Episode Transcript  

One

The Story of Joseph and His Brothers

Almost everybody knows the story of Joseph and his brothers. The favorite son of Jacob or Israel, Joseph was kidnapped and sold into Egyptian slavery by his envious brothers. Along the way, he was falsely accused of attempted rape and sent to prison for several years. But eventually, Joseph’s power to interpret dreams brought him to the Pharaoh’s attention, who made Joseph the second in command over the entire nation. 

Then, one day, who should come along to Pharaoh’s court, asking for help, but the very brothers who had sold Joseph into slavery in the first place. Of course, they didn’t recognize Joseph. When Joseph revealed who he really was, his brothers were stunned and frightened. But Joseph forgave them all the wrong they had done him.

And then, Joseph made an astounding statement. A statement every one of us should reflect on if we really want to learn to trust in Divine Providence.

Two

“It was not really you, but God”

When Joseph was promoted to second-in-command of Egypt, it was primarily because he had foreseen that a great famine was coming to the whole surrounding area. There would be abundant harvests for seven years, but after that, there would be practically no food. The only way Egypt could survive, Joseph told Pharaoh, was if they arranged to store and preserve all the extra from the first seven years. Which means that if Joseph hadn’t been sent to Egypt, hadn’t gone to jail, hadn’t met someone in jail who knew the Pharaoh, and hadn’t interpreted the Pharaoh’s prophetic dream, if all that didn’t happen, not only Egypt but all the surrounding area would have died of starvation, including Joseph himself!

And seeing this fortunate turn of events, Joseph declared to his brothers standing before him, “God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So it was not really you but God who sent me here.” 

“It was not really you, but God, who sent me here.” In that one statement is the key to one of the greatest of all mysteries: the interplay of God’s providence and human sinfulness. 

Three

Evil is Evil – not Good

Of course, Joseph’s brothers were responsible for kidnapping him and selling him into slavery. And the Egyptian woman who falsely accused Joseph was responsible for having him unjustly put in prison.

When Joseph says, “It was not really you, but God, who sent me here,” he’s not just giving his brothers a pass, or saying that they weren’t free, or pretending that they weren’t responsible for a lot of what he went through. They did what they did freely. Nobody forced them, least of all God. But Joseph’s brothers, and the other protagonists in his story, didn’t fully understand what was happening or what their actions were bringing about. And to that extent, they weren’t really the main movers and shakers. They weren’t the ones who were shaping or directing the course of events.

Only God, who knows everything and governs everything, can perfectly nudge and synchronize, and coordinate all the events of the world. Only He really knows what’s going on. Only He really knows what He’s doing. And it’s always for the best.

Four

God’s Permissive Will

We say that God doesn’t choose or do or will sin and evil, but that He “permits it.” The technical term is “God’s permissive will.” But be careful. Permissive doesn’t mean passive. 

God is always at work, always active, always creative in the human story. As the Catechism says, “To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of ‘predestination,’ he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace” (#600)

Think of it this way: God is the great composer, and the notes from every human instrument come before Him in all eternity for Him to arrange. We are free to play our instruments however we want to. God will permit us to play the notes we want. Some of us, like Joseph, will offer God beautiful notes: tones of trust and fidelity. Others, like Joseph’s brothers, will send up ugly notes: harsh discordant sounds of envy and resentment and selfishness and anger and arrogance.

We play the notes freely, and to that extent, we make the music that becomes the human story. But God arranges all our sounds, puts the notes together so that even the ugly, dissonant notes, when they’re put in the context of the rest of the music, end up contributing to the beauty of the overall symphony.

So who makes the music, us or God? Who is responsible for the human story? Is it us or God? The answer is: both. We provide the individual elements of the story with our free choices, whether those choices are good or evil. But God writes the story with our free choices. And the story is always magnificent. 

So it is not really us who are ultimately responsible for the splendid outcome of providence. It is that Supreme Artist who is the Lord.

Five

There is nothing that does not contribute to God’s plan

So what’s the takeaway of Joseph’s story and our resolution for the day? There is nothing, no sin, no injustice, no tragedy, that God does not orchestrate for beauty and for a happy ending. 

This happens time and again: first and foremost at Calvary, then in the lives of the saints and martyrs, and even, if we look carefully, in our own lives.

Everything that happens is God’s will, in the sense that the convergence of all the different factors and forces at work at any time and place has been arranged by Him. 

Here is our resolution: God is watching over and orchestrating whatever has happened and whatever happens today. If there is nothing you can do to change it, then say to God, “I trust you are working this for the greatest good, and I thank you ahead of time!” Thank you, God, for working this out for good!”

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