September 27 2020
Genesis 37:1-34, 50:15-21
It is always interesting to see who people have as their friends on Facebook. One of the surprising friends that my wife has on Facebook is Donny Osmond. She follows his fan page. Just recently she was singing “Go, Away Little Girl” which interestingly enough was so popular when it debuted that it knocked Paul McCartney out of the top ten songs of the week. So yes, Jennifer is a die hard Donny fan. She knows that he likes to wear purple socks, she went and saw him perform at the State Fair and when the first season of the Masked Singer she knew immediately that the voice coming from the participant dressed like a peacock was most assuredly Donny Osmond just from the sound of his voice. She also knows, like many people do, that Donny made the transition from teenage heartthrob to serious Broadway performer when he starred in the leading role of Jospeh and the Technicolor Dream coat. This play is a musical with the music composed by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Donny performed the role of Joseph nearly two thousand times over a six year period of time so needless to say a lot of people must know something about this guy called Joseph.
So, yes, the good thing about Jospeh and the Technicolor Dream Coat is that it has brought the story of Joseph into the realm of mainstream culture. I imagine that there were quite a few people whose first exposure to the story of Joseph and his brothers was through this play and not through reading the Bible. That might be a good thing for at least they have heard something from the scriptural story but what is missed is that this story of Jospeh is part of a larger narrative. In fact, the story of Joseph is a hopeful ending to a story which began with the tragedy of the first humans disobedience followed by the death of their son at the hands of their other son. If we stand back and look at the book of Genesis as a whole what we see in the beginning is the death of Abel at the hands of his brother Cain and at the end of Genesis we find Joseph, who was made out to be dead by his brothers, doing the most unthinkable thing, forgiving them, and being reconciled with them. One more thing that must be observed when we stand back and look at Genesis is that where the story changes is with the introduction of Abraham and Sarah. A big buzzword these days is the word “pivot” and the story of God and us pivots, it turns a new direction that moment that Abraham listened to the voice of God left his family, his neighbors and his country to follow the lead of God.In the story of Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham, we learn of the outgrowth of the faith of Abraham. What we find is that Abraham’s family has held onto the faith that he once had and made that faith their very own. In Joseph’s life we find that this faith has not only personal implications, it is not just Joseph and God walking merrily through life but instead the faith of Joseph has a profound affect on the relationships he has with his brothers. This stands in stark contrast with Cain who not only killed his brother Abel but he unleashed an ongoing plague of hatred and violence into the world. We read about Cains descendants at the end of the fourth chapter of Genesis where Lamech, out of the lineage of Cain states, “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold then Lamech’s is seventy-seven fold”. No forgiveness here just holding on to the need for vengeful justice for generations. It is when we know that our story begins this way that we can then be amazed that at the end of the story we hear Joseph willingly forgive his brothers who had sought to kill him. If we just isolate the story of Joseph and don’t see this story as part of a larger drama we miss what the power of a generational faith in God is able to do. Instead of killing, hatred and vengeance we now have forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity among the family. What we have then is God’s vision, his hope for the rest of his story. It’s as if God is saying. ‘Do you want a glimpse of where this story is headed then look here at the story of Joseph and his brothers.” This story then is to make us curious as to just how does our faith in God result in us being merciful to those who have not or will not show us the same mercy we are willing to show them. This is what we should be on the look out for as we take a look at the story of Joseph.
Our story of Joseph begins in the thirty-seventh chapter of Genesis but to fully grasp the family dynamic that lurks beneath the surface we can’t forget the story surrounding Jacob, Jospeh’s father. Jacob was cheat, pure and simple. He cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright and had to get out of town because of what he had done. He ended up at the farm of Laban his uncle. There he fell in love with Laban’s younger daughter Rachel. However, what Jacob did not know was that Laban himself was also a cheat and when Jacob had worked seven years in order to marry Rachel what he found is that Laban had switched out Rachel and had replaced her with her older sister Leah. So, Jacob had to work seven more years in order to marry the woman he actually loved. Now why is all of this important? Well, Joseph was Jacob’s firstborn son to Rachel, the women he had always loved and wanted to marry. The rest of Jacob’s sons were from either Leah, or the servants of Leah and Rachel. So, the favoritism that Jacob showed to Joseph has its roots in the love Jacob had for Joseph’s mother, Rachel.
