Genesis 50:16-17

And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

This is one of the most touching moments in Joseph’s story.

The brothers send word to Joseph and basically say, “Dad told us to tell you to forgive us.” You can hear the fear in that. You can hear the uncertainty. After all this time, after all the kindness Joseph had shown them, after all the provision, after all the tears and all the mercy, they still thought there might be anger buried somewhere down deep. They still thought maybe he had just been waiting for the right moment. They still thought he might yet requite them for all the evil they had done.

And Joseph wept.

Not the loud kind of weeping. Not a breakdown. Just quiet tears. Tears rolling down his cheeks because they still did not know his heart. That is what makes this scene so powerful. Joseph is not angry because they came. He is moved because they still think he is like that. They still imagine him to be holding a grudge. They still imagine him to be bitter. They still imagine him to be counting sins and waiting to strike.

They did not understand him.

And that is exactly where so many of us live with the Lord.

We know He saved us. We know He washed us. We know He has fed us and kept us and carried us. But after we fail again, after we stumble again, after we come limping back again, there is something in us that says, “Surely He must be tired of me by now. Surely He has to be worn out with this. Surely there has to be a limit somewhere.”

But that is not the heart of Jesus.

When Martha and Mary stood before Him in John 11 and said in effect, “Lord, if You had been here, our brother would not have died,” Jesus already knew exactly what He was about to do. He knew Lazarus would rise. He knew death would not have the final word in that moment. And still, John 11:35 says, “Jesus wept.” He was moved by their sorrow. He was touched by their grief. He was not cold toward them.

And again in Matthew 23:37 He says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” That is not the voice of a hard Savior. That is the voice of One whose heart is full of compassion.

That is our Lord.

And then there is that man in Mark 3 with the withered hand. Out of all the people in the synagogue, Jesus fixes His attention on the man who could not fix himself. The man who was limited. The man who had an obvious weakness. And the Lord says to him, “Stretch forth thine hand” Mark 3:5. That is just like Jesus. He is drawn toward the weak. He has compassion on the needy. He is not looking for the polished person who has it all together. He looks with mercy on the one who knows he does not.

So if you are struggling today, if you feel like you have botched things too many times, if you are barely holding it together, do not mistake the heart of your Lord. Joseph’s brothers thought he must be waiting to pounce. Instead, he wept. And our Greater than Joseph is even more merciful still.

He is not keeping a record in order to throw it back in your face.

He is not tolerating you until the day He finally has enough.

He is not exhausted by the weakness He already knew was there when He called you.

He knows exactly what you are.

And He loves you still.

That does not make sin a light thing. What the brothers did was evil. They had done Joseph wrong. What we do is not small either. Our failures are real. Our stumblings are real. But grace is real too. Mercy is real too. The blood of Jesus Christ is real too. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” And Romans 8:35 asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then Romans 8:38 and 39 makes it plain that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing.

No pit you dug.

No brother you sold.

No failure you repeated.

No weakness you still drag around.

If you are in Christ, you are not under condemnation. You are under mercy. You are not under a grudge. You are under grace. You are not living beneath a Savior who is looking for a reason to cast you off. You are living beneath a Savior whose heart is moved with compassion toward His own.

Joseph wept because they still feared him.

And I think many times the Lord’s heart must be grieved, not because His people are weak, but because they still do not know how tender He really is.