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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons' wives—numbered sixty-six persons. With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob's family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.
Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel.
As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time. Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."
Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, 'My brothers and my father's household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.' When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, 'What is your occupation?' you should answer, 'Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.' Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen." He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers, "What is your occupation?"
"Your servants are shepherds," they replied to Pharaoh, "just as our fathers were." They also said to him, "We have come to live here awhile, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants' flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen."
Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock."
Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you?" And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers." Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their children.
Genesis 46:26-34, 47:1-12
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
From as early as I can remember, my parents always stressed the matter of respect as they raised me. They taught me to respect my siblings, to respect others, to respect myself but, most of all, to respect them. After all, they were my parents, the adults who God had entrusted my care to. And they had something I didn’t at the time, the life experience and wisdom that comes along with it. They were in charge, in complete authority over me and it was my responsibility to listen to them when they told me what to do, respond in obedience, and learn in the process. In return, they took care of me, meeting my needs, protecting me, and watching out for my best interests, even though there were times when I didn’t think they were. For as kids, isn’t amazing how many times we think we know more than our parents, only to find out differently when we end up being adults and having to deal with life on our own. I think the saying is that our parents get smarter in our view, every year we get older and there’s so much truth in that if we stop and consider it.
And so today, more than ever, I have the utmost respect my parents for they played a large role in making me the man I am today and for that I am eternally grateful. In fact, my mother introduced me to God and His Son Jesus, making sure that I went to church on Sundays through my childhood. It was that spiritual introduction that blossomed later in my life into full adult spiritual maturity, allowing me to minister to countless others through the churches I have served and this ministry, The Christian Walk. Indeed, the roots of my faith are found not only in the Lord but her as well. What a blessing she is to me.
Now, I have adult children of my own who are now living this thing called life and learning themselves about the multitude of its challenges. Every day, my prayer is that they won’t forget or depart from their own foundation of faith that my wife Grace and I established during their upbringing. This foundation of faith included the matter of respecting your parents for when we look at the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses, we find this one:
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12
As I write today, I can say with complete certainty that my two daughters do this and it’s such a blessing to my heart that they have embraced and put into practice the same teaching that I received when it comes to the subject of respecting your parents.
Well, as we see in our scripture passage for today, the matter of respecting his father was very important to Joseph as well as we look at the closing verses of Genesis, chapter 46, and the opening verses of chapter 47.
There, we find Jacob dispatching his son “Judah ahead of him to Joseph” so “to get directions to Goshen” as he approached Egypt with all his family in tow (which the scriptures tell us "numbered sixty-six persons"). We read further that "when they arrived in the region of Goshen, Joseph had his chariot made ready” and went there “to meet his father”.
What an amazing reunion it was! For we see that as soon as Joseph met his father, he “threw his arms around” him and “wept for a long time”, the wellspring of emotions rushing to the surface after such a lengthy separation.
For Jacob, it was tangible proof that indeed his firstborn son of the beloved Rachel was not dead but very much alive. Yes, he was minus the "richly ornamented robe" he had given him in his younger years (Genesis 37:3) but now Jacob couldn’t have treasured Joseph more. We know through his own words as he proclaimed:
“Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."
Seeing his long lost Joseph had put Jacob’s soul at peace and he was now prepared to go to God the Father at any time knowing his son was alive and okay.
Well, Joseph didn’t stop there in showing respect and love for his father. For the scriptures tell us that he takes Jacob to meet the great Pharaoh, ruler over all Egypt. In person. You’ll recall that Pharaoh had granted Joseph permission to bring his family out of Canaan to live in Egypt so they wouldn’t perish from the famine that had struck the land. He promised that Joseph’s family would have "the best of the land of Egypt...the fat of the land" (Genesis 45:18). So Pharaoh was richly blessing Jacob and his family and as we see in our passage today, Jacob blesses Pharaoh in return.
And with that, Joseph helped his father, his brothers, and their families in Egypt, giving them “property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses”. This included providing “food, according to the number of their children."
In the end, Joseph greatly honored his father and out of amazing grace and mercy, blessed his brothers and their families as well. As I close this message, I want to make sure we don’t lose sight of a more significant act of honor that takes place here. For in paying special loving tribute to his earthly father, Jacob was honoring his Heavenly Father.
Indeed, when people honor and respect their parents, they are also honoring and respecting the Lord, the Father and divine Parent of all created people. He is a Parent of the highest order, the only perfect one, and he also ordains all parents, placing His precious little ones into their custody and care.
In the Joseph story, we find him honoring his father and family because he loved his Lord, the Lord who had been with him through every step of a crazy up and down life that improbably placed him, a Hebrew, as second command of the nation of Egypt so he would one day have the chance to save his family and set the stage for the Israelite nation to develop. Joseph remained obedient and trustworthy, even when things got hard, honoring his Father God through faith, and in doing so, he remains a great role model that all believers can learn from today.
Let’s all resolve to do just that.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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