If we were to compare the destiny of Joseph and the brothers since they had sold him, their paths could not have been more different. The brothers continued their business as free farmers, deciding what to do and when, where to go. They were part of the community, they had their living space (tent), families, children, their customs, entertainment, religion (to which they devoted only as much effort and heart as they wanted). They didn't have to feel alone, and within the possibilities of the world of that time, they simply didn't miss much.

On the other hand, Josef lacked everything - he was deprived of property, honor and rights, but also of the tribe, the family, his own tent. He found himself among strangers and lost any freedom of choice: as a slave, he did not decide himself. He could only live his  religion (which was strange for the Egyptians) on his own. But he remained faithful to it and lived it to the utmost, even though he again lost the little space of his own he had gained in Potiphar's house and earned imprisonment because of it.

What did he think about God and his dreams at that time? We know what the brothers thought of them: they were satisfied they had thwarted them. But what about Joseph - did he still believe that they would be fulfilled or did he push them deep into the subconscious and try to forget them? Did he feel abandoned and disappointed by God? Most likely, in the first place, he simply tried to overcome the difficulties in which he found himself as a slave and a prisoner. Scripture says "God was with him"; but would we like to be there with Josef too?

How the life of God's people goes beyond the imagination of anyone, and mostly themselves...

Joseph's brothers were certainly intelligent enough to make the right judgment about a number of things. If they had lived at a different time, they might have become well educated people or at least successful professional farmers. But no matter how clever a person can be in understanding external things, especially the dead matter, he can be pretty blind to the important things of life, human truths that directly concern him. The ability to judge them correctly is not formed in the same way as e.g. in science or technology; it depends on how we look at them, our point of view (figuratively speaking "where we are") and what values scale we have ​​within.

The brothers sold Joseph when he was 17, and until Jacob's death (i.e. for another ca 30 years) they lived with a burden that weighed heavily on their souls before confessing their guilt to Joseph. And if difficult circumstances had not helped them to travel to Egypt at that time (what a gift they can become for some of us!), they would not have probably done anything on their own to get rid of this yoke...

If a person's heart is not right, he will be basically wrong in his judgments. An adequate level of doubt about ourselves is a necessary condition for a healthy journey through life. After all, the most evil in the world was usually caused by those who did not doubt about themselves at all.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” (Gen 50,15)

At that moment, seventeen years had passed since the opening of the secret chamber of the brothers (the revelation before Joseph, Gen 47:28). This means, however, the brothers had spent all these years in fear without being sure if Joseph would not take revenge on them. This is due to the fact that they had not dealt with their guilt in the only possible way that brings solution. It consists in the obsolete term "repentance", which means to acknowledge and confess one´s guilt. As a result, the brothers cannot leave the prison of guilt and fear. They build defensive walls inside and we can see how their views of other people and the world are burdened and distorted - they suspect Josef of things he had never had in mind.

What a stone fell from their hearts, how clear and simple it all became when they finally came to Joseph confessing their guilt. I think they thought at the time that if they knew how relieved they would be, they would have done it much sooner.

How complicated the life is when a man is unwilling to confess his guilt.

Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!" (Gen 45:24)

Joseph made himself known to his brothers in Egypt: their secret chamber was open wide. Guilt will always catch one up, sooner or later, maybe not until eternity. However, a person burdened by his conscience is not free. He avoids certain situations or people, trying to convince himself that what he did was necessary. In this way, he gets himself into an internal prison.

We do not know if the brothers were relieved they had not done away with Joseph in the end. However, they soon realized that they would now have to tell the truth to the father, whom they had deceived. Josef warned them "not to quarell on the way" - he concluded it was necessary from their reactions. They began to consider who was to blame, which one more, which one less.

Although the brothers' guilt came to light, they had not gotten rid of it internally because they had not reached the point of repentance yet. They were now like the perpetrators caught in the act, so they have no choice but to confess. It makes a difference when a person's guilt comes to light with his consent - which is liberating - or he is more or less pressed by circumstances or people. But he didn't really want to, he was convicted against his will. "OK, I admit if you insist". Even these people are accepted and baptized today as pardoned sinners, but as long as man is just a little righteous in himself, he will never love God from the depth of his heart. This is one of the reasons why nowadays there are so many people in the church who do not find much joy in their religion. They do what they were convinced by others they have to.

