Monday, June 25, 2018

Dreaming with Joseph: Scandal


June 24th, 2018      “Scandal”      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Summer Sermon Series: Dreaming with Joseph

Genesis 39

         This morning we return to our summer sermon series, “Dreaming with Joseph.”  When we began our journey a few weeks ago we met Joseph and his brothers in their dysfunctional family.  Their father, Jacob, had made it clear that Joseph was the favorite son by giving him the gift of a special robe.  The brothers were overcome with jealousy and planned to kill Joseph.  In a twist of fate, Joseph was saved from death and sold into slavery.  That is where we pick up our story today.

         (Read Genesis 39:1-6a)

         Joseph has been sold to Potiphar, an officer in Pharaoh’s court and the captain of the guard.  In a surprising difference from last week, God appears in the narrative.  We read that “the Lord was with Joseph” and this sense of blessing leads to his success. 

         Even though he is a man of Egyptian origin, Joseph’s owner Potiphar notices that Joseph has been blessed by the God of Israel.  Everything that Joseph is involved with seems to succeed, so the man gives Joseph more and more responsibility.  This says a lot about the character and nature of Joseph, as well as about the power of the Hebrew God.

         (Read Genesis 39:6b-18)

         Although the Lord is with Joseph and he is favored by his master that will not save him from scandal and ruin.  His master’s wife, who remains un-named within the story, desires a sexual relationship with Joseph.  She can see that he is handsome, and he is probably often at home with her while the master is away.  The temptation is great, but Joseph’s sense of character is greater.  He refuses her advances, claiming loyalty to his master. 

         As Potiphar’s wife sees she will not succeed in her desire to sleep with Joseph, she settles for revenge instead.  Grabbing his cloak, she concocts a story of attempted rape.  She uses Joseph’s outsider status as a Hebrew to prey on the fear and prejudice of her community.  “This foreigner has attacked me” she cries, and now surely there must be judgment for his crimes.

         (Read Genesis 39:19-23)

         Potiphar is angry at this accusation against Joseph and needs to find a proper punishment to save face with his wife and society.  Whether or not Joseph committed the crime is not in question.  He is an accused foreigner and that is enough for condemnation.  Potiphar is lenient, as most slaves in this position would receive the penalty of death.  Joseph is merely put into prison, the prison that was specifically for Pharaoh's prisoners.

         Once again we read that the Lord is with Joseph and gives him favor, and once again Egyptians around Joseph notice this and offer him special treatment.  The chief jailor sees that Joseph is a man of integrity and responsibility, despite the crime he is accused of.  And the jailor offers responsibility to Joseph, giving him charge over the care of other prisoners.  Just as he rose to power in the home of Potiphar, Joseph now rises to power within the structure of the king’s jail.

         There are three things I want to point out in our story today and the first is the role of Potiphar’s wife.  It is not often that women play such a central part in our scripture readings.  Though she is not given a name, Potiphar’s wife certainly plays an important role in the story of Joseph and his eventual rise to power within Egypt.

         Potiphar’s wife is a troubling character, especially in the day and age of the “me too” movement.  What shall we say about this woman who aggressively pursues a man who is not her husband, and then wrongly accuses an innocent man of rape when he refuses her advances?

         While feminists rightly see a caricature of men’s fears of women’s sexuality; more than anything, the character of Potiphar’s wife is set into the story as a contrast to Joseph.  In the Women’s Bible Commentary we read:

“The wisdom hero lives by the sort of advice offered in wisdom collections such as the biblical book of Proverbs.  One of the dominant themes in Proverbs is to keep one’s distance from the loose woman, the adulteress.  Joseph exemplifies the wise man: hardworking, sober, God fearing, and able to resist forbidden fruit.  Potiphar’s wife exemplifies the female personification of anti-wisdom: disloyal to her husband, quick to seek satisfaction in forbidden places, strongly sexual, and duplicitous.  In vengeance she uses the garment she has ripped from Joseph to accuse him of her own misdeed.  Her accusation to the servants, repeated to her husband, echoes the accurate description of what has happened, but now recasts the information in a lie.  Wisdom and anti-wisdom, truth and lies, are thus reverse images.”

         As we can see, the role of Potiphar’s wife serves as a foil to the character of Joseph.  We understand how good Joseph is by understanding how bad she is.

         That brings me to the second thing I wanted to point out in this text which is Joseph’s character.  Not only in his dealings with Potiphar’s wife but throughout this narrative, we find that Joseph is one who acts with the most upright character and morality.

         In contrast to the stories of his trickster father, Jacob, Joseph is honest to a fault and always choosing the moral high road.  He is loyal, patient, wise, and faithful.  This enables him to be put in positions of trust, and to gain acclaim in whatever situation he finds himself, be that as a slave or as a prisoner in a jail.  Also, Joseph’s outstanding moral character magnifies the work of God within his life.  Because Joseph behaves so well, God is able to do more through his life.  Because Joseph makes good choices, those around him recognize the blessing of God.  God’s ability to work through Joseph is directly tied to Joseph’s character.

