to enact, my will will not be done, trusting the Lord will prevail, seeing His will be done. I confess now, but not knowing if it is too late. If we don't confess and repent now, who can guess what unforeseen circumstance God will greet us with tomorrow.
Reuben: The Lord's unpredictability makes me nervous, not knowing what will come next, fearing the worst, taking a chance by following our reason, believing others are all like us.
Bystander: The band of brothers came before Joseph, facing him as earlier, except this time having Benjamin with them, hearing the master--but without understanding--instruct the steward of his house, Bring these men into the house, and slaughter an animal to make ready a meal, for they are to dine with me at noon. Following Joseph's orders, the steward brought them all to the master's house.
Reuben: What is this new threat to fall on us now, coming to the master's house instead of his office, leaving us to wonder if we would survive, thinking our deceit may have been uncovered, leading him to disband our lives from seeing tomorrow, taking vengeance, acknowledging its justification as determined by the Lord.
Brothers speaking all together, lamenting: It is because of the money we brought to buy grain, unknowingly returned to us, placed in our sacks and discovered journeying home from the first visit, rewarding the master with an occasion to justify punishment, likely to enslave us, confiscating our meager belongings, assigning us to be beasts of burden; see how money can destroy lives, witnessing forty pieces of gold doing so much damage. Has our venture been worthwhile?
Judah: You with broken hopes should ask the master's steward why we have been taken to his house. Is he waiting for us to confess? I will tell him, hoping he can understand my words, interpreting them for his discernment. On returning from our first visit to buy grain, we opened our sacks, and behold, there was each one's money in the mouth of his sack. We now return it to you because it is not right to keep money for buying the grain together with the grain, and we now bring additional money, handing it to the master to buy more food. We don't know who put the coins in our sacks, or for what reason they found a place there.
Steward: I understand your language, having been stolen from your land, sold to slave traders, resold to the master of this house, who treating me with dignity, assigned me to be his steward, allowing us to understand each other, as I urge you to stifle your terror, hearing me to calm you with consoling words. Rest assured, do not be afraid; your God and the God of your father must have directed someone to return your coins, depositing their treasure in your sacks, assuring no one would accuse you of not making payment, allowing me to confirm we received your money. It is not because of any money matters for inviting you here, for bringing you into this house. We eagerly await your return because of the truths you honestly expressed, never for condemning you, accusing you for something you did not steal. You are summoned to recline and be seated before our master, for he is just, honoring you for reasons unknown by me, reserved for you on this second visit, hoping to make you forget any disgrace you endured the first time here.
Judah: We try to justify our innocence, explaining all by reason, proving all by our works, but the master's grace, reflecting on none of our justifications, invites us in, blessing us to come into this home, offering hospitality, presumably directed by one of his gods, although he has never heard of our God, whose grace and mercy are boundless, unlikely as gifts from your gods. Why?
Steward: My master knows whose money you carry, back and forth as if your own, but he trusts it to be no one's possession, given by divine grace to be a tender for people's needs, never intended to be accumulated as wealth, tokens for building vanity and pride. Now I bring out Simeon, one to gather our attention, more so than concerns about earthly treasures.
Simeon: What took you brothers so long in returning for me? Did concern for me never begin until your food ran out, shrinking your belly to bring on hunger pangs?
Judah: We have no good answer, having to wait on father's consent to send Benjamin with us, wondering if he would gamble his youngest son to see you again.
Simeon: To appreciate what Joseph must have endured, living these months in prison, experiencing what patience it takes, wondering whether faith is required, interceding with prayer, questioning the need for my trial, for selecting me to be the chosen one, I thank the Lord, celebrating Him, awakening me to survive, living with hopeless ones, condemned to a life of nothingness, trusting Him to direct my release, thanking Him it is now finished, justifying me after serving time for my past unworthy deeds. If we must be held in ransom to sustain life with food, I trust you select another brother to serve next time, incarcerating a different one each time, dividing justice evenly so we will all take our turn, suffering judgment to cleanse us all.
Bystander: The band of brothers, still disbanded by fear, no one trusting any words to speak as Joseph entered the room, bowed before him, thus fulfilling the vision they heard many years before, the dream received by Joseph from the Holy Spirit, the prophecy directing the brothers to hate him more than ever--as prophecies frequently do--leading people to detest messengers and suggest their rejection, killing them if necessary, some even before the altar in God's temple. Would the brothers be tested further, discerning if their nature had changed, convincing Joseph their heart may now be moved by love for someone other than their my-selves?
Joseph: (through his interpreting steward) All of you appear well, thriving on the food from Egypt, but what of your father, the man now old of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?
Reuben: Your servant our father is still alive, well, serving our God with honor and dignity, humbly with modesty, relinquishing pride, sending his favorite son, willing to give him up to serve our needs.
Joseph: Your count is now one more, added by what must be your youngest brother, the one of whom you spoke. God be gracious to you, my son!