Jacob's sons, who held themselves for "honest people" (Gen 42:11), may have thought this way: we are not of the worst. We do not steal foreign crops, as many around us do. Although there are plenty of us, we are not criminals dragging foreign herds away although we could. Yes, some are of course better than us, but there are so many worse that God could not accept almost anyone if he kept the standards so high.
One prefers to keep his secret chamber closed, as well as the sons, and relies on the fact that if (by chance) something went wrong, a bit of religion will solve it (but nothing should be exaggerated), and even if not, then a purgatory will do. And it can't be that bad there, I will definitely not be there alone ...

It was for these "honest people" that most churches were built. The fact that the number of people visiting them has decreased significantly recently does not mean that people are reconciled better with their conscience; rather, (in conformity with the spirit of a the present age that wants to have everything here and now) the problem of the relationship to eternity is transformed into a relationship to the present, and the neurosis of conscience toward God turns into a neurosis of a personal identity.

"We are honest people" (Gen 42:11) Just as Jacob had no idea about what he was wrong at the beginning (because he was essentially wrong about himself, not about some detail), so his sons consider themselves "honest people." How is it possible that those who almost killed their brother out of grudge and when they did not kill him, at least made him a slave and deprived him of his family, homeland, property, rights, and the whole future, call themselves "honest"? How could they live with the lie that had almost ruined their father and watch him suffering because of it all their lives?
A man can calm his conscience by judging himself only in the areas where he knows he does not fail and remain in blindness regarding the other ones. That is why our world is full of "honest people" and many of them, like Joseph's brothers, have their small (for all cases) religion.

"To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd." (Ps 18,25-26) In order to know God, one needs a certain degree of sincerity, of the purity of heart. Without it, he will pass by God internally, he will not believe him - the life has taught him there is nothing higher, nothing pure. (And even if it seems so, in the end it all turns out to be a scam anyway). One translation of the verse 27 even says that God "treats the foul crooked." This does not mean that God necessarily wants to play a false game with someone, nevertheless a crooked person really perceives it that way from his point of view. ("Sorry, but this religion doesn't work.")

God does not let himself known to anyone, because not everyone is willing to it. One must choose a complete sincerity towards God, otherwise God will escape him.

At the beginning of our journey, we believe that we know God, but in reality we know only our own idea of ​​Him. It is only more or less closer to reality, but it certainly does not comply with it, because the natural man does not understand spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14). For to get to know them there is a need for revelation and a struggle of faith. Thanks to it, our ideas are gradually confronted with reality and a reflection of it - the truth - is formed in the heart. We might be grateful for this sometimes painful process, but as a matter of fact it is often the other way around: the truth no longer inspires us to the same extent. It does not force itself, it does not underbid, it does not seduce, it is not painted with advertising colors. In order to love it, one's taste preferences must be changed (here using "gastronomic comparison"). But how happier a man is when he consents to it and how more valuable and lasting tastes he finds. That is why the "old wine is better".

Martin Buber once wrote that without "You" there would be no "Me". He meant that the character of man is shaped by another man, we are shaped by our existence among other people. This can also be applied to God and man - the essence of God (the godly love "agape") was most clearly revealed when a man was created. It stood out all the more in the stark contrast when a man fell. God is in himself as he is, he does not have to derive his character from anything or measure himself against anything, but a fallen man naturally sees him as different - holy, perfect, unattainable. If he does not want to acknowledge it, he has no choice but to deny him.

I mentioned below that God is faithful to His character. But this can surprisingly be confusing to us. God often hears our prayers and sends help in distress, but sometimes our experience of spiritual reality is composed only of this occasional distress and occasional help, because in reality we do not know God as a person. We have no idea how he thinks and feels, how he "experiences" things. We push our Ishmael to him and pray that he will receive him. We assume he will surely understand that we had no other choice. God blessed Ishmael, because it is His nature to bless Abraham's sons - the sons of faith - but, as in his case, Abraham had to learn that it does not mean that He agrees or changes His plans. It makes a difference to receive a blessing or to know God.