God Planned It That Way Rev. Colin S. Marshall
2nd May 2010 St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Mt. Roskill
Readings: Psalm 27, Genesis 50:15-21, Luke 3:7-18, 1 John 1:12-17
How would you like to be your dad’s favourite and be picked on by all of your brothers and sisters? That was Joseph’s situation. In the Old Testament we have the account of Joseph who was Jacob’s favourite son. If Joseph had of been wise he might have taken things with his brothers and sisters somewhat more carefully but it seems he did the opposite. Joseph’s mother had died in child-birth when Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin was born so Joseph grew up without his mother Rachel. As Rachel had been greatly loved by her husband Jacob. Jacob had worked for her father for fourteen years before so that they could get married. After her death Jacob, who God renamed Israel, had a special concern for Joseph and Benjamin.
At seventeen Israel presented Joseph with a beautifully designed, richly ornamented and coloured coat. It was a sign of what his brothers already knew; their father loved Joseph far more than any of the rest of them. Such imbalance in a family is not good at the best of times and his brothers response to this blatant favouritism it was a portent of what was to come.
To make things worse Joseph seemed to have a knack for getting under his brothers’ skin. When Joseph had a prophetic dream he was quick to tell it to his brothers. In his dream he and his brothers were all sheaves of wheat and when his sheave arose above the others they bowed down to him. His brothers perceived Joseph’s dream as a thinly disguised arrogance. Joseph would later tell of another similar dream whereby eleven stars, the sun and moon would bow down to him. This only further exasperated his family with its implication that even his parents would serve him.
Twice we are told that his father loved Joseph more than all the others and his brothers grew increasingly jealous of him. It wasn’t long before the brothers found a way to do away with Joseph. Sent to check up on how his brothers were doing tending the flocks which migrated many kilometres from home in search of food Joseph was far from home when his brothers saw him coming. There description of him is telling “Here comes that dreamer.” His dreams rankled with them.
So angry were the brothers that the debated killing him but his brother Reuben wasn’t too keen on this. Reuben wasn’t the greatest moral witness, he had slept with his father’s concubine to the public shame of the family (Gen 35). Reuben didn’t want to save Joseph so much as protect what little status he had left as eldest son. He suggested throwing Joseph in a cistern, an old dried up well, so that he could come and rescue him later and sent him back home. The brothers agreed.
A sidetrack. I love the song in the musical Joseph’s many coloured coat where Joseph is thrown down the well and left alone desolate. He is wonderfully portrayed as the dreamer who is not overly concerned by his immediate fate but has a confidence that all that is happening is for a purpose that lies far from this land. His confidence is not shaken because he believes God is entirely in control. His situation may appear dire and his future apparently bleak but his faith in God carries him beyond it to a peace of mind that is beyond the immediate.
While Joseph is portrayed to be a dreamer, he does reflect something we should all aim for in our lives as Christians – the ability to wait on God and look beyond the current situation to something better. This isn’t always easy. While Joseph sits at the bottom of an abandoned well awaiting death miles from anywhere he isn’t despairing or angry. He might have every reason to be. But his trust in God is greater than his circumstance. Are we like that? Can we trust in God to be greater than our circumstance? If we can’t then either we believe in a God who is far too small or we have yet to learn to trust God. It’s easy to trust God when everything seems to be going well. But then that sort of trusting doesn’t really mean anything at all does it. It’s like having a parachute in your plane and trusting that it will work. It makes you happy that it’s there and it can be left hidden away in the back. But if you really want to know about trust put the parachute on and step out of the plane.
Joseph trusted God would come through for him and he just had to sit and wait patiently. What happened with Joseph is fascinating but this morning we’re going to jump much of the story, some of which we will look at in more detail in the next couple of weeks. But let me provide a synopsis: Joseph’s brothers took him from the well to sell him into slavery. He became a slave in Egypt where his dreams and the interpretation of dreams led to him becoming second in the Kingdom to Pharaoh himself. Quite some promotion: from being sold into slavery to becoming the second most important ruler of one of the greatest kingdoms of the age.
Joseph had interpreted one of Pharoah’s dreams as a period of seven years of great prosperity followed by a season of seven years of famine. It was, he said, a warning from God to get ready for what would transpire. Promoted to carry out the task Joseph built grain silos all over Egypt and stored the taxed food during the years of plenty. During the ensuing years of poverty Joseph sold the grain making Pharaoh extremely wealthy.
Now we come to the focus of today’s reading. Joseph’s family knew nothing of destiny. His father had been deceitfully led to believe that Joseph had been killed by wild animals. Joseph’s brothers had covered the beautiful robe with animals’ blood and presented it to their father Israel as evidence of Joseph’s death. Israel had lived with the numbing sorrow for years. In the time of famine Canaan suffered severely. Unlike Egypt the country was not ready nor had prepared for famine. Jacob sent his sons to buy grain in Egypt. And guess who negotiated with foreigners who wanted to buy grain – Joseph.
