Sermon - October 14th, 2012

Genesis 37:1;3-8; 11; 13; 18-28 - NRSV

¹Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. ⁵Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. ⁷There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words. ¹¹So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” ¹⁸They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²²Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him” —that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.  ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; ²⁴and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. ²⁵Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. ²⁸When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

When we started this journey a few weeks ago, we talked about how we were created.  How we came into being.  We heard about the world and all that is in it.  We learned that God thought it was good. That we were good.  It was a story to remind us how important we are, The relationship that we had with God, and also we heard the responsibilities that we were given.  The next story, we looked at was how we as humankind left that relationship. How we had all that we needed but then we wanted more.  Through Adam and Eve we hear about how we turn away from God and want things our way.  God loves us and does not give us the punishment that we should have received, but instead let's us live.  We live outside of the Garden of Eden.  God gets so upset with the humans and the evil that they have done, that he wipes the world clean.  He wipes away the evil through the cleansing of water, but saves Noah along with the animals.

God finds a man named Abram and blesses him to become a nation.  A people that are set apart, that through them God will bless the entire world.  Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob do not exactly have an easy or perfect life.  We have looked upon their trials and struggles within their life, but God was supporting them all along the way. 

Well now Jacob, who is now called Israel, is all grown up with a family of his own.  Jacob has 12 sons.  I know what you are thinking, that poor woman, think of all the diapers, and just imagine chasing them all around once they were able to walk. God had to be with them and giving them energy.  Well this was a different time, Jacob did not have just one wife but actually had several wives.  And though God was with them, this family was so dysfunctional.  Each one of the mothers had their own sons with Jacob. For some people, this raises the question of what the Bible actually supports.  Does the Bible support having multiple wives or multiple husbands?  Or what about the slaves that the family had, does the Bible support having slaves? 

No, no where within the Bible does God or the Bible support multiple spouses or slavery.  This is an example of how humans have fallen from God's intended purpose for us.  Now it is important to know the distinction between God's Will and human Will.  One of the best ways a person can do this is to actually dwell within the stories of faith of others.  How they have formed a relationship with God and endured struggles. Being reminded that during the good and glorious times, God gives us those rich blessings to keep us humble.  A person should also pray and worship God, so that they have a relationship with God.  To worship and pray is not for God but it is for you.

Some people have told me, “But I was confirmed in the faith.  I got this, I am good to go, I just need to live out my days and wait until I get to the gates of heaven.”  Or “I was baptized, I had the water splashed on me, and I am good, that's all I need.  You said it yourself; God loves me and will care for me. That's all I need.”  But God wants so much more for you and those around you.  God blesses you but not for your own sake, but so that you can be a blessing to those around you.

Yet even within the story today, we see a person living in their own world, being blessed by God, but not giving the glory and honor to God. Joseph was the youngest son, the baby of the family and also the favorite.  We clearly hear that Jacob loved Joseph more than his brothers. And Jacob is not one to hide this fact.  He gives Joseph a brightly colored coat; he is 17 at this time. Please keep in mind, at this time; it was one thing to make the fabric.  People just did not have a closet of clothes or even a mall that they could go to for shopping. To have a garment like this would mean the fabric would need to be placed together and then dipped into the various dyes, since it was a coat of many colors.  It would cost even more because time had to be given to dye, then dry and then dye again.  Now if you go into the theater world, they decided to call it Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.  Joseph was one who knew he was the favorite and he had an ego that matched it. 

This was not the only gift that Joseph had.  God had blessed Joseph with the ability to interpret dreams.  Within the story, Joseph gathers his brothers and shares his dream.  I had a dream that we were working in the fields.  I had the tallest bundle and it stood upright, while your bundles laid flat towards me. This dream and its meaning was basically, “Ha ha, I am going to be so much better than you, you will have to grovel before me.”  Joseph's brothers, all 11 of them, are mad and Joseph does not even realize it.  Joseph has another dream in which 11 stars, the sun and moon are all bowed down before him. This meant that his brothers, his father and mother were all bowing down before him.  Now this even gets his father upset and rightly so.  Well the story so far can mean a lot to us today, raising the question, “How do we treat others around us?  Do we try and make ourselves better than them; do we try and make them feel inferior?  Do we even think about them?”

His brothers, so upset with Joseph, plan to kill him.  One day, when Jacob sent Joseph to be with his brothers, wearing the brightly colored coat, they put their plan into action.  They roughed him up and threw him into a cistern, a place where water would typically be but now it is dry.  They leave him in there and talk over what they should do to him.  Some of the brothers say, “Let's kill him.” But another says, “We cannot do that; he is family, what would father say?  And what would father do if his favorite would be killed?”  They decide instead to sell Joseph into slavery to the Ishmaelites.  Remember Ishmael was Isaac's half-brother and Isaac was Jacob's father.  The Ishmaelites are distant family.

Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold to a wealthy man, Potiphar. Potiphar sees that whatever Joseph is put in charge of just seems to flourish.  Well if Joseph can do that on a small scale, what if he was in charge of everything?  So Potiphar is a good business man, rewards Joseph and has him in charge of his goods.  At last Joseph is working and earning his good name.  However, Joseph is still a good looking man.  Potiphar's wife makes a pass at him.  Joseph refuses. She doesn't give up and does it again and again.  Each time Joseph refuses.  So she gets frustrated and tells Potiphar that Joseph made a pass at her. So Potiphar has Joseph thrown into prison. 

This favorite son is now being punished for a crime that he did not commit.  Sitting in the prison, no family or friends to help care for him, he is only able to trust in God.  So I ask you today, where is your faith?  What do you trust?  When you are stripped of all that you have, and all that you are.  What are you going to do? Do you trust that God has loved you, given you gifts?   Is he calling you to go someplace new, some place where you will be doing work for someone else and not for your own sake?  A God that will be with you even in the worst places, when others have left you, abandoned you and you are only with God.  For God does love you.   He wants you to grow and be blessed, but wants you close to him.   So if things get between you and God, expect those things to be gone.  God wants you, not the stuff you can give back to him, but you.   Not just part of you, God wants your heart, your mind, and all that you are.  Thanks be to God!  God has given us all this and we can be in relationship with God. Amen.