Now if this favoritism wasn’t bad enough, Joseph doesn’t do himself any favors either. When we are told in our story that Joseph was pasturing the sheep with his brothers what the original text says is that Joseph was shepherding his brothers while shepherding the sheep. So, Joseph is kind of like that annoying older sibling who thinks it’s their God given duty to play Mom or Dad when Mom or Dad aren’t around. The only thing is that Joseph is not older; he’s younger which makes his attitude all the worse. On top of that Joseph is a tattle tale hurrying home to tell Dad all the stupid things his brothers did when they were supposed to be watching the sheep. It’s easy to understand why Joseph would be the way he was because Jacob’s affection for him was so blatant. Yet it is one thing to love one child more than the rest; it is another thing to create a symbol of that love for the child to wear every day. This is what Jacob did when he made Joseph the famed coat of many colors. The reason why this coat was such a big deal was not so much that it was colorful but more that this was a coat that the sleeves went down to Josephs hands and was long enough to go all the way to his feet. So this was a coat that wasn’t made to work in. Do you see where this is going? When Joseph received the coat he moved up to management; no more laboring for him.So not only was the coat a gesture of Jacob’s love for Joseph it also demonstrated Jacob’s love for Joseph by excusing him from doing all the chores Josephs brothers had to do.
Now when you take all of what we know about the relationship between Jacob and Joseph it is easy to understand why we are told that Joseph’s brothers hated him and could not talk peaceably to him. Well, that just makes sense. But as the story goes along its as if we are being told, wait, that’s not all, there’s more because not only was Joseph annoying he also had weird dreams and wasn’t afraid to talk about them. Joseph had a dream about sheaves of wheat and how all the other sheaves of wheat came and bowed down to Josephs sheaf of wheat. The dream of course required very little interpretation; as Joseph’s brothers asked him, “Are you indeed going to reign over us?” Can you understand why the story says that they hated him even more than they did before. And if that was not enough Joseph again has another dream. You would think he would have just been smart to keep it to himself but no, he has to talk about it. In this dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to him. The sun and moon being his mother and father and the eleven stars his brothers. Now it was Jacobs turn to come unglued as he asked Jospeh, “Do you think your mother and I and all your brothers are going to come and bow down before you?” So, when his Dad becomes upset this is when you know Joseph is just one of those people that people love to hate.
Knowing all we know about Joseph, it is not difficult to understand what comes next. Joseph’s brothers decide to act on their hatred of him and plot to do Joseph in. They were going to kill him until brother Reuben stops them pleading instead to just throw Joseph into a pit. This is an important way to phrase this because in the Bible a pit was another term for a grave. While they in all reality did not kill him they very symbolically had thrown him into the land of the dead. Well, unsure as to what to do with him next, as fortune would have it, slave traders show up and they sell their brother Joseph into slavery in the land of Egypt. So we see in Josephs life this downward turn of his life from being the top dog in the house of Jacob to being desired dead by his brother. From having dreams of reigning over his family to ending up a slave. From living the high life at home in Canaan to going to the unknown land of Egypt. The question is just how will Joseph deal with what has been dealt to him? How will Joseph handle the hatred he must feel that came from the hatred of his brothers?
Well, it seems as for a little while Joseph did all right for himself. He was sold to a man named Potiphar. What is interesting is that Potiphar, an Egyptian, could tell that God was with Joseph and that it was God who was the cause of Joseph’s success. Joseph was put in charge of Potiphar’s house and we are told that Potiphar had no concerns except what he wanted to eat. And all could have been great for Joseph if it hadn’t been for Potiphar’s wife who took a shine for Joseph. Joseph refused her advances telling her that he could not do such a wicked thing and sin against God. Well, Potiphar’s wife just wouldn’t take the hint and one day she came after Joseph again this time tearing off Joseph’s outer coat. Have you begun to notice that coats are a theme in this story? Well, she made up a lie about Joseph. She used the coat he left behind as evidence that it was he who had come unto her and not the other way around. Potiphar, when he found out, was furious and had Joseph thrown into the king’s prison. So, once again another descent for Joseph from a slave to a prisoner. Yet despite this dark moment in Joseph’s life there was a bright moment because we learn that God was with Joseph and God showed Joseph his steadfast love and God gave Joseph favor with the keeper of the prison. Just like when Joseph was at Potiphar’s house, the prison keeper put Joseph in charge of the prison and the prisoners.
