Fri.’s Devo - Guilt

Read: Genesis 42:18-43:34; Matthew 13:47-14:12; Psalm 18:16:36; Proverbs 4:7-10 On the third day of their day in prison, Joseph came to see his brothers and told them their fate. They were to choose one of them to stay and the others could return to Canaan. To prove that they were honest men, they must return with their other brother and then they would all be free. Reuben spoke and defended himself. He told them he had told them not to harm Joseph and now all this was a punishment for what they had done to Joseph. Little did they understand that Joseph was standing among them listening to everything they were saying. Joseph chose who would stay and he chose the next oldest to stay. Since Reuben was innocent he chose Simeon, the second son. The nine of them headed for home and on the way one of them discovered that their money was still in their sack. Instead of seeing this as a blessing, they were afraid. Their guilt kept them from seeing the blessing. Everything Joseph did was a test to see if their hearts had been changed. The fact that they felt guilty for what they did for Joseph and now were afraid that they had not paid for their grain showed that they had changed. When they returned and told Jacob all that had happened, he was very upset. He would never part with Benjamin. But, as the famine continued they ran out of the grain and begged their father to let them return to buy more. Judah told his father that he would put up his two sons as collateral for Benjamin’s safety if he would just let Benjamin go with them. Jacob finally let Benjamin go. When they arrived in Egypt, they were immediately taken to Joseph’s house and were told to wait. They told the manager that their money had been returned in their sacks and they had brought it back with more money. The manager was not concerned about their money and even said that God must have put the treasure into their packs. They were full of fear that they were going to be made slaves and never return home. Instead, Simeon was released to them and they were given a feast. Joseph seated them in their birth order and gave them food from his own table. Benjamin was given five times as much as the rest of them. In Matthew, Jesus gives one last parable about the Kingdom of Heaven and the end of time. In the end, a big net will gather everyone to heaven where the angels will separate the good fist from the bad (the righteous people from the evil ones). Jesus finished his teaching and returned to his home town. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and taught and performed miracles. The people who had known Jesus as he grew and knew his family had a hard time believing that Jesus was special let alone the Messiah. So Jesus declared that a prophet was not honored in his home town and left. Meanwhile, back in the kingdom of government. Herod Antipas was the ruler of Galilee and he heard about Jesus and was afraid he might be John the Baptist raised from the dead. He had had John killed when he was tricked by his new wife he had stolen from his brother. John had spoken out about how wrong it was for him to have his brother’s wife which made the wife, Herodias really upset. One night at a party, her daughter had danced before Herod and he offered her a request. She had been told by her mother to ask for the head of John the Baptist so that was how John died. Now that Herod had heard about what Jesus was doing, his guilt was catching up with him. Both of our stories have to do with the guilt caused by sin which lead to the consequences of the sin. Lord, thank you that you took our guilt as well as our sin on the cross and bore all our shame for us that we might walk in freedom and victory.