“Joseph
and His Brothers”
A Sermon Preached by the
Rev. Jean Niven Lenk
Rev. Jean Niven Lenk
Sunday, October 28, 2012
First Congregational Church of Stoughton,
United Church of Christ
Text:
Selections from Genesis 37
As we continue with our Bible Top 40 stories today, we are still in the
first book of bible, Genesis. The
stories of Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, the Tower of Babel, Abraham and Isaac,
and Jacob and Esau have showcased God’s creative power and desire to be in
relationship with humankind. But they
have also revealed human pride, family dysfunction, and domestic conflict. In fact, if there is a common thread running
through all these narratives, it is that bad choices and misinformed decisions can
have consequences down through the generations.
For instance, last week, we heard how Rachel’s favoritism of her son
Jacob enabled him to trick both his father Isaac and his older twin Esau into
receiving the blessing and birthright that belonged to his brother.
In today’s story, Jacob is now a father, and having been a favored son
himself, he too plays favorites. Jacob
has 12 sons by four women, but it is his wife Rachel he loves above all the
others. Rachel dies in childbirth, and
Jacob is left grieving and clutching tightly to her memory through her two sons,
Joseph and Benjamin. And his unresolved
grief and unwarranted favoritism shapes his relationships with his children, and
their relationships with each other.
Of his 12 sons, Jacob chooses #11 – Joseph – as his favorite, and he
assigns him to a supervisory position in the family business. This job requires Joseph to report back on
the activities of his brothers as they manage Jacob’s herds. So think about this – little brother, who’s
only 17 years old, is given carte blanche to report back to Daddy whether
you’ve taken a few extra coffee breaks or if you don’t seem to be pulling your
full weight. In short, it’s a recipe for
disaster.
To make matters worse, Jacob bestows upon Joseph a special coat –
perhaps not quite the amazing technicolor dreamcoat of Broadway fame, but a
special one nonetheless. This wonderful coat
makes it easy to spot Joseph in the distance as he makes his way to the field
each day to check up on his brothers, whose drab clothes pale in comparison and
serve as a constant reminder of who is – and is not – the favorite son. As the song from the musical succinctly puts
it, “Being told we're also-rans does not make us
Joseph fans.” And it doesn’t help that
Joseph gloats as he manages from the sidelines as his brothers’ work at herding
the flocks. Joseph’s conceit and
self-importance, which is enabled and encouraged by his father Jacob, is bound
to have repercussions.
The final straw is when Joseph one day ambles
down to the fields where his brothers are working and proceeds to tell them
about some dreams he has had in which they all bow down to him, dreams which he
believes are undeniable proof that he is indeed meant to be in charge. And with that, the brothers have had it – had
it with their father Jacob’s favoritism, had it with feeling second best, had it
with little brother Joseph’s self-serving dreams, and had it with his arrogant
attitude.
And so the brothers plot to kill him and
throw his body into a pit. But perhaps
feeling some lingering sense of responsibility as the oldest, Reuben intervenes
and convinces his brothers to instead sell Joseph to a passing caravan, which
will get him far, far away and out of their hair forever. They keep Joseph’s coat, however, and smear
it with animal’s blood and take it back to their father Jacob who draws the
obvious, devastating, heartbreaking conclusion – that his beloved favorite son
Joseph is dead.
Right about now, you might be asking the
question, “Where’s the Good News in this story?” Can God take all these different threads of
favoritism, jealousy, arrogance, conspiracy, and grief and weave something
positive, something grace-filled, something godly out of it all?
Well, you will have to wait until next Sunday
for the good news when Diane tells the rest of the story. But that’s like life. So often we do have to wait for the good
news. Often in the midst of our
challenges and setbacks, of our heartache and suffering, it is hard to see what
good can come of all of it. It can take
months, even years, to look back on a situation and make meaning of it, to put
to positive use some heartbreaking lesson, to see how something that seemed so
awful at the time could result in wonderful and surprising blessings.
I know as I look back, I can see how joy,
love, meaning, and purpose have infused my life not just in spite of the losses and challenges I have experienced, but
indeed because of them.
Think about it – have you been demoralized by
a job loss, only to find that it opened up a new career opportunity you would
never have pursued otherwise? Have you
or a loved one received a frightening diagnosis, only to discover the depth of
love and compassion of friends? Have you
suffered a devastating loss, only to find renewed meaning and purpose in your
life as a result?
Suffering is
human, it’s a part of life. If we’re
fully alive, we are going to experience pain and suffering, but suffering can
be transformative. Our broken hearts can
be renewed by God, and our broken lives can be revitalized. It has been said that joy is not the absence
of suffering, but the presence of God. God
does not instigate our suffering; rather, God participates in them. God abides with us and strengthens us. But sometimes it means waiting, because it
will happen on God’s time, not according to our own schedule.
When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, we can
imagine he felt betrayed, disheartened, angry, and frightened. He may have felt it was the worst thing that
could happen to him, and that his family relationships were beyond
redemption. But God wasn’t finished with
Joseph, or his brothers, or his story, and God isn’t finished with any of us
either.
If you’re feeling depressed, dispirited, disheartened…
if you’ve suffered a loss of any kind… if you’re feeling like you’re down in
the bottom of a pit and can’t crawl out… there is Good News awaiting, because
just as God did not leave Joseph, God will not leave us. And so… see you next week! Amen.