         This brings me to the final thing I wish to discuss with this passage, and that is the role of God.  When we read chapter 37 a few weeks ago God was nowhere to be found.  There was no mention of God in the text and no reference to any character’s faith.  And yet in today’s reading, God is suddenly forefront in the action.  Suddenly the Lord is with Joseph, the Lord blesses Joseph, and outsiders recognize the power of God through Joseph’s life.

         One reason for this could be that Joseph is now alone.  He is no longer with his family, he is no longer with his brothers, and he is now outside the religious structure.  He is the only Hebrew in a community of Egyptians.  Perhaps Joseph’s separation from familiar surroundings and from his family has caused him to notice the presence of God in his life.  Even today, many young adults don’t truly understand their faith until they leave home and spend some time searching without the help of family and friends.

         It is important to note that even though the presence of the Lord is with Joseph, and Joseph is blessed by God, that doesn’t relieve him from suffering.  Joseph is still sent to prison, wrongly accused by Potiphar’s wife.  This is a good reminder that bad things will still happen to good people, and that God never promises us a life without suffering.  Even though he is faithful, even though God is with him, even though he did nothing wrong, Joseph is still wrongly accused and sent to prison.  Faith in God will not excuse us from suffering.  And just like Joseph, we will often find that life is unfair.

         And so today we end our story of Joseph.  He is in prison, wrongly accused of a crime he didn’t commit.  What will happen next for this morally upright Hebrew dreamer, trapped in a foreign land?  Come back next week to find out as we continue “Dreaming with Joseph”.  Amen.    

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Dreaming with Joseph: Jealousy


June 3rd, 2018        “Jealousy”           Rev. Heather Jepsen

Summer Sermon Series: Dreaming with Joseph
Genesis 37:1-36

         This morning we embark upon our next summer sermon series “Dreaming with Joseph.”  You might remember that last summer our series was “Wrestling with Jacob” where we explored the narrative of Jacob and his family as told in the book of Genesis.  We started the Jacob narrative even before his birth as he wrestled in the womb with his brother Esau.  We charted the path of this trickster as he stole his brother’s birthright and fled into the wilderness.  We marveled as he encountered God and then watched as he fell in love and then was duped into marrying the wrong bride.  We witnessed his wrestling with God and wondered at his reconciliation with Esau.  When we left Jacob last August, he was reunited with his brother Esau, and together the two sons buried their father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

This summer we will continue the story as we follow the journey of Jacob’s son Joseph in our new three month series “Dreaming with Joseph.”  We will trace Joseph’s journey from the favorite son in the famous coat, through periods of slavery and captivity, to his rise to power within the Egyptian empire.  This summer as well, we will track the story of Israel as it develops from Israel the person (Jacob), to Israel the family (Jacob and sons), to Israel the nation, a people who will go down into Egypt.

We begin our story in Genesis chapter 37.

(Read Genesis 37:1-2a)

The chapter before this, 36, is the story of the people of Esau.  After he and Jacob bury their father, Esau and his people move out of the land of Canaan into the land of Edom.  Now we read that Jacob has settled in Canaan, the land of his father and as the narrator tells us, the following chapters are the story of the family of Jacob.  We could also read this as the story of the family of Israel.  Don’t forget that Jacob was given the name Israel after his wresting match with God. 

I think before we get into the details of this story it would be good to remind ourselves who the characters are.  Jacob has twelve sons.  His first wife Leah had Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.  His second wife Rachel, the one he really loved, had Joseph and Benjamin.  Rachel’s maid servant Bilhah had Dan and Naphtali, and Leah’s maid servant Zilpah had Gad and Asher.  So, it’s one big happy family.

(Read Genesis 37:2b-4)

Our story begins when Joseph is 17 and already we get a sense of this family’s dysfunction.  Joseph is Jacob’s favorite, because he is the first born of Jacob’s favorite wife.  Joseph also appears to be a bit of a tattle tale, as he brings negative reports of his brothers’ behavior back to his father.

Jacob makes no attempt to hide his favoritism and he gives Joseph a special robe.  We don’t really understand the Hebrew words used in this story so we don’t really know what the robe was like.  Of course, the popular notion is that it was a robe of many colors.  The text looks more like a robe with long sleeves or a long robe that went all the way to the ground.  Either way the meaning behind the robe is clear.  Jacob has given Joseph a special robe, and it makes his brothers jealous.  As the narrator tells us “When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.”  Major parenting fail!

(Read Genesis 37:5-8)

Joseph has a dream, and he should probably keep it to himself!  In the Biblical time, dreams were thought to be prophetic images given from God, rather than the musings of our interior minds.  Even still, the brothers are not happy about Joseph’s vision of himself rising to power among them.