Judah: He is Benjamin, the last of his mother's womb, with her sadly dying to give him life, never to see him as he is now. His father protects him ever since, maybe regretting God made a choice to favor the life of another son over continuing life for his favorite wife.
Bystander: (aside) Choked with a loss for words, unable to speak without revealing his emotions, Joseph turns away, hiding himself from his brother's eyes, hastily retreating from the room, his heart yearning to embrace his brother Benjamin, seeking a place to hide his tears, grateful time had not diminished love for his brother, still wishing to be a brother's keeper. Joseph, regaining his composure, returned, knowing his time had yet to come. The brothers remained, speechless and dumbfounded, waiting for the master to direct the next step, lacking confidence to do anything, biding a seeming endless time, looking at one another with dismay, when on his reappearing they listened to his announcement.
Joseph: Let food be served.
Bystander: They served Joseph by himself, feeding the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptian servants eating there by themselves, because the Egyptians could not break bread with Hebrews, such communion being an abomination to Egyptian customs. Seating the brothers before him, the first-born according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, arranging the others in order of their birth, the band of brothers looked at one another in amazement, hardly noticing their meal, distributed in portions taken from Joseph's table, but especially astonishing them was Benjamin's share, five times greater than any of theirs. So after drinking the master's wine, they soon forgot their fears, abandoning their concerns, joining all in merriment, rejoicing in all being well.
Judah: Master of all in this land, how do explain your good deeds, entertaining us with the most precious fruits of Egypt. Are your gods like our God who blesses us to be a blessing?
Joseph: Hear my interpreter Job tell you about his God, revealing his God who is like yours.
Job: At one time I was blameless, measured by all to be upright until suffering afflicted me, sending me to my God, presenting Him with arguments to do me justice, disregarding my frie
nds bent on justifying my injustice, until the spirit within me began speaking directions I had never heard before, telling me my faith was never enough, admonishing me for benevolent works I never did, urging me to begin working in humiliating endeavors, to decimate my pride, all for tearing down barriers preventing communications with God, decimating my will to reason, humbling me to confess my sins, removing the veil from seeing Him face-to-face. My faith was only words until deeds satisfied it with completeness. What can you say for your deeds? Did anyone answer this for you?
Judah: My friends tell me what I savor hearing, reinforcing my desire to be loved, protecting me from prophets' visions, and I resent anyone telling me something different.
Job: Then you must expect circumstances to alter your vision, perhaps draping you in blindness until you begin to listen to God's spirit, calling on Him to be with you. You people have more to learn, seeing you have as many idols as the people here, different gods for meeting your coveted ways. Watch now for what is to come.
Joseph: Without their knowing fill the brother's sacks with food, as much as each one can carry, and put each one's money in the mouth of each sack, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain. Send them on their way at dawn, and wait until they have left the city, going only a short ways further, and then I will give you further instructions.
Job: Will anything good come of this, making them look like thieves a second time?
Joseph: I have good reasons, seeing if they have any roots to grow greater character. Go now, tell my steward to follow after them, and on overtaking them have him ask, Why have you returned evil for good, stealing my silver cup, knowing it is the one my master drinks from, and by which he divines? You have done wrong in so doing.
Bystander: The brothers leave without understanding if their fortune is too good to be true, convincing them to cast all fears aside, never knowing new circumstances will soon overtake them.
Steward: On chasing you down, I repeat my master's words, asking why you would steal his cup, the only one he drinks from, doing a wicked deed after all the hospitality and generosity his grace saw fit for you. His cup is missing and you were the only ones in his house.
Bystander: Seeing this more than a question of giving up sin but of giving up rights to one's self, natural independence and self-will, acknowledging one is never blameless, admitting things right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint keep us from becoming God's best, removing our most coveted veil, opening us to realize our prize possession, natural and inherent moral excellence, opposes belief in the Lord, obviating needed surrender to the Almighty, drawing our soul into its greatest battle, awakening us to discover the good opposes the best, realizing a better good our dubious moral excellence can boast, never justifies greater intensity for opposing God, convincing us to purposely sacrifice the natural, opening the way for the supernatural to become habitual to us, integrating its way with all we do.
Reuben: Speaking for all of us, why does my lord say such things? Far be it for your servants to steal from the master. Showcasing our honesty, we brought back items we found, returning things not belonging to us, silver discovered inside the mouths of our sacks, so why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? With whomever of your servants it be found, let him die, and the rest of us will become your lord's slaves.
Steward: Your justice is too harsh, more than my master would sanction, never condemning one to death for petty theft, so allow me to offer a gentler sentence, showing my master treats you with mercy, telling you what I know he will say, He with whom it is found will become my slave, and the rest of you will be free from blame.
Bystander: With all agreeing, the brothers lowered their sacks to the ground and opened them, waiting as the steward searched each one proceeding from oldest to the youngest one's sack.
Steward: After searching most of your sacks, I thought we might find nothing but grain, but there are also silver coins, noting this finding strange, and then I find the master's cup and wonder if you are thieves, wolves coming disguised meek as lambs, reeking of sheep's odor, nomads stealing as magpies.
