Since we will be looking at the story of Joseph during these
midweek services, I think we should start with some background information.
Joseph’s father is Jacob. Jacob is the grandson of Abraham.
Abraham was the man whom God chose as his own. God promised to bless him and
his descendants. They would own the land of Canaan. They would be numerous. The
world would be blessed through them. Abraham passed this inheritance down to
his son Isaac. Isaac was tricked by his wife and by Jacob into giving it to
Jacob instead of Jacob’s brother Esau. Because Esau was extremely angry at what
Jacob had done, Jacob had to flee. He went to his mother’s home country and
stayed with his uncle Laban.
Right away, when Jacob came to Laban’s territory he met
Laban’s daughter, Rachel, and loved her deeply. He arranged to marry Rachel,
but had to work seven years for Laban in order to get her. However, when the
time was up, Laban tricked Jacob, giving him his other daughter Leah instead.
Jacob had to agree to work for Laban seven more years in order to compensate
him for Rachel again. This is how Jacob came to have two wives—Leah and Rachel.
Jacob loved Rachel, who was pretty, more than Leah.
God had pity on Leah, since she was not as deeply loved as
her sister. He caused her to be fruitful while her sister was not. Leah had
four sons. Rachel had none. This made Rachel deeply unhappy and so she made an
arrangement with Jacob. She told him to sleep with her maid, Bilhah, and that
Rachel would claim the children produced by this union as being her own. Two
sons were born to Rachel’s maid. Leah, though, only thought that it would be
fair that she also have this opportunity to enlarge her number of offspring.
She arranged it so that Jacob also had children through her maidservant,
Zilpah. Two sons were also born to Leah’s maid.
So, in case you have not been keeping track of the race,
here are the standings up to this point. Eight sons have been born. Leah has
four. Leah’s maid has two. That makes six for Leah’s side. Rachel has none. Her
maid has two. The score is six to two. The rivalry between these sisters was
intense. Leah had more children, but Rachel had Jacob’s love.
It came about after this that Leah’s womb was opened once
more. She had two more sons and a daughter. Leah now had six sons. That makes
the score eight to two. Finally, God remembered Rachel and gave her a son of her
own. This was Joseph, whom we will hear about during these weeks. I’d like to
speak some more about Joseph, but before I do, I’d like to finish the story of
Jacob’s sons. The twelfth son was also born to Rachel several years later.
Unfortunately, Rachel died after giving birth. This son was Benjamin, who will
enter our story towards the end of our midweek series.
Let’s speak a little more about Joseph’s family situation.
There was a wide spread in age between the brothers. The four oldest were
Leah’s sons. They were probably at least 10-15 years older than Joseph. Joseph
was the only son from Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel. He also was the youngest
son for several years until his little brother, Benjamin, was born.
What we see here are the ingredients for jealousy and
hatred. This is not unusual or surprising. Perhaps you’ve heard of what
toddlers sometimes do when they get a new little brother or sister. The toddler
used to have all their mother’s attention. Now with the baby, they have to
share it. And so I’ve heard of little kids trying to push away their infant
sibling, so that they get to be alone with mom instead of the baby hogging all
her time and energy. You might think that we should outgrow stuff like that,
but I’m not so sure. We might get better at hiding our hostility. We learn the
social rules that we are supposed to follow. But there can be a lot of
resentment from childhood that can plague families their whole lives.
Since we are all born selfish, rivalry and resentment is
almost normal. With Joseph and his brothers the antagonism is greatly
embittered by the circumstances. The whole family is consumed by jealousy.
Leah’s boys, certainly, knew that their father preferred Rachel over their
mother. Rachel was resentful of her sister. I am sure that she fought for the
rights of little Joseph every step of the way. The older boys, Leah’s boys,
bore the brunt of the work and trouble. Joseph got to lead a carefree life.
Jacob doesn’t seem to be very good at hiding his favoritism either. Joseph is
given a special coat, perhaps a multicolored coat or one that was richly
embroidered. Every time Leah’s sons saw that coat they were reminded that they
were not as loved by their father as Joseph was.
Immediately before our reading tonight we hear of the straw
that broke the camel’s back. Joseph was given a couple of dreams. Dreams and
the interpretation of dreams will be a big part of Joseph’s life. In the first
dream he is shown to be the better of his brothers. They bow down to him. In
the second dream his brothers are subservient to him again. Even Joseph’s
parents are subservient to him. This was even a little too much for Jacob to
swallow.