(Read Genesis 37:9-11)

Joseph dreams again, and this time his influence grows.  The sun and moon (mother and father) as well as 11 stars (brothers) all bow down to him.  Jacob gets involved this time, telling Joseph to put a lid on it.  And understandably the tension and jealousy among the siblings grows.

(Read Genesis 37:12-14a)

All the brothers are out pasturing the flock near Shechem which is about 50 miles from Canaan.  Jacob decides to send Joseph out to the brothers.  Maybe he is trying to see if the boys can work things out, or maybe he is simply trying to get Joseph out of his hair.  Either way, the stage is set for trouble.

         (Read Genesis 37:14b-24)

         Joseph arrives to find that the brothers are an additional 15 miles north in Dothan, even further away from his father and safety.  The brothers see him coming on the horizon, (I am guessing that fancy coat gave him away), and they use the time to plot against him. 

The first plan is to kill Joseph outright; but Reuben, the oldest, thinks better of it.  If they have their brother’s blood on their hands, they might be cursed for all of eternity.  Reuben convinces the brothers to throw Joseph in a pit, hoping that he might return alone and save Joseph later on. 

The brothers agree and when Joseph arrives, they strip him of his special coat and throw him in an empty water cistern.  I saw many cisterns like this in my travels in Israel and I can tell you it is not somewhere I would want to be.  An ancient cistern is a wide, deep hole, and you would be unable to climb out of it no matter how hard you tried. 

(Read Genesis 37:25-28)

Joseph would probably have died of starvation in the cistern, but his fortunes change as a band of Ishmaelite traders appear in the distance.  Judah suggests that the brothers sell Joseph to them as a slave.  This way, they won’t be responsible for Joseph’s death and they can make a little money on the side.  The traders pull Joseph out of the hole and they take him with them into Egypt to live as a slave.

(Read Genesis 37:29-36)

Apparently Reuben was not part of this plot to sell Joseph into slavery, and when he returns to rescue Joseph he finds him gone.  Reuben’s sympathy ends there though, as he does not look for Joseph or tell his father the truth about what has happened.  Meanwhile, the brothers, dip the famous robe in blood and concoct a story.  Claiming to have found Joseph’s bloody robe in the wilderness, they successfully hide their misdeeds.  Jacob falls for their trick, and mourns the death of his favorite son.  Meanwhile in Egypt, the Midianites have sold Joseph into the service of Potiphar, an official within Pharaoh’s court.

And thus ends our story for today.  Joseph has gone from the extreme high of being his Father’s favorite son, to the extreme low of being sold into slavery in a foreign land.  It seems to be a hopeless situation.  But what about those dreams?  Were they really from God?  Were they really a vision of the future?  At this point, it sure doesn’t seem possible that the brothers who plotted his demise would ever bow down to him. 

Who is to blame in this family conflict?  From our position it certainly looks like no one is innocent.  The brothers, of course, are the biggest sinners in this story, as they allow their jealousy to overtake them.  In their fevered hatred of Joseph, they plot his death.  It is only by the grace of God that Joseph is rescued into slavery, if that can even be called a rescue.

         But what about those whose actions led to such extreme jealousy?  Surely Jacob is to share some of the blame as he fueled the fire of conflict between his children.  He made no attempt to hide his favoritism for Joseph.  And the gift of the special coat, only served to remind the other sons that Joseph was loved in a way that they were not.

         And what of Joseph himself?  Is he fully innocent or does he too share in some of the blame?  A savvy person would have kept those dreams to himself, and he would not have paraded around in that coat.  Either Joseph is an idiot, or he fully intended to goad his brothers on.  I think Joseph knew what he was doing, and liked to flaunt his status as the favorite son.  His own arrogance is partly to blame for his current situation.

         And finally, where is God in this story?  You might have noticed that there was no direct mention of God in the chapter that we read today.  Perhaps God was in the dreams, or perhaps God was in the traders that saved Joseph’s life, but the text never offers us any details on the divine. 

We will find, as we read the Joseph narrative, that God becomes more of a background character in the story.  Much like in our own lives, God is always there, but God is not addressed unless we take the time to address God ourselves.  For Joseph there will be no conversations with God or wrestling matches in the dark, like his father Jacob had.  From here on, as the name Israel becomes a family and a nation, the people’s experience of God will be less direct.  God certainly is in this story, but God is not a main character driving the action.

And so, for today, we leave Joseph in slavery.  He has been the victim of extreme jealousy and violence.  What will happen to him in the home of Potiphar?  Will slavery be the rescue he hoped for, or will it lead to further trauma?  I will be gone for a few Sundays, but when I return at the end of this month we will continue “Dreaming with Joseph”.  Amen.