Joseph: Overcoming Evil with Good

August 16, 2026 homily on Genesis 45:1-15, Psalm 133, and Romans 12:14-21 by Pastor Galen

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” – Psalm 133:1

Treating People Like Family

Recently I heard an ad on the radio where a guy was talking about some advice he received when he first went into business. Someone told him that he should treat every customer as if they were his own grandmother. He said, “I love my grandmother,” so that advice has worked pretty well for him. It caused him to treat every customer with dignity and respect, with care and concern. We wouldn’t want somebody to take advantage of our grandmother, so if we approach other people with that same kind of concern, it’s probably going to lead to some pretty good business practices. 

It was certainly good that somebody gave him that advice. Imagine if, instead, they had told him to treat people the way Joseph’s brothers treated him! As we saw last week, Joseph’s brothers were pretty awful to him. They were jealous because their father seemed to love Joseph more than he loved them, evidenced by the coat of many colors that he gave Joseph, and they took that jealousy to an extreme. They plotted against him, sold him into slavery, and then deceived their father into believing that Joseph was dead (Genesis 37:3–4, 18–35).

Last week we talked about how, years later, Joseph was able to look back on what had happened and recognize that God had somehow worked through this terrible situation for good. Near the end of the story, Joseph tells his brothers: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

After last Sunday’s service, someone came up to me and asked, “Now how exactly did Joseph go from being sold into slavery and cast into prison to becoming the second-most powerful person in Egypt?” You can read the whole story for yourself in Genesis. It’s a great story, but it’s also kind of long, so I’ll give you the high points here, and then I would encourage you at some point to go back and read the story on your own.

How Joseph Ended Up in Egypt

Essentially, Joseph had the ability to interpret dreams. Dreams were actually one of the things that got Joseph into trouble with his brothers in the first place. When he was young, Joseph had a dream in which his brothers bowed down to him (Genesis 37:5–11). As you can imagine, his brothers didn’t take that very well. They were already jealous of the affection their father showed Joseph, and hearing Joseph talk about a dream where they all bowed down to him certainly didn’t increase their affection for him.

Years later, though, Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams became part of the reason he got out of prison. While Joseph was in prison, he correctly interpreted dreams for Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker (Genesis 40). Later, Pharaoh himself had a dream that he knew was significant, but he didn’t know what it meant.

You know how sometimes you have one of those really vivid dreams and you wake up thinking, “There has to be something to this”? That seems to be what happened with Pharaoh. He called in his advisors, but none of them could explain the dream. Then Pharaoh’s cupbearer remembered Joseph. He had been in prison with Joseph and had seen firsthand that Joseph had this ability to interpret dreams. So he told Pharaoh about him (Genesis 41:9–13). Joseph was brought out of prison and called before Pharaoh. 

Pharaoh had dreamed about seven healthy cows being swallowed by seven thin cows. Then he dreamed about seven healthy heads of grain being swallowed by seven thin ones. Joseph explained that the dreams meant there would be seven years of abundance in Egypt followed by seven years of severe famine (Genesis 41:25–32).

Back then, famine could be absolutely devastating. If the rain didn’t come and the crops didn’t grow, people simply did not have enough food to eat. Joseph proposed that Pharaoh use the years of abundance to prepare for what was coming. Egypt could collect and store grain during those good years so that food would still be available when the famine came (Genesis 41:33–36).

Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams and his wise advice that he put him in charge of carrying out the plan. Joseph went from being a prisoner to holding authority throughout Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself (Genesis 41:39–44). And that is eventually how Joseph was able to save his own family.

Joseph Meets His Brothers Again

When the famine came, Joseph’s brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food because there was no food where they lived. They came before Joseph, although they had no idea who he was. Joseph recognized them immediately, and the dream Joseph had all those years earlier was fulfilled. His brothers actually bowed down before him as they came asking to buy food (Genesis 42:6–9).

Think about what that moment must have been like for Joseph. These were the people who had sold him into slavery. Their actions had changed the entire course of his life and caused him years of suffering. Now Joseph had the power. His brothers needed food, and Joseph was in charge of the food. 

Eventually, Joseph revealed himself to them. In our reading this morning he says: “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt” (Genesis 45:4). His brothers were terrified. Genesis tells us that they were so dismayed by his presence that they couldn’t even answer him (Genesis 45:3). But Joseph called them closer. He explained that God had been at work even through everything that had happened. The famine was going to continue, and Joseph was now in a position where he could preserve the lives of his family (Genesis 45:5–8). He invited his brothers to bring their father and their families to Egypt, where Joseph could provide for them during the remaining years of famine. At the end of our reading, Joseph embraces his brothers and weeps with them. Then Genesis says that “afterward his brothers talked with him” (Genesis 45:15). After everything that had happened between them, they were finally able to sit down and talk together again.