Here we see something unusual about Joseph’s character. He
seems to be totally devoid of guile or duplicity. In a way, he is socially
inept, because he doesn’t lie. Someone who was a manipulator would read the
situation and hold back on making his mind known so that things would go better
for him. Joseph just blurts it out, and he is going to pay dearly for it. This
character trait is something that shows up throughout Joseph’s life. He is a
straight shooter. He says what he means, and he does what he says.
This brings us to tonight’s reading. We will not go through
it all again. All that we will say is that the brothers thought that Joseph got
what was coming to him. But this is where the brothers are the most wrong. I
think we all might have some sympathy for the way that the brothers were taken
for granted and not loved as much as Joseph. But this was not Joseph’s fault.
Joseph didn’t do anything wrong. Sure, he was the recipient of love and riches,
but that doesn’t make him guilty of wrong-doing.
Jealousy is odd in a way. When we become jealous we attack
the person to whom more has been given. But it’s not that person’s fault that
they have what they have. Why shouldn’t we be happy for them? We should, but we
aren’t. We aren’t because there is no body or no thing that we love more than
ourselves. We’d just as soon cut the other person down to size, taking away
their gifts, so that we can be more on par with them.
It is a devilish thing to wish harm upon somebody else so
that you can feel better. And yet, this is not uncommon, especially within
families. Perhaps nobody’s being sold into slavery or murdered, but their name
may very well be dragged through the mud. Why do we gossip and inculcate hate
with our words? It’s because it is harming somebody else, and mysteriously it
makes us feel better. We are like hogs who root in the manure and couldn’t be
happier while doing it. The stinkier thing we dig up about the other person,
the better. There is nothing so delightful to us as to find out something
scandalous about somebody else. If that somebody else happens to be somebody we
dislike, then the joy is practically ecstasy. There’s really no pretending when
we say, “I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess all my sins and iniquities.” The
wickedness of our heart is beyond our own comprehension. I can’t understand how
God puts up with us.
Think of the night when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper,
as we heard about in our other reading. Jesus says that he very eagerly had
looked forward to having this meal with them. It’s hard to think of a more
solemn occasion than when Jesus gives them his own body and blood to eat and to
drink. And what did the disciples end up doing? If the Gospels didn’t record
this for us, black on white, I’d never believe they were capable of it. They
were arguing over who was the greatest. They were in the business of tearing
one another down, and it felt good to them to do so. I can’t understand how
Jesus puts up with this. I would have told them all to get lost.
But what about you? What have you thought about while
kneeling at the Communion rail? Jesus says to you, “This is my body, given for
you,” “This is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins,” but
what mundane, self-serving thoughts have you thought about instead?
It is never child’s play to sin against God. Sin is always
punished. Joseph and his brothers would have been much better off if they had
never done what they did to Joseph. The apostles would have been better off if
they had never quarreled over who is the greatest. Trouble and misery always
follow as a result.
But we should also see that God did not give up on these
people, even though they were so wicked. Jesus still means it when he says, “I
have eagerly desired to eat this meal with you.” This is because the Son of God
did not come into this world to condemn the world, but that the world might be
saved through him. All who believe in him will not perish (even though they
deserve it in spades), but have eternal life. We have been redeemed and
justified, not because we are good people, but because of God’s strange love.
It is as David says, “Thy mercy, O Lord, reacheth unto the heavens, and thy
faithfulness unto the clouds.”
The bible is full of people who are just like us. We are
shown examples of God forgiving them and blessing them in spite of their
sins—although, we also see how those sins take their toll. Therefore we should
believe that God has mercy on us, although we are sinners, for Jesus is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Our sin-sick hearts will not
go on forever as evil. They will be healed and filled with love, even as the
Holy Spirit works upon them even now by his Word and Sacraments.
One final word I’d like to leave with you: I’m sure that the
family troubles that I’ve spoken about tonight apply to each of you in one way
or another. Make it your goal to heal rather than harm. Mend relationships. Put
the best constructions on one another’s actions. Be merciful and forgiving,
just as you yourself are in need of mercy and forgiveness. These are God
pleasing things and very beneficial.
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