in jail …[Jacob’s children] started talking among themselves. “Now we’re paying for what we did to our brother…. Reuben broke in. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t hurt the boy’? But no, you wouldn’t listen. And now we’re paying for his murder.” — Genesis 42:17-22
[Many years later after their father died] Joseph’s brothers talked among themselves: “What if Joseph is carrying a grudge and decides to pay us back…?” — Genesis 50:14-15
Jacob’s children did a terrible thing to their brother. From then on every time something bad happened they remembered their guilt like it was yesterday. Though they were later forgiven it still haunted them.
Guilt is like that, unable to be completely ignored it’s always in the back of the mind stirring up doubt, blame, fear — even when forgiven by the person wronged it remains.
The only release is to pay for it. Only justice removes guilt.
Justice is something we don’t have but Jesus does. He paid the price for sin and guilt, though he had none, and he offers it to those who ask him for it.
“It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. …It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
–fritz.
Patrikin - Kinship through The Father 