How Good It Is to Live in Unity

Joseph and his brothers sitting down and talking together gives us a tangible picture of Psalm 133, where the Psalmist says: “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).  And it is! There is something beautiful about living in peace with the people around us. 

The psalmist describes that unity as precious oil running down Aaron’s head and beard (Psalm 133:2). That image probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to most of us today. In the world of the psalm, though, the oil was associated with blessing and abundance. So maybe we can think about the kinds of experiences that feel refreshing and good to us. It might feel like slipping into a hot shower after a long day at work, or jumping into a cool swimming pool on a hot summer afternoon. Maybe for you it’s getting home at the end of the day and finally putting on your favorite slippers. There is a sense of relief that comes when things are good between us and the people around us. That is part of what the psalmist is celebrating.

When Relationships Become Difficult

Of course, Joseph’s story also reminds us that living together in unity can take a lot of work. People hurt each other. And sometimes the people we hurt are the people we love the most. We have a hard day at work or school, come home frustrated, and take some of that frustration out on the people around us. Things get said in anger that we wish we could take back. There are also situations where the hurt runs much deeper than that.

Joseph’s brothers had done something terrible to him. Years had passed. The wounds between them had a long history. So when Psalm 133 talks about people living together in unity, that doesn’t mean that unity simply happens on its own. Relationships sometimes need forgiveness and reconciliation. There are times when someone needs to say, “I’m sorry.” At other times we may find ourselves saying, “I forgive you.” Joseph’s family could begin living together again because Joseph was willing to open the door to reconciliation by calling his brothers closer, and extending forgiveness to them.

Feeding Your Enemy

One of the most striking things about the story is that Joseph’s brothers came to him because they were hungry. And Joseph fed them, and forgave them. Thousands of years later, the apostle Paul wrote these words to the church in Rome: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink” (Romans 12:20).

That sounds a lot like what Joseph actually did. His brothers had acted terribly toward him. During the famine, Joseph found himself in a position where he had enormous power over them. He could have made them pay for what they had done. He could have taken revenge on them. Instead, he chose to give them food. He also made a place for them near him in Egypt and provided for their families. 

Paul goes on to say: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Joseph’s response to his brothers gives us a picture of what that can look like. Joseph did not allow himself to be overcome by the evil that his brothers had done to him. Instead he was able to choose a response shaped by grace.

As Far as It Depends on You

Now, the reality is that it isn’t always possible to live at peace with everyone. Paul seems to understand that, because just a few verses earlier he writes: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). I appreciate the realism in that verse. Sometimes another person simply isn’t interested in reconciliation. There are relationships where healthy boundaries are necessary, and in some circumstances peace may involve keeping some distance from somebody who continues to cause harm. 

Paul asks us to pay attention to the part that depends on us. What is within our ability to do? Perhaps there is an apology that we need to offer. In another relationship, forgiveness may be something we are still working toward. There may be a situation where we simply need to stop keeping score and allow the relationship to begin moving forward. We cannot control what another person does. We can take responsibility for the choices that belong to us. 

Joseph seems to understand that. When his brothers realized who he was, they were terrified. They probably had no idea what they could possibly say to him after everything they had done. Joseph was the one who said, “Come closer to me” (Genesis 45:4). That invitation opened the possibility of a relationship again. And by the end of the passage, these brothers who had been separated for years were finally talking together.

Living Together in Unity

That radio advertisement about treating every customer like your own grandmother was actually pretty good advice. Most of us probably find it easier to show care and patience toward people we already love. Joseph’s story takes us into the harder territory of what happens when someone has hurt us. Paul asks us to consider how followers of Christ respond when relationships become difficult and when people have done real harm. Psalm 133 gives us a picture of what we are moving toward: the goodness and blessing of people living together in unity. That kind of unity can require real work.

For each of us, there may be some relationship in our lives where peace could begin with one thing that is within our power to do. For one person, that could involve making a phone call. Someone else may need to have an honest conversation. There may also be a relationship where the next faithful step is simply deciding how you will respond the next time you see that person. We don’t know how they will respond.

Paul simply asks us to consider what depends on us. And perhaps that is a good question to carry with us this week: What is one thing that I can do to help bring peace into one of my relationships? Joseph’s story reminds us that even relationships that have been deeply wounded can sometimes find their way toward reconciliation. And Paul gives us this invitation for how to live along the way: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

May God give us the grace to do our part. 

Amen!

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. Where have I seen God bring something good out of a painful or difficult experience in my own life?

2. What helps me experience the kind of unity and peace described in Psalm 133?

3. What might it look like for me to respond with grace to someone who has hurt or disappointed me?

4. Where in my life am I experiencing conflict, tension, or a broken relationship? When I think about that relationship, what part of the situation actually depends on me?

5. What is one thing I can do this week to help bring peace into one of my relationships?