You don’t have to venture very far into Genesis before you encounter bloodshed. It’s right there in chapter four—Cain murders his brother Abel in a fit of jealousy and rage! By way of contrast, it will take another twenty-nine chapters before you come across a story of two brothers expressing forgiveness. Long after Jacob swindles his dimwitted brother Esau out of both a birthright and a blessing, the two are reunited and decide to let bygones be bygones. But the reunion is short lived, as they also decide that it might be best to go their separate ways.

For a story of more lasting forgiveness, you need to turn to the very last chapter of Genesis, where Joseph and his brothers are reconciled. Make no mistake; Joseph’s brothers intended to do him great harm—and at least initially, succeeded! They sold him into slavery for twenty pieces of silver; and then, in a calculated effort to conceal their crime, dipped his multicolored robe in blood and informed their old man that, apparently, his fair-haired, favorite son had had a fatal tangle with a wild animal.

Years later, when everyone is reunited, Joseph finally has the chance to get even with them. But he declines. “You may have intended to do me harm,” he tells his brothers, “but God intended it for good.” Of course, some have pointed out that Joseph’s newfound power and prosperity in Egypt make this gracious act rather convenient. What if he were still languishing in prison? Would he then be so eager to forgive his brothers and declare that “all things work together for good”?

I’m not sure how Joseph would have responded under those circumstances. But perhaps it is worth remembering another son upon whom great harm was inflicted. He too was sold for a bag of silver (although, with inflation, the price had jumped from twenty to thirty pieces). His robe—instead of being dipped in blood—became a prize gambled upon by those who watched him bleed like a sacrificial lamb. And as did Joseph, he also expresses words of forgiveness to those who intended to kill him. However, unlike Joseph, his words do not come from a position of power and prosperity. They come from a cross!

On one level, the two stories are very different. But on a deeper level, I think the message is basically the same, because even as Jesus is dying, God can be heard whispering, “You intend this for evil, but I intend it for good.”