Grains of Sand

Pixabay Sometimes it only takes the right people or circumstances to reveal the evil that lies deep within. Genesis 37 tells us that story. Did Israel (a.k.a. Jacob) know how much his older sons hated their younger brother, Joseph? Had the older boys walked around camp with smiles pasted on their faces but harbouring a deep-seated resentment in their hearts? Joseph was not only preferred by their father, but had shared some pretentious ambitions with them—he would rule over them. Did Israel choose not to believe that his boys were capable of doing harm to the one he openly favoured? In any case, Israel sent Joseph out alone to find his older brothers. It became the right time and the right place to act upon their anger, jealousy and hatred. When Joseph arrived at Dothan to find his brothers, the Scriptures say: “ …they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him ” (37:16). Reuben convinced them to simply throw Joseph into a nearby cistern. His plan...

Google Images It was a payoff. Whether or not the lie the guards told helped them to keep their jobs, certainly the truth about what happened at the tomb would have caused a few of their superiors’ heads to roll. The angel appeared at the tomb and: “ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men ” (Matthew 28:4). Once recovered from their shock the guards reported in. Angels had appeared, rolled the stone away and the body they were so carefully guarding was gone. If you had heard this story and didn’t believe it, what would your reaction be? If you fired the guards for negligence claiming that they had fallen asleep and the disciples had stolen the body to make it look like Jesus had come back from the dead, the guards would have told the truth and made you look like a fool. So you pay the guards to keep their mouths shut and spread the story that the disciples stole the body while they slept, and make them look incompetent. For the right amount of mon...