Sermon-Joseph Stories And Our Problems

"SOME OLD STORIES FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM:
Joseph Stories And Our Problems"

Dr. James L. Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

September 26, 1999

text: Genesis 37 - 45 (read 45:1-8 & 15)

Have you ever been hurt by people you love? Have you ever been set up, falsely accused and unjustly punished? Have you ever done your best, been promised a reward, and then seemingly been forgotten? Have you ever been tempted to use your abilities and whatever power you have to get even with those who had hurt you and to make them really suffer? If so, the stories related to Joseph have something to say to you.

As you may remember, the brothers Joseph was hugging in the passage we read today are the very same brothers who years before had first plotted to kill him and then settled on selling Joseph into slavery. The desire of his brothers to get rid of him was somewhat understandable. Joseph had behaved like a spoiled brat—which of course he was. He was clearly Jacob's favorite; a sign of that was the special coat his father had made for him. Joseph had been a tattletale, always telling on his older brothers. He had been an arrogant showoff, telling about his dreams of his brothers having to bow before him. That his brothers would want to be rid of this obnoxious, younger brother was understandable. Of course, that did not excuse their attempt to kill him, nor did it excuse what they finally did, which was to sell him into slavery.

As a slave Joseph was taken to Egypt; there he was sold to an army officer. Joseph could have allowed bitterness to cripple him, but he did not give into self-pity and resentment. He lived as best he could the life that was his to live, and he did so well, Joseph became the slave in charge of the household.

But this was not the end of hard times for Joseph. The wife of the army officer who owned him tried to seduce Joseph; when he refused, she accused him of attempted rape, and Joseph was sent to prison. It was a great injustice. It could easily have been the last straw to cause Joseph to become bitter. But he refused to give in to bitterness and resentment. Joseph lived the life that was his to live as best he could, and in time, he was placed in charge of others in the prison.

While he was in prison, he befriended the Pharaoh's butler by interpreting a dream that was bothering the butler. In return, the butler promised to put in a good word for Joseph with the Pharaoh.

Of course, as soon as the butler was out of trouble and away from Joseph, he forgot all about his promise. For two long years the butler failed to keep his promise while Joseph remained in prison for a crime he had not committed. If Joseph had become bitter, cynical and resentful it would have been understandable, but Joseph did not. He lived as best he could the life that was his to live.

What caused the butler to finally remember Joseph was the anxiety the Pharaoh was experiencing because of a dream he was having. The butler told Pharaoh about Joseph having made sense of his dream, so the Pharaoh sent for Joseph. Joseph interpreted the dream as a sign that there were going to be seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine. The Pharaoh was impressed, and he put Joseph in charge of getting ready for the famine. Joseph did his job so well he became a high official in the Egyptian government.

When the famine came, it was not merely in Egypt, but also in Canaan where Joseph’s father and brothers lived. When they heard there was food in Egypt, Jacob, Joseph’s father, sent some of his sons. When they appeared before Joseph, he recognized them, but they did not recognize him. In a series of incidents, Joseph put his brothers through some tests—I assume he wanted to discover whether or not they had really changed.

Finally we come to the scene that was described in the passage we read today. Joseph could have done his brothers great harm because he was a powerful man in Egypt. Any revenge he had might have taken would have been understandable and somewhat justified in the eyes of the world. But that is not what Joseph did.

Although he had experienced great injustice several times, Joseph was not a bitter man, full of venom. Self-pity, resentment, and a soul-shriveling desire for revenge did not enslave him. If all he had gone through had caused Joseph to be cynical or mean, angry or cruel, it would have been understandable in the eyes of the world.

But this is not what happened to Joseph. Why not? A significant clue is in the passage we read today. Joseph was speaking to his brothers when he said: "… do not be distressed … because you sold me [into slavery}. …God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth … So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh …"

In this passage it is clear Joseph had faith in God. He really believed God was involved not only in life in general, but in his life in particular. Joseph trusted God with his life. Just because he was sold into slavery did not mean his life was over and God had abandoned him. Joseph trusted that even in the midst of slavery God was with him, and even as a slave, he could be the servant of God.

And when Joseph was unjustly put in prison, he did not blame God for the failure of human justice. He had faith in God; that is to say, he really believed God was with him, even in prison, and that even in prison, he could live as a servant of God. And it was this attitude that sustained him even when it became obvious the butler had forgotten his promise.

Living with this outlook on life, this understanding of life, this attitude toward life, is why Joseph responded the way he did when his brothers came.

Joseph lived trusting God; he lived by faith. He was confident God had been with him and that God was still with him and at work in his life. God and what we call the grace of God was what gave direction and meaning to Joseph’s life—not all the bad things that had caused him pain. Therefore, as both a child of God and his brothers' brother, Joseph chose to act for reconciliation rather than revenge.

And this way of living that we see reflected in the story of Joseph is not just a Bible story that is too idealistic for real life today. I heard Robert Schuller tell this story a few years ago.

One time when he was out of the country, Dr. Schuller received the terrible news that his teenage daughter had to have one of her legs amputated. He immediately returned home. As he prepared to enter his daughter's hospital room he did not know what to say. I suppose he was struggling with the agony of sorrow and anger only parents fully know when something bad and unfair happens to one of their children. He walked into her room; he saw the stump of her leg raised in traction with a slight stain of blood showing through the bandage. I suppose in that moment he was flooded with an instant awareness of all she would not be able to do because of this terrible loss.

As he stood there with a huge hump in his throat, his daughter turned her head toward him and there was a smile on her face. As I remember the story, she said something like this: "Dad, I've been lying here thinking about all the people who have lost arms and legs, all the people who have had some bad things happen to them. You know, there is a lot of ministry to be done among those people. And that is what I am going to do."

His daughter could have fallen into self-pity; God knows, many of the people who knew her were giving her plenty of pity. His daughter could have become resentful. She could have become bitter, angry at life and cynical. Some in her situation have done just that. But she did not.

Like Joseph, she had a different perspective on life. She lived by faith; that is to say, she trusted God was not only involved in life in general, but also in her life in particular. She trusted that God could and would use her. She assumed her life had purpose, a purpose that even bad things happening to her could not destroy. Those bad things might limit the situation in which she served, but it did not limit the meaning of her service, or the significance of her living in the sight of God.

We can learn a lot from her and from Joseph, especially when the bad times come, the times when life is unfair, the times when we are tempted to become bitter and or to hunger for revenge or to wallow in self-pity.

God, help us learn from these stories. Help us to live trusting you—especially in the midst bad times and in times when life is unfair. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:

God, help us when we have committed ourselves to do more than we should and as a result of our unwillingness to be disciplined, we are neglecting or making only half-hearted efforts to do what is most important in your eyes. God, give us the wisdom to know what to resign or to leave undone and the courage to do that. Help us be good stewards of our limited time and energies. Guide us so that what we decide to do will be what you want us to do.

But, God, sometimes our overload is not of our choosing. Problems of health come to us or to those close to us. Situations and circumstances over which we have no control place burdens on us that are heavier than usual. Sometimes those we most dearly love make destructive choices and the consequences of those choices not only impact them, but also us. God, there are times when our overload is the result of circumstances beyond our control. In those times, God give us the physical, emotional and spiritual strength we need to face what must be faced and the power to move on.

Most of all, O God, when life is hard and our load is heavy, protect us from the temptations to indulge in self-pity or to fall into the quagmire of bitterness. Keep us focused on you and reinforce our confidence in you and in the power of your grace. Enable us to deal with our burdens as Christ dealt with his. Teach us to pray and not merely say: "Our Father …"

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