Bystander: Renting their clothes in despair, believing they would no longer be needed, trusting their hopes had all but disappeared, resigning their lives to greater fear, anxiety over a certain destiny in slavery, they loaded their beasts and returned to the city, contemplating whether death would bloody their clothes or they would be cast into a pit of drudgery, recalling the fates they had considered for Joseph many years earlier. Arriving back at Joseph's house, they fell before the master, begging for mercy.
Joseph: What deed is this that you have done? You must have thought you could escape, pilfering my treasure, hiding it in your sacks, never dreaming a man as I can know things by divination.
Judah: What can we say to my lord? What can we speak to clear ourselves and convince you of our innocence? Your steward tells me, Only the man in whose hand the cup was entrusted will be enslaved, but as for the rest of you return in peace to your father. Without Benjamin, I can never go back in peace, expecting none with my father, for he will know no peace until he dies.
Bystander: Can this cup be an idol, serving to instruct people by divination, formed as an icon to rule their ways, trusting it instead of its bearer, having magical powers, working in mysterious ways, while never knowing what it's next message will be? Is this cup to make one stagger, drinking the wrath of God, or to celebrate in thanksgiving, perhaps for shaping a new covenant? It depends on what the cup contains, for what purpose it is given. With wine, the cup will offer visions of people's desires, becoming a holy grail.
Judah: In blindness, veiling me from so much unknown, I see no reason for fate to determine our circumstances, inflicting us with trials without offering any solutions, testifying to our faculties' failing, suggesting no ways out, returning us to suffer indignity logic cannot explain, calling us back for further injustice. The grace of the master returns us to be cursed, using his cup for unexplained vengeance, forcing us to drink his god's wrath, executing affliction on us, thrusting nonsense on us by the master's pagan gods, exacting humiliation for their pleasure.
Job: Little understanding my master now, bewildering you by his visions for foretelling, I will continue to interpret his words, hoping to bury your unease.
Joseph: Pharaoh presented me with this cup, given because of my prophetic abilities, increasing my divining powers, promising it to be a cup of salvation, enabling me to call upon the Lord, to discern His purpose and follow His will, calling on His name. This cup must never be filled with God's wrath. He needs no cup for that, using it only for pouring out His mercy. This cup is never to be used for evil, only for good, and now you see its importance as my holy grail.
Bystander: Some things must be hidden, such as by Rachel when she hid her father's idols in her saddle, stealing the heart of his soul, testifying to a faith she was compelled to continue, practicing a worship she could not abandon, hiding it where he wouldn't dare to look, deceiving him with a lie, telling him she was having her period, while exacting one to pronounce an oath, satisfying retribution for one losing his precious treasure, sentencing one to death for stealing wooden gods, but we often conceal our dearest treasures, never flaunting them for others to see, especially our holy objects, artifacts reminding us of our Creator, which should never be hidden, leaving them in the open for all to see, just as He never hides His wonders, wide open for us to witness, telling us to examine the majesty of all He has done. Our oneness with God must always be evident, never concealed by shame, never protected from ridicule. The time had come for Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers, disclosing his oneness with God, his protector, his assurance of being a brother's keeper, always there for abandoned souls, searching for meaningful relationships, as he had done all his life, belonging to God, shaming his brothers' pride, submitting to them with humility.
Joseph: My time has come, wa
iting long in preparation, but I must send all my attendants away. All my servants leave this room, giving me the opportunity to let these brothers know who I am, who I have always been. Leave now.
Job: My master sends his servants away.
Judah: Is he wanting to sentence us without other’s hearing, tarnishing his image, tainting his integrity as a great servant of Pharaoh, justifying it all over some meaningless cup? Can't he be bold enough to proclaim his actions to all?
Reuben: What can you expect from ones worshipping a sun god, bowing down to images of cats and dogs, putting faces on lions, creating creatures unknown to our creator, our God who made everything as they must be?
Joseph: Hear me as I speak now in your language. I am your brother Joseph and I weep on seeing ones I never thought would cross my path again, weeping with joy for this moment God chooses to surprise me. Listen to me, asking, Is my father still alive? Am I forgetting your words when I ask again if he lives?
Bystander: Silence springs forth with shocking news, muting all to any spontaneous response.
Reuben: Your words, speaking now in our tongue, stun us with this pronouncement, stupefying us to say nothing, terrifying us with your claim, resurrecting dreadful memories, mortifying our consciences, confusing us to tremble, as we search for something to say, fearing we would speak from babbling thoughts with any response, forcing us to beseech God for mercy, knowing nothing more to do, wondering what we should think, seeking wisdom to ease our fear, searching for some healing answer.
Joseph: Come near to me, I pray you. I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into slavery. Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me, knowing now it was in God's plans, developing circumstance to send me here, preparing me to solve food disparities, to assure grain for all during cycles of feast and famine, determined by cycles of rain and drought, normal for creation's goodness, knowing He would bring you here, forcing you to make a journey to preserve lives and insure His covenant's promises, reiterated many times to our fathers. With