Mysteries are all around us. We all strive to find out who did what to who and where. In fact, Parker Brothers, made a game built around the whole desire to figure it out. The game Clue involves a group of people in a mansion and someone has been murdered. Your objective is to find out who murdered the person. That is center of the game.
The game is simple: collect and remember information until you can know for sure who committed the murder. The cards are dealt to the players. In an envelope in the middle of the board three cards are chosen: a person, place and an object. The players take turns rolling dice and moving from room to room around the board trying to figure out who committed the murder. You keep score on a sheet that lists all the names, rooms and objects to choose from when you solve the case. Each player receives a score sheet and is dealt the remaining cards. As different players guess who did it, new clues are discovered and we get closer to exposing the killer. To win this game you’ve got to be good at keeping score. Not letting any clue slide by is the key to winning this game.
In the game you have to have a really good and strong memory or a sharp pencil to mark down everything so that you will not forget who did what. You cannot let a guess slip by without your notice. It is a game of keeping track of everything that happens. That is the way to win, to keep score and not let go of what happened. That is the way to win this game.
To win a game of Clue is one thing, but if we are going to win at relationships it will take completely different strategy. It is not an easy way to live but it is the way we have to play life’s game. I know right off when we begin to talk that way, our mind races to all of the stories we could tell. If you could talk to me you would say “But Toby, if you only knew what they did…” I’ve those arguments myself over and over again in my head. It is easy to switch to victim mode and to do it in a hurry whenever we are pushed to forgive someone. Before you chuck this book in the trash let me tell you the story about a guy whose story would make a Hollywood block buster. His story will make our story seem like simple whining.
In Genesis chapters 37 – 50 the Bible tells the story of a guy named Joseph. His story is crazy and where it ends up is just as crazy as how it begins. Joseph is born the 11th son to a man named Jacob. Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife, which in today’s world just seems so wrong, and Jacob was old when Joseph was born. Joseph let his father know what was going on with his older brothers. Sure he was a bit of a snitch and he set his brothers up for trouble with their father so you might not blame them for what they do later in the story. I’m just saying he was a bit of an arrogant younger brother. He told on them every chance he could. Then Jacob gives him a fancy coat and sends him to do some more spying. When his brothers see him they decide to kill him. There is a family discussion so they decide to throw him in a pit and decide what to do with him. While they discuss options a band of slave traders come by so they sell their brother to be taken to Egypt. Just your normal family conversation on a lazy Saturday afternoon I’m sure. So Joseph finds himself sold off to some guys who are taking him away.
Once he is in Egypt he is purchased by Potiphar and works so hard that eventually Potiphar puts him in charge of everything. Only one problem stops Joseph from making the best of his situation. Potiphar has a wife who takes a fancy to Joseph, well more than a fancy; she wants him and wants him bad. In fact she pursues him to the point that she makes a fool of herself. She traps Joseph one day and when he chooses to do right it costs him. She accuses him of rape and he is thrown in prison. While in prison he rises to a prominent position and is trusted by the warden. He longs to be free and while in prison befriends a baker and the king’s wine server. They both have dreams and he interprets them: one will go free and the other will die. Well it happens that way and Joseph asks the wine server to remember him and get him free. Well, of course because it is Joseph’s story the guy forgets him and Joseph stays in prison.
A few years later the King of Egypt has a series of dreams that make him quake in his sandals. He sees a series of images that scare him and he begins to look for an answer. No one can give him an answer when out of nowhere the wine server remembers a guy he did time with who did not do too bad telling him what a dream meant. Joseph comes before the king and when asked if he can tell the dreams meaning offers a strange answer for someone who has gone through the journey he has endured. He tells the king in Genesis 41:16: “I am not able to explain the meaning of dreams, but God will do this for the king.” You would think Joseph would have given up on this whole “God thing” and figured that it did him no good to keep the faith. He didn’t, he always believed that God was with him no matter what. He tells the king and the king is happy and follows Joseph’s plan. In fact, not only follows it, but hires Joseph to run it and oversee the next years of Egypt’s prosperity.
To tell a long story in a paragraph: Joseph’s plan works and all the world is traveling to Egypt to buy grain and to simply survive. One of the families that struggled during that time and came to see what they could buy in Egypt was the family of Jacob. Joseph recognized his brothers but they don’t know him at all. They have long put him out of their memory, yet there they stand in front of them. Joseph has a choice to make: fulfill the scorecard or forgive the offenses. Joseph is at a crossroads in his life. His decision will mark the rest of his life. He chooses to forgive and bless his brothers. They bring the whole family to Egypt to live and all goes well until their father dies. Joseph’s brothers are worried that he will take his revenge. They bow before their brother and beg for their lives. Joseph’s response is one we all need to remember. Genesis 50:18 -21 says: “And his brothers went to him and bowed low before him and said, “We are your slaves.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Can I do what only God can do? You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done. So don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” so Joseph comforted his brothers and spoke kind words to them.” Joseph forgives his brothers and blesses them until his own death. When he had the power to hold them accountable he gave them mercy and forgiveness. He chose to tear up the scorecard and win rather than get his revenge.