. They don’t recognize Joseph, but he recognizes them. And eventually Joseph creates a situation remarkably similar to the one they faced years before.
Once again, a beloved son of Rachel is in danger. Once again, the brothers have the opportunity to leave him behind.
But this time, Judah steps forward.
Years earlier, it had been Judah’s idea to sell Joseph into slavery. Now Judah offers to become a slave himself so Benjamin can go home.
Judah cannot undo what happened to Joseph. He cannot rewrite Genesis 37. But when an old kind of choice comes around again, he chooses differently.
That may be one of the ways God’s grace becomes visible in our lives too. We cannot change the chapters we have already lived. But our past choices do not have to determine our next ones.
In this sermon from Genesis 44:18–34, we consider Judah’s transformation, the slow work of sanctifying grace, and an echo that Christians can hear later in the story: from Judah’s line comes Jesus Christ, the One who didn’t save humanity from a safe distance, but came where we are and walked our road with us.
We’d love to see you in person at Lincoln Park-Lynnwood United Methodist Church, 3120 Pershing Street, Knoxville, TN. Come as you are. We’re not in the judging business. We’re in the welcoming business.
