Genesis, Chapter 50, Verse 21
So now, do not fear. I will
provide for you and for your children.” By thus speaking kindly to them, he
reassured them.
Again, Joseph is a
precursor of Christ is an example of love and forgiveness of God; therefore
mirroring the message of Paul, “Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the
flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him
so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have
passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has
reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of
reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to
himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to
us the message of reconciliation.”
Christ further advises us in Mathew’s gospel that if
we have a brother who sins against us we should 1) go and tell him his fault between you and
him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother 2) if he does
not listen; take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be
established on the testimony of two or three witnesses’ and 3) if he refuses to
listen to them, tell the church and 4) if he refuses to listen even to the
church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. (Mt.
18:14-17) One wonders what it means to treat someone as a gentile or tax
collector. So, exactly how did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors?
Jesus heals the daughter of the Canaanite woman. He eats with sinners and
tax collectors. He heals the Centurion’s servant. He calls a tax collector to
be his disciple. Jesus repeatedly invited tax collectors and Gentiles into the
kingdom of God. To “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector”
doesn’t mean wash our hands of them. It means we need to continue to reach out
to those with whom we have a conflict. We must continue inviting them
into the fellowship of the kingdom of God.[1]
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