Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] August 27, 2023 “Always Being Prepared” Genesis 45: 1-15 – Common English Bible Joseph could no longer control himself in front of all his attendants, so he declared, “Everyone, leave now!” So no one stayed with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers. 2 He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s household heard him. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m Joseph! Is my father really still alive?” His brothers couldn’t respond because they were terrified before him. 4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me,” and they moved closer. He said, “I’m your brother Joseph! The one you sold to Egypt. 5 Now, don’t be upset and don’t be angry with yourselves that you sold me here. Actually, God sent me before you to save lives. 6 We’ve already had two years of famine in the land, and there are five years left without planting or harvesting. 7 God sent me before you to make sure you’d survive[a] and to rescue your lives in this amazing way. 8 You didn’t send me here; it was God who made me a father to Pharaoh, master of his entire household, and ruler of the whole land of Egypt. 9 “Hurry! Go back to your father. Tell him this is what your son Joseph says: ‘God has made me master of all of Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t delay. 10 You may live in the land of Goshen, so you will be near me, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everyone with you. 11 I will support you there, so you, your household, and everyone with you won’t starve, since the famine will still last five years.’ 12 You and my brother Benjamin have seen with your own eyes that I’m speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about my power in Egypt and about everything you’ve seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. 15 He kissed all of his brothers and wept, embracing them. After that, his brothers were finally able to talk to him. This summer we have been following the story of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and now we’re on to Jacob’s sons. As you heard last week, Jacob had one son he treated differently than all the rest. Joseph was the youngest and the only son of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel. This son not only received preferential treatment and gifts from his father, he flaunted them, like a really nice embroidered coat, and he tattled on the brothers, and he told them outrageous dreams – like the one when they were out working in the field gathering bundles of wheat and Joseph’s stood up straight and all the other bundles bowed down to it. The brothers were tired of his antics, so when they saw an opportunity to get rid of Joseph, they discussed all the different kinds of ways they could get away with murder. Cooler heads prevailed and they decided that instead of killing him, they would sell him to some traders passing by on their way to Egypt. Then they took Joseph’s amazing technicolor dreamcoat and smeared it with blood and brought it to their father and told him that a wild animal killed him. Jacob was beside himself in grief. His favorite son, the only child of his favorite wife, was dead. Meanwhile, the traders who paid 20 pieces of silver for Joseph arrived in Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, the commander of the royal guard and Pharaoh’s chief officer. Joseph performed his duties so well that he kept being elevated and put in charge and then put in charge of more and more until he was the chief of Potiphar’s entire household. And then the story continues, “Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.” That’s the Common English Bible translation. I was curious how other translations described him. One said he was “of a beautiful form and of a beautiful countenance.” Another, “Strikingly handsome.” And that’s why, we’re told, Potiphar’s wife grew “infatuated” with him and kept trying to seduce him. All summer you’ve heard stories straight out of soap operas. Or perhaps we should say, soap operas straight out of scripture. Here is another. Joseph kept resisting her. “Sleep with me,” she kept begging. Genesis 39:7. One time she grabbed his garment and demanded passionately, “lie down with me.” Verse 12. She persisted and to get away, he slipped out of his coat as she held on to it. Certainly, that’s happened on Days of Our Lives and all the rest. Well, realizing that he was never going to give in, she took that coat to Joseph’s master. And what started out as a sort of funny story turned tragic. She lied. “Look what the Hebrew slave did to me. He tried to sleep with me. I screamed but no one was here to save me. He took off his garment but when he heard someone coming, he ran off and left it behind.” It is a sadly familiar story. Such lies in the South led to lynching. He looked at me the wrong way. Or he whistled at me. Emmet Till was beaten until he was unrecognizable, shot, and thrown into a river with a metal cotton gin hung around his neck with barbed wire because of a lie to create a pretext. In this case, Joseph was put in jail. But while in jail, Joseph so impressed the jail’s commander that eventually Joseph, as a prisoner, was put in charge of the prisoners. It was during this time that one day Pharaoh got angry at his head bakery chef and chief wine-steward and had them thrown in jail. One morning they looked distressed. Joseph asked what was the matter. They both had dreams but didn’t know what they meant. Joseph listened and interpreted them and, in the end, the dreams became reality. Joseph said that the chief wine-steward would be praised by Pharaoh and restored to his position while, and a warning for anyone would like to cover their ears for this gruesome detail… Joseph interpreted the dream of the bakery chef that his head would hang from a tree while birds pecked at it. In reality, his head was impaled on a stick, but close enough. The chief wine steward happily returned to work and promptly forgot the whole ordeal. Thirteen years passed. Joseph spent 13 years unjustly detained for that told lie against him – another eerily familiar detail. Well, one night Pharaoh had two disturbing dreams. He stood by the Nile and saw 7 healthy-looking, fattened cows grazing along the banks. Just then, 7 scrawny, terrible-looking cows emerged from the river and promptly devoured the fattened cows. He woke up troubled. He eventually fell back to sleep and had a second dream about 7 ears of corn, full, well-formed and 7 scrawny looking ears of corn, scorched by the east wind. The scrawny ones ate the full ones, but those 7 pitiful looking ears still remained scrawny. Pharaoh summoned all of Egypt’s religious experts and all of his advisors. He described his dreams but no one could interpret them. That’s when the chief wine steward remembered a young Hebrew in jail. Pharaoh summoned him and Joseph explained that 7 years of abundant fields of grain would be followed by 7 years of a devastating famine. He told Pharaoh that he should find an intelligent, wise man and give him authority over the land of Egypt to collect and store as much grain as possible so it will last through 7 years of famine. Pharaoh and his advisors thought that was a good idea. And the man they put in charge was Joseph. And just like he said, 7 years of abundant yields of grain did indeed lead to a period of famine that affected every part of Egypt and the rest of the known world. Every country came to Egypt to buy grain. And who did they have to see? Joseph. Back home, his father Jacob and his brothers were suffering the famine like everyone else. Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain – all of them except one. His beloved Rachel had one more son named Benjamin but sadly she died shortly after childbirth. Jacob couldn’t risk losing him too. The brothers went to Egypt and met with the man in charge of selling grain from their storehouses. They didn’t recognize Joseph but he recognized them and devised a scheme seemingly designed to torment them. He spoke to them in a harsh tone and accused them of being spies looking to exploit the country’s weaknesses. No, they defended; we’re just the 12 sons of a man in Canaan. One brother is still at home with our father and one brother is gone. Joseph was that “gone” brother, and this was the first he heard that he had another brother. Joseph told them that if they are honest men to go home and bring back the youngest son to prove their words are true. But one of them would have to stay behind in prison. Rueben exclaimed to his brothers, “Didn’t I tell you we shouldn’t have wronged our brother. But no. You wouldn’t listen. That’s why we’re in this danger now.” Joseph enjoyed listening to their little exchange. Joseph had spoken to the brothers as though he were an Egyptian, through an interpreter, so the brothers didn’t know he could understand them. He sold them the grain and Simeon was tied up and put in prison. But Joseph ordered that the money they used to pay for their grain be hidden in their sacks. When they arrived home the brothers told their father they must return with Benjamin in order to get Simeon out of prison. Jacob was out of his mind fearing that he might lose yet another of his most beloved sons, not to mention that now another one of them was a prisoner back in Egypt. It was then that they opened the sacks of grain and discovered the money. Jacob angrily accused his sons of trying to torture him. “If anything happens to Benjamin, it will send me to my grave in grief.” They didn’t rush back to Egypt to free Simeon because Jacob was trying to wait as long as he could to save Benjamin’s life. But when the grain was gone and they were hungry again, the brothers went back with Benjamin to buy more. They arrived back in Egypt and met with Joseph and told him about finding the money in their sacks. “Please, we don’t know how this happened.” Joseph, through an interpreter, told them, “Don’t worry about it.” He invited them into his home and had a feast prepared for them. And he laid his eyes on his brother for the first time. And one of those little details I find funny – he gave Benjamin 5 times as much food as the others. Still rubbing it in their faces. They ate and drank together and were put at ease. While they were eating, sacks of grain were being assembled for them to take. Once again, Joseph ordered that their money be placed in the sacks of grain. Along with a silver chalice in Benjamin’s sack. Except this wasn’t generosity. He did it to trick them. Joseph had his servants follow them and before they left the city, accuse them of stealing. “The master’s silver chalice is gone. Why have you repaid his hospitality with such ingratitude?” The brothers discovered money in their sacks of grain again. They returned to Joseph and defended themselves saying they had nothing to do with it. He told them not to worry about it but if one of them has his silver chalice, he would become his slave. From oldest to youngest they opened their sacks of grain until it was found in Benjamin’s. They all tore their clothes. Judah pleaded with Joseph that if they returned home without Benjamin, their father would drop dead of grief and explained that Jacob had already lost a son who had been killed by a wild animal – Joseph himself standing in front of them. Judah begged that he be kept behind as a slave instead of Benjamin because he couldn’t go home and bear seeing the grief of their father. Joseph could no longer control himself. He sent everyone except his brothers out of the room and wept so loudly that the Egyptians could hear it. Remember Joseph had been speaking to them through an interpreter as though he were an Egyptian. But as he broke down in tears, he said in their language, “I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?” The brothers were speechless. And that’s where today’s reading begins. Joseph said, “Don’t be upset that you sold me. Don’t be distressed. God sent me here to save your lives. Go back and bring my father and your children and your grandchildren and your flocks and herds and everyone with you. There are five more years of famine coming but you won’t starve.” And he threw his arms around Benjamin’s neck and wept and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. And then he kissed all his brothers and wept, embracing them. And finally, the speechless brothers could speak again. How often have you heard, “Everything happens for a reason?” It’s a common sentiment meant to make someone feel better, but it’s also often the most egregious thing we can say to someone. Kate Bowler discovered she had stage 4 cancer. One day a neighbor came to the door with a casserole. It was a lovely gesture. She handed it to Kate’s husband with words of reassurance, “Everything happens for a reason.” He replied, “What is it?” The neighbor looked at him like she didn't understand his question. “What is the reason?" he asked. She dropped her eyes and stepped back. So, we could look at today’s story of Joseph sold into slavery and 13 years in prison and say, “See, everything happens for a reason. If his brothers hadn’t done that to him, they could have died in the famine.” Maybe that’s true, but it's one thing for us to tell Joseph, that’s why this happened to you – so that your suffering could save us. And it’s another thing for Joseph to reflect back and say, “you know what, because of this suffering, I can do this for you.” Not everything happens for a reason. But everything that happens can serve a purpose. It is not for us to say to someone, “you are suffering so that…” But each of us can take the power and discern how “because of my suffering, I can…” And isn’t it liberating to know that every situation and circumstance that comes into our life isn’t for a reason – judgment or condemnation for some fault or failure – but every situation and circumstance in our life can be redeemed, can be used for a purpose that helps someone. I think that’s at the heart of the Christian faith. It is good news to know that, throughout life, we can take whatever happens to us, whatever someone does to us, including whatever mistakes we make, and turn it into an opportunity to serve. And in serving, find meaning. Just like Joseph. Photo: Image by <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/beautiful-country-side-landscape_62339536.htm#query=wheat%20field&position=15&from_view=keyword&track=ais">Freepik</a>
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