A New Perspective
Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers, Peter von Cornelius, 1816/17, Alte NationalGalerie, Berlin, public domain, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/joseph-reveals-himself-to-his-brothers-peter-von-cornelius/7AHRu93WQk_rHg?hl=en
Sermon Series “Through the Bible,” № 9, Genesis 45:1-11
“So it was not you who sent me here, but God.” –Genesis 45:8
This dramatic moment from Joseph’s story sent me searching through my memory banks for examples of times when things went very wrong, then turned in the right direction again.
One such time in my life was the summer of 1998, when my family and I left home on a three-week vacation. From my perspective, the first day of vacation is usually the most difficult, and this time was no different. After nearly 700 miles of driving, we arrived at our destination in Michigan’s upper peninsula. While carrying belongings from the van to a camping cabin, one of the children asked for money to buy ice cream at the camp store. I gave them each a small bill, and then laid my wallet down.
Later that evening, after exploring the area, I couldn’t find my wallet. Compounding my problem, I had not yet divided vacation money between my wife’s wallet and mine. In it was what felt like a small fortune to us. As the hours went by, and we retraced our steps with no luck, a sick feeling grew in the pit of my stomach, the kind of feeling you get when you’ve lost all the money that you might take on a three-week vacation. In those days, there were TV commercials about the sad people who didn’t buy American Express traveler’s checks, and I was feeling like the new poster child.
By the next morning, we realized there was only one thing to do. We made the phone calls we needed to cancel our credit cards. We checked out of our cabin, and counted our cash. We had less than $20 to make it to our nearest relative about 400 miles away. We decided to travel into the nearest town to make a police report, in case the wallet was stolen or was later discovered.
We were more than a mile from the cabin, traveling down a two-lane highway at about 60 miles per hour, when Therese said, “I see it.” “You see what?” “Stop, I see your wallet.” We backed up and stopped. Getting out of the van, I walked along the stone shoulder, and picked up my wallet, highly scuffed. But when I opened the wallet, the contents were intact – credit cards, photos, and cash – everything was there.
Piecing together the chain of events, I realized that after I had given the children cash for ice cream, I had absent-mindedly tossed the wallet on the roof of the van while I continued unpacking. There, it must have become lodged in the crossbeam of the luggage rack. Some distance down the highway, the force of the wind catching its edge had dislodged it, and blown it from the vehicle. It had lain on the shoulder of the road for at least 16 hours, and been passed by countless vehicles, before my sharp-eyed wife spotted it.
Our grim mood turned to joy, and my family used a portion of the recovered bounty to eat breakfast at a local restaurant, one of the best-tasting meals I’ve ever had. Too embarrassed to return to our cabin, we found an even better place at which to tent camp directly on the shore of Lake Superior. The next morning, a beautiful three-masted sailing ship touring the Great Lakes glided by our campsite. It was one of the best camping experiences we ever had.
Life is sometimes like that. Things don’t turn out as expected. We find ourselves in situations that are supposed to be positive and uplifting, and end up being negative and draining. Or perhaps we are living through tragic circumstances. Then comes a reversal that makes those circumstances a comedy. You probably have a story like this, perhaps even more dramatic.
Joseph, the main character in today’s preaching text, experienced life this way. We’ve been working our way through the book of Genesis. There are so many subplots in the narrative that I will not have time to touch upon in this series. For the final sermon in this tour, I’ve chosen to focus on a particularly dramatic portion of the Joseph’s story.
The late chapters of Genesis chronicle the episodes that take Joseph from obnoxious younger brother to heroic savior of his nation. As a favorite son of his father Jacob, his brothers envy Joseph. When Joseph begins sharing dreams about his brothers being his servants, their envy turns to hatred. They throw Joseph into a pit, and sell him as a slave to a caravan of traders. Joseph’s fortunes go from bad to worse as he is imprisoned after being falsely accused of attempted rape.
Yet, out of this low point Joseph rises through his work as interpreter of the king’s dreams. As his wise counsel proves increasingly valuable, he is elevated to a position of leadership second only to the king. From this position, he is able to expand the agricultural base of the nation, and build a massive store of grain reserves to give Egypt security in the leaner years. After a long period of drought accompanied by famine, his brothers arrive as emissaries for the starving Hebrew people.
It is then that Joseph is able to see the hand of God in his circumstances. He recognizes God’s purpose in the terrible situations he has faced. Joseph could have played the role of “victim,” and sought revenge. But with the perspective provided by passing time, Joseph realized that his tragedies placed him in a unique position to save his family and nation.
Today, we mark our annual celebration of Reformation Sunday, an occasion that prompted me to think about similar reversals in the lives of prominent individuals in church history. Martin Luther was formally declared a heretic, a condemnation that often led to burning at the stake. Not only did he survive the setback, he also launched a reformation that reshaped the church, and the politics of Europe. John Calvin’s defense of Protestant principles forced him to leave France. But in Switzerland, he launched a ministry to which our Presbyterian Church owes its existence. John Knox faced grim days and an uncertain future as a slave on a galley ship. Later, he led the Scottish Reformation and was praised as a hero by the people. Each of these figures, and many more we could name if we had the time, moved from disastrous defeats to valiant victories we still remember hundreds of years later.
Bruce Wheeler Thielemann, one of my preaching mentors, once shared an old Zen parable about a Chinese farmer. A dog from the village broke into the farmer’s henhouse, and killed all of his chickens. His neighbors said, “How unfortunate for you.” The farmer said, “How do you know that I am unfortunate?” As compensation for the farmer’s loss, the owner of the dog was forced to give a valuable horse to the farmer. His neighbors said, “How fortunate for you.” The farmer said, “How do you know that I am fortunate?” The farmer’s son, who was riding the horse, was thrown off, and broke his leg. The farmer’s neighbors said, “How unfortunate for you.” The farmer said, “How do you know that I am unfortunate?” The next day the emperor’s army passed through the village, drafting every able-bodied young man as a soldier for the emperor’s war, passing over the farmer’s injured son. The farmer’s neighbors said, “How fortunate for you.” The farmer said, “How do you know I that am fortunate?”
The point of the story is that our judgment about an event often is relative to a point in time. Circumstances change. Our knowledge of the context widens. As years pass, we come to understand the events of our lives in new ways.
The wisdom of the Chinese farmer is similar to the truth learned by Joseph. When he was trapped in the pit, herded along by slave traders, or locked away in prison, Joseph must have been tempted to look upon his life as a terrible failure. He must have wondered if God was playing a big joke on him. But at the end of things, looking back, Joseph saw that his trials weren’t meaningless. In fact, God was at work all along.
Joseph’s story offers a different perspective, suggesting that God is wise even when we think divine plans have been frustrated, and cares even when we think God has gone away from us forever. God’s plan may not be apparent when we view life in brief segments. But when seen over the course of a lifetime, suffering gives way to glory; there is meaning and purpose for those who trust in God.
PREVIOUS SERMON, https://www.fpcedw.org/blog/the-power-of-dreams
READ MORE, https://www.fpcedw.org/blog
