As we read in Genesis today we should realize that we still do not know exactly why Joseph is tormenting his brothers as he is. I want to keep my thesis on the table still, that Joseph is sinning against them because he has been angered by them. What we do see is that Joseph's brothers are moved to despair. They realize their sin against their brother and how depriving their father of his beloved son was a really cruel thing to do. They have probably realized that before, but here and now they are forced to confront the issue. Instead of relieving themselves of an annoying brother for their own convenience, they are being relieved of a non-annoying brother at someone else's whim. The tables have been turned on them. They are being sinned against in a way rather similar to the way they sinned against their father by selling Joseph and allowing him to think Joseph was dead.
Is any of us above such sin? Is any one of us above doing something that will harm another person in order to make for our convenience or comfort? Though we may try not to do much harm, we are nonetheless engaged in the very same kind of sin Joseph was practicing, the very same sin his brothers practiced. We want our way and when we don't get our way we make life difficult for others. That's the way we are. What do we deserve? We deserve exactly the kind of punishment Joseph and his brothers all deserved. In the words of Draco, the lawgiver of Athens, the reason the death penalty was imposed so freely was that lots of crimes deserved death. He was only sorry there wasn't a more severe penalty for the more severe crimes. In the bible, the soul who sins dies. It's as simple as that. We all deserve exactly that.
What is the hope here? See again the typology of Joseph, our picture of Jesus. Joseph "died" in the place of is brothers. He went ahead of them and provided a means by which they could live. He gave them what they needed and gave it to them without demanding money. Likewise, we who believe have hope in Jesus, who has endured suffering and death for our sin. We have hope in Jesus, who lives again as the firstfruits of the resurrection. We look to our Lord who has demonstrated himself to be the savior adequate for the whole world's sin. We look to Christ.
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