It was while in prison that Joseph earned a reputation as a man who could interpret dreams knowing that it was God not his own abilities that enabled him to understand these visions that others had. Now why this was important was that one of those people that Joseph had interpreted their dream ended up working for the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And when the Pharaoh had a dream that no one could figure out and needed someone to interpret it, Josephs friend from prison remembered Joseph. Pharaoh called for Joseph and Joseph came and listened to Pharaoh’s dream about seven fat cows and seven starving cows and Joseph told Pharaoh that there would be seven good years of plenty followed by seven years of the wort famine the world has seen. Joseph also knew that this situation was fixed by God and it was God who was going to bring it about. Now while Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream he went even farther explaining to Pharaoh just what he should do to weather the coming famine. During the good years the Pharaoh should appoint overseers who would see that the surplus grain was gathered and stored up. In this way when the famine came there would be enough food so that people would not perish.
Well, needless to say Pharaoh was impressed but what Pharaoh of course needed to know next is just who could he put in charge of implementing this plan that Jospeh described. Pharaohs exact words were, “Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God?” And when Pharaoh phrased it like that it just makes sense that he would choose Joseph to be in charge because it was Joseph whose life demonstrated that God was with him. So, Joseph ends up going from the depths of prison to being the second in command of all of Egypt.
In all of what has happened to Joseph we have to wonder if his attitude has changed toward his brothers. Well, when Joseph married and had children we find that he named the first one, Manasseh, which means God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.The way Joseph is dealing with his past is to forget about it by embracing the new life God had given him. Yet to forget about your hardship and the ones who brought that hardship upon you is not really dealing with it. The hurt is always going to lurk somewhere below the surface. We get this sense from what Joseph named his second son, Ephraim which meant, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. Even though Joseph has prospered he still hangs on to the fact that he has been wronged. It was those wrongs that had brought him there and that could not be forgotten no matter how well life turned out for him.
One thing Joseph was always keenly aware of was the fact that God was always present with him. He had a knowledge that it was God who was always watching over him. Joseph also understands that God is using him to save lives through his plan of storing up excess grain in the years of plenty. Yet, what Jospeh fails to do is to see beyond himself and understand that it is God who has orchestrated all the events of Joseph’s life in order that through Joseph’s life the lives in his world might be saved. Joseph has to come to this understanding in order that he is at last able to forgive his brothers.
What this story of Joseph reveals is that forgiveness is bound to a right understanding of God and life. Cain who brought forth life through the grain he grew attempted to manipulate God with a sacrifice in order that in return God might be persuaded to give increased abundance to Cain’s crops. When Cain found out that God doesn’t play those games, and Cain was angry and took his anger out on his brother Abel. Fast forward to the story of Abraham and we find a person who unlike Cain has a right relationship with God one where Abraham loved God with all of his heart, with all of his life and all of his resources. This right relationship is one where we place our lives in the hand of God to be used by God to bring life to the world. This is what it means to be a blessing, something God promised that Abraham and his descendants would be to all the families on Earth.
Joseph finally became aware that God was using his life to give life and preserve life when during the famine Joseph’s family showed up in Egypt. In the forty fifth chapter of Genesis, we hear Joseph tell his brothers, “Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Only when Joseph had this understanding was then able to say with all sincerity that he forgave his brothers of the sin they had committed against him. It is not hard, in the light of the cross, to see that these words of Joseph helps us understand Jesus. Jesus with his dying breath could whisper, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” because he also knew that he went before us in order to preserve life. Jesus offered himself through the Holy Spirit as the once for all perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus knew that God could take his life and use his life to be a ransom for many. Only with this understanding can we fathom our forgiveness and know that Jesus forgave us because he came to give life and preserve life not demand our life as a right of vengeance. This is how the story of Joseph gives us a glimmer of hope that one day in the fullness of time, the way of Joseph would one day be the way of all people on Earth. As we think about Joseph and his forgiveness of his brothers we need to consider how we are doing forgiving those who have wronged us. Have we forgiven them as Christ has forgiven us. May we not forget that God’s mercy is solely for those who are merciful. To his honor and glory Amen.!
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