Joseph was a Technicolor Dream Boat
This past Sunday morning (April 3)- we talked about Jospeh as part of our series on the heroes of faith. In case you don’t remember the story of Joseph- here’s a few highlights.
Joseph was favored by his father- and this made Joseph’s brothers jealous. This kind of thing offends modern readers- we’re not supposed to have favorites, we all say. But, then again, we probably all realize we have stronger bonds with some people than others, including parents and children. We all tell ourselves, the love is the same, the relationship is just different. This is probably that kind of thing.
Joseph has visions of his own greatness, and reports this to his already jealous brothers who get so angry they beat him, through him in a well, sell him into slavery, and tell their father he died.
While living as a slave, Joseph becomes a trusted household manager of his owner/lord. He’s a hand young buck and his presence is a temptation to his lord’s wife. She propositions Joseph and Joseph, being the chaste young man he is, refuses her advances. She tells her husband Joseph propositioned her (a lie), and Joseph is thrown in jail.
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love.
~ Genesis 39:21
While in jail (remember, he’s not only in jail, he’s also still a slave), Joseph begins to interpret dreams of those around him. He’s not just interpreting dreams- but he’s having visions of the future, he’s foreseeing things that actually happen. Pretty special. Word spreads and he is given the opportunity to interpret dreams for the Pharaoh, who is basically king of Egypt. Joseph is able to foresee, through interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, a coming famine and is able to prepare Egypt for it by building up a surplus so that they can handle the famine in stride.
God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes.
~ Genesis 41:52
Ironically, this brings his brothers to Egypt because they live in a place that wasn’t able to prepare for the famine so they come to negotiate for some food. Joseph toys around with the brothers- as he recognizes them, but not the other way around. He humiliates them in various ways, some of them are briefly locked up, and so on. In other words, he’s enjoying his position and getting a bit of payback. No major harm is caused- but he probably scared the mess out of them.
Ultimately Joseph tells his family who he is and invites them to live with him in Egypt where they can live without worry for food.
God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
~ Genesis 45:7-8
Joseph provides for his family, and, following the death of their father, fully reconciles with his brothers- assuring them that it’s not his place to judge them or hold them accountable for what they’ve done- this is God’s work.
His story closes with with him telling his brothers that God will remain faithful to the promise that He made to Abraham, to take them out of the land where they’re enslaved and into a new land.
The Story of God
Last week we talked about how these stories are never the stories of people they are the story of God. And, we talked about the fact that, more often than not, the stories of biblical heroes are the stories of God using incredibly messy people to bring about his kingdom (a new reality defined by God’s grace, forgiveness, mercy, and love).
This story is not how many of the stories go when it comes to biblical heroes. It’s not the story of an incredibly complicated and messy person. Joseph is only slightly complicated- wrestling with resentment and forgiveness, but ultimately doing an honorable thing. And, even so, this story is not the story of Joseph. It’s the story of God preserving the very tiny group of people that he has created to make himself known in the world.
God is in relationship with Israel so that Israel might be a light to the nations. God makes himself known to Israel so that the rest of the world may know God through Israel. This mission started small- like a mustard seed, with a single family, beginning with Abraham and Sarah, passing down to Jacob (also called Israel), and now to Joseph. God remains faithful to this family and carries them through all kinds of hardship because this is how God is going to make himself know to the world. And where God is known, good things happen: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Hope, mercy, forgiveness, and so on. Without this small, seemingly insignificant family, who grow into an entire people group, God is not known. The world does not experience His presence.
It’s easy to be distracted by the heroes. To compare ourselves. To ask if we live up to the standard, and so on. To shame ourselves for the ways in which we don’t. This is why it is such good news that the Bible is the story of God and not the story of people.
In Sunday school, they tell you this is the story of how you persevere in hard times. It’s how you trust God to provide at your darkest hour, and so on. These may be powerful messages and important ones to grab onto, at times, but they are not what this story is about. This story is about how God preserves one man who can’t take care of himself so that God can continue his long mission of transforming the world into a place that perfectly models what He cares about most.
Our job, as people of faith, is not to tell our own story it’s to tell the story of God. And we don’t necessarily do this by telling stories- we do this by refusing to evaluate ourselves and others. We do this by offering kindness, gentleness, and hope. We extend forgiveness where we can. We leave the judgment to God, and focus on these small things which are our mission.
You do not need to be a Joseph to be a faithful follower of God. You don’t need to be somebody who is so “good” in the face of so much tragedy, who preserves in the face of so many obstacles, and so on and so on.
The call is far simpler- you’re called to be a decent human being. Decent to yourself, to others, and to God. And you absolutely have what it takes.
