Joseph - the Great Reunion with His Father

 

He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. (Genesis 46:28–31 ESV).

 

It’s strange, but at the worst or best of times in their lives, people sometimes say, like Jacob, that they are ready to die. Earlier in his life Jacob had said he would welcome death because he had lost his favorite son, Joseph (cf. Genesis 37:35). However, though he mourned and mourned and refused to be comforted, Jacob did not die out of grief.

 

Now, reunited with Joseph and ecstatic to have this dear son in his arms again, Jacob repeats that he is ready to die. But this time, rather than grief, he expresses joy at having been reconciled to his sons, both to his son lost in slavery and to his sons who betrayed their brother.

 

Let’s note this tender moment: Joseph, so eager to see his father, orders his chariot to be prepared and races out to meet Jacob in Goshen. As soon as he arrives, Joseph wraps his arms around his aged father and weeps “for a long time.” What delirious joy! In this way, over 20 years of aching separation comes to an end.

 

Many of us have also struggled with aching separation in our lives. And the worst kind is separation from God. But that ended with the work of Christ on the cross and in the resurrection. Jesus said it this way:

 

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1-7 ESV).