There was a crazy story I
read a few years ago about a tragic mix-up that happened when the police
brought an injured and unidentified man to Chicago’s Mercy Hospital. The victim
of a mugging, the man’s face was disfigured by injuries. Police used mug shots
to identify him as Alfonso Bennett.
When members of Bennett’s
family were called to the hospital, they insisted to doctors that the patient
didn’t look like him, but they were told repeatedly that the identification was
correct.
When doctors recommended
to Bennett’s family that he be removed from a respirator and transferred to
hospice care, family members reluctantly agreed. Sadly, three days later,
Alfonso passed away...or so they thought.
Then, as the family was
preparing for his funeral, the real Alfonso Bennett, who had been traveling out
of state, returned to town and showed up at a friend’s barbecue completely
unaware that he had been pronounced dead! You can imagine the tears of joy,
hugs and shouts that swept across the Bennett family when they were reunited,
and they discovered the one they thought was dead was actually alive.
Meanwhile, authorities had
the unenviable task of transferring the body of the misidentified man to the
morgue so they could finally figure out his identity.[1]
Imagine meeting someone
you thought was dead, actually alive and well! That happened twice in the
Bible. In the Old Testament, it happened to the brothers of Joseph who had
betrayed him years before by selling him as slave to traders headed for Egypt
(Gen. 37). They had told their father, Jacob, he was dead, killed by a wild
animal. They even completed the deception by splashing goat’s blood on Joseph’s
famous multi-colored coat. But decades later, those brothers stood before an
Egyptian leader who told them, “I am Joseph.” Their shock and surprise was only
eclipsed by that of Jacob’s amazement.
26 And they told him,
“Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his
heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all
the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that
Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And
Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him
before I die.” (Gen. 45:26-28)
Of course, Joseph’s “resurrection”
is an Old Testament prefiguring of what would happen thousands of years later
on Easter morning. Defying all expectations, Jesus burst out of the tomb in
power and victory. His multiple post-resurrection appearances left His
disciples befuddled, amazed and overjoyed. The two Emmaus Road disciples who unknowingly
talked with the risen Jesus for miles exclaimed, “Did not our hearts burn
within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the
Scriptures?” (Luke 24:37).
Jacob’s reaction of shock
and awe at the news of Joseph’s survival is a foreshadowing of what will happen
to the Jews when they realize that Jesus is alive. One day the entire world
will be startled when they see Him, whom they pierced, coming down from the
clouds of glory (Rev. 1:7). -DM
[1]
Marc Nathanson, “In case of mistaken identity, family finds relative is alive
after taking wrong man off life support: Lawsuit,” ABC NEWS, 4 July 2019
<https://abcnews.go.com/US/case-mistaken-identity-family-finds-relative-alive-taking/story?id=64137348>
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