Now we might feel that anyone in Joseph’s shoes who had been so deceitfully and cruelly treated by his brothers might have good cause for wanting revenge, especially when the power differential had become so great. Joseph recognises his brothers immediately though they don’t recognise their brother who has become so Egyptian it never for a moment crosses their minds who they are dealing with. Especially as Joseph only speaks through a translator. To shorten the story we can summarise by saying that, without revealing himself, Joseph set about a plan to bring his younger brother and father to Egypt although his brothers were reluctant to do so. Eventually the entire family came to Egypt as Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. It was a mixed time of great fear and then great rejoicing as Joseph told his brothers he held no grudge against them.
Today’s reading in Gen 50 happened just after the death of Jacob, who we remember was renamed Israel. Joseph led a large contingent of Egyptians back to Canaan to bury his father. All this is good but what transpired when he returned is so familiar that what happens needs some careful thought. I say this because some of the consistently worst situations I have to deal with occur after a death as families both come to terms with the death and the aftermath.
When a person dies family issues often come to the fore and not always in the best of ways, such was the case with Joseph’s family. Even in their old age parents can have a calming effect on the family. Once this restraint is removed it can be fascinating the fear, the greed and the callousness that can come out between siblings. In Joseph’s family the brothers understood only too clearly their potential situation. If Joseph held a grudge against them for sending him into slavery their father may have been the only reason Joseph had held back his revenge. Now with Jacob dead were they going to suffer?
Clearly the brothers hadn’t learnt much. Rather than facing up in person their cowardice come to the fore. They sent a message to Joseph purporting to be from their father. “Please forgive the sins of your brothers.” When Joseph received the message he cried. We can understand this. After all he had been through, after his welcome of his family and his provisioning for them, after showing them all God had done through him his brothers were still living in a real ignorance of the things and ways of God. Finally they came before him in person and Joseph responded to them: “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish in me what is being done, the saving of many lives. So then don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.”
The story contains some interesting parallels and truths.
Firstly: God’s way brings life not death. Joseph’s brothers had followed an evil path intending to take and destroy life, to profit from others pain. Because of this it was what they expected from others, from Joseph. In contrast to this evil path God’s plan is to save and build up lives. He encourages and equips us to do the same. Joseph who the brothers intended originally to kill and then relenting for slavery became the one who saved many lives, not just in Egypt but through the known world during the period of intense drought. Jesus’ death on the cross turned the worst evil could inflict into ultimate gain and life for those who live by faith.
Secondly: In the garden of Eden Adam and Eve’s sin led to a curse on the ground so that food could only been brought forth by toil and labour. In Joseph’s case obedience and faith led to adequate food in time of famine. Where there, by-rights, should have been an absence of food, God’s servant provided a comparative abundance. Joseph demonstrates to us how those who lead a life of faith looking to God, regardless of their circumstances, can always anticipate their faith being rewarded, certainly in the next life but also, if it fits God’s will, in this world in ways they might hope for. Today Christian men and women of faith can anticipate that some of the curses brought by sin and evil in the world can be reversed by their righteous action.
Thirdly: We are shown Joseph’s stated understanding. His brothers came before him and threw themselves down at his feet. An ancient ritual formula seeking leniency and mercy. They called themselves his slaves. In doing so the first of the dreams he had shared with them was fulfilled. Here were his brothers, without parents, in abject submission before him. After telling them not to be afraid Joseph asked a telling rhetorical question: Am I in the place of God?
Satan’s sin was to try and become God by force, by rebellion. In the garden of Eden Adam and Eve were tempted to become like God by eating the forbidden fruit. Joseph’s brothers in wanting to kill Joseph did the same. They believed they had the power of life and death. Joseph wasn’t about to make the same mistake. His designs were not evil but well intentioned. He would not repay evil with evil but rather with love and compassion. Knowing that God alone held the righteous power of life over death Joseph appreciated life and all that God had given him.
Our
final point then is that Joseph recognised, as it seems he always had, the way
God had worked things for the good regardless of how they started out.
His brothers had intended him evil but God had worked it to good.
In the big picture God’s chosen people needed to survive the famine.
In Egypt they not only survived, they flourished.
God also wanted to move his people from Canaan towards their promised
home and this was a step on the way. Even
what had been intended for evil God had used to achieve good.
Joseph shows us an important way to think, to live and how to forgive. A theme well
summarised by Romans 8:28 “And we know that in
all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose.”
If
we can get our heads and hearts around this understanding it will, I can promise
you, change our lives and how we approach life.
When we understand that God can direct events and situations and that He
does so for good purpose for His people, even when evil is intended by others,
we can always look for a good outcome. It
may not be immediate, the book of Hebrews makes that clear, but sometimes it is
sooner than we expect. God is
working all of history out to His good purposes and we are part of that.
His will for us is good, no matter how difficult things are.
As Joseph sat at the bottom of the well he looked to the working out of
God’s plan. As he got older and
saw God’s plan unfold in his own
life he was able to rejoiced in his God and where God had brought him to.
Because of this his faith could not be shaken and his attitude towards
people changed for the good.
Let
us learn from the lesson of Joseph and look positively forward and to God’s
provision regardless of our circumstances. And
let us love and forgive all people no matter how desperate the cause, not
gullibly but wisely with a Godly perspective.
Then we too, in the end, with Joseph, will be able to recognise that
“God planned it that way.”