Families are weird. I was a little concerned when I started saying that from the pulpit during this series on the families of Genesis. Concerned that someone might be offended….was I wrong. Many of you have stopped by my office or pulled me aside and said, “You think these families in the bible are weird? Let me tell you about MY family.”
The sons of Jacob, these soon to be patriarchs of the tribes of Israel, plotted and schemed to get rid of their half brother because they were jealous that their father, Jacob, loved Joseph the most. Joseph and Benjamin were the only children that Jacob had with his beloved Rachel.
You remember from last week’s reading, Joseph’s brother’s threw him into a well to die, got scared, pulled him out and told Jacob that Joseph was dead. What they did was sell Joseph into slavery and Joseph was taken to Egypt. An Egyptian officer bought him and the Lord was with Joseph and he became successful and was given authority over the officer’s household. He was also handsome but didn’t let that go to his head with the officer’s wife when she tried to seduce Joseph. However, she tricked him, and Joseph was thrown into jail. Joseph found that the Lord was with him there and soon he was put in charge of all the prisoners. It turned out that Joseph was good at interpreting dreams and that got him out of jail and in good favor with Pharoah himself. One of Pharoah’s dreams was about a famine in the land. Joseph gave Pharoah a plan for storing up food in years of plenty to get ready for the drought that was to come. By now Joseph was governor of the land.
The drought and famine did come. Old Jacob sent his sons except Benjamin from the land of Canaan down to Egypt to buy food. And wouldn’t you know the brothers ended up at Joseph’s headquarters to buy grain. They didn’t recognize him but he knew who they were immediately. They made several trips back and forth and when thy came back with Benjamin, Joseph was overwhelmed with emotion; he not only welcomed and forgave his brothers, he told his brothers to go back to Canaan and bring Jacob and the whole clan to Egypt where they could live during the famine.
So Jacob and his whole family went to live in Egypt. Joseph introduced his family to Pharoah, and God worked through him too, and Pharoah gave them the land of Goshen in which to live and Jacob blessed Pharoah. The Israelites were prosperous and many children were born to them. Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years and when he was 147 years old he knew he was dying and he passed the family blessing on to Joseph’s children. He also blessed his other sons who became the leaders of the tribes of Israel.
After Jacob died the brothers became very fearful that Joseph would try to pay them back for all the wrong they had done to him. They went to Joseph in fear and trembling and offered to be his slaves. But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Is it for me to put myself in God’s place? The evil you planned to do me has by God’s design been turned to good, to bring about the …survival of a numerous people.”(50:19-20) You would think Joseph would have been angry and resentful and licking his chops for revenge for what his brothers had done to him, but God gave Joseph the power to forgive them. Like Abraham - like Isaac, and like Jacob, his father - Joseph had a sense that God was with him. Joseph was even able to say it to his brothers, “It was not you who sent me here but God.” Joseph lived to be 110 and his people grew and multiplied in the land of Egypt for about 450 years until they had to leave, and that is the end of Genesis. It is not the end of the story of God’s people.
So what does all of this have to do with us? Everything! We are the continuation of the story. We have been given a series of stories full of people who have names and faces and personalities. They loved and fought, got married, had children, were believers and doubters. They did terrible things to themselves and each other and experienced God’s grace all along the way. If we read carefully we find ourselves in these stories. We find clues as to how God might be working his purpose out in our time… in our lives. In these stories we find hope for ourselves and our future.
Sometimes we have to have a little time to give us some perspective. Have you ever looked back at your life or some part of your life - maybe even a part that was painful or shameful to you and with time and distance you can see how good came out of it? Think how angry and scared Joseph must have felt when he was thrown in a well and sold as a slave by his own flesh and blood. Think how any of us have felt when we have been hurt or betrayed by family, friends or those we love.
Sometimes our life circumstances may make us feel like we have been betrayed and sold into slavery. Slavery might be illness or grief. Slavery might be a job that for you is just drudgery. Slavery might be an addiction, or the need to be a caregiver. Slavery can be anything that squeezes you into a tight place and you can’t move. At the time, we might well wonder how any good could come - how could God be working his purpose out if I am so miserable?
What set Joseph apart in slavery was his attitude and response to adversity, His sense of responsibility set Joseph apart in the officer’s house. His attention to other people set him apart in the prison, and in the presence of Pharoah. What set him apart was Joseph’s response of ongoing concern for people and what was going on around him. He cared; he took responsibility; he had empathy for the human condition he could weep for the misery he saw in his brother’s faces, he could forgive and go on…. Even the pagan, Pharoah, said he saw the spirit of God in Joseph.
The stories in the Bible help us understand that we are never outsiders to God’s family. Think of God’s goodness and love as being so limitless that it can encompass any evil or sinful thing in this world or any awful thing that can happen to us - even death - and ultimately redeem it. God works with us however he finds us. - no matter what we do, whether it is good or bad we continue to be a part of everything that God is doing, but we won’t be coerced or forced by God. What ever happens to us or around us; the ultimate question will always be…. How do I go on from here? What do I need to do to be faithful? Amen