The holidays are a time in which many people rejoice at being able to return home to family, but this time of year is also one during which many grieve at the rupture without repair, the dysfunction, or the pain which exists within our family systems. Apart from this tension within interpersonal relationships, there are any number of challenges the modern world is facing, from climate to political to a pandemic of global proportions---even as we lean into what is considered to be one of the most joyous times of year.
During this holiday season of 2021, I am reflecting on the story of Joseph—not Joseph the earthly father of Jesus (whose birth we celebrate this time of year), but Joseph of Genesis 37, the 11th of twelve sons of Jacob. Some recall Joseph as the spoiled son of a father who lavished a favoritism on him which was visibly displayed in a cloak of many colors. Some know Joseph as a prophet who dreamed of greatness, whose premature expression of the creative imagination given to him by God resulted in rejection by his kin. Others regard Joseph as a dreamer who confidently expressed the vision he saw in his spirit only to find himself in a pit of emotional pain which would endure for 13 years. Despite all of these things, Joseph advanced to become second in command to Pharaoh and saved Egypt (and his family of origin) from starvation as a result.
No matter who we, modern day seekers, believers, or Jesus-followers, consider him to be, the biblical text reveals that Joseph’s story contains all of these aspects. He was multifaceted. He had a complex life trajectory. He had vision, hopes, and dreams for his life, revealed to him by the spirit of God. Joseph could be perceived as arrogant and inconsiderate of how his vision of God’s purpose for his life would impact his ten older brothers, who were already embittered and resentful due to their father’s favoritism. Joseph’s exuberant proclamations of his dreams only exacerbated the dynamics already at play. Yet, in the words of Patty, a Seattle school alum, during a recent book group, “Joseph always knew he would save his family.”
Though his call was large, Joseph’s life trajectory was not always clear. As TD Jakes put it, “Joseph has gone through a long period of bad getting worse.” Yet, Joseph’s ability to hold onto the vision for his life and the dreams God placed within his heart, to lean into purpose and persevere through the hard parts of his story, inspires the walk of the modern day believer.
We are introduced to Joseph in the Old Testament. Genesis 37 (NRSV) reads:
“[1]Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers…[2]Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other children because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his other brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.”
To me, Joseph, comes across as the sensitive, artistic type. He had an active imagination, what with all of those dreams. He was the youngest of all of his brothers up to this point in his story (his younger brother Benjamin had yet to be born) and he was used to his father’s doting attention. He had to have sensed his brothers’ resentment and bitterness towards him, and yet, at seventeen, he didn’t quite possess the discernment not to share the vision of his dream with those who weren’t prepared to receive it. No, in his excitement, Joseph gushed:
[3] “‘Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There 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.’ [4] He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, ‘Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’”
One can imagine that Joseph’s ten other brothers, already hardened toward Joseph with bitterness, did not take this news well. What comes next, however, goes far beyond what we consider to be normal sibling rivalry.
[5]“Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.’
[6] So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.”
Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit that day, taunting him amidst his trauma and fear. They then betrayed him, selling their own lifeblood to Ishmaelite traders en-route to Egypt for 20 pieces of silver. His brothers returned to their father with Joseph’s cloak, shredded and bloodied, with a tale: their father’s "favorite" had been torn to shreds by a wild animal.
Joseph had no choice but to quickly adapt to his new circumstances despite the trauma he had experienced. Yet, even in the pain of losing his beloved father and being betrayed by his brothers, God’s hand of favor remained upon him. He was placed in Potiphar’s house (who, at the time, was second in command to Pharaoh). Joseph succeeded in his position:
[7]“His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands.”
God’s hand remained upon Joseph, but even after the betrayal of his brothers, there would be setbacks, plot twists, and challenges along his path. Joseph had to overcome hurdle after hurdle on the way to the vision God had revealed in his heart. Potiphar’s wife took sexual interest in Joseph, but he refused her. Enraged, she accused him before her husband. At no fault of his own, Joseph was once again betrayed, and thrown into prison.
[8] “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love. He gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all of the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.”
While in prison, Joseph was diligent and faithful, and he used the ability he had had from his youth to interpret the dreams of two fellow prisoners, the chief baker and the chief cupbearer. Everything came to pass exactly as Joseph said.”
The chief cupbearer was restored to his position just as Joseph had interpreted he would be, and Joseph asked him to remember him when he was restored. Yet, Joseph would spend two more years in prison, though the steadfast love of God remained with him, sustaining him. He leaned into his purpose, being diligent and faithful despite the hardships he endured.
Eventually, Joseph was remembered by the cupbearer when Pharaoh became plagued by dreams two years later. He was called before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams, and in doing so, saved not only the land of Egypt, but ultimately even his own family from starvation and demise.
[9] “‘Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find anyone else like this—one in whom is the spirit of God?’ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only with regard to the throne shall I be greater than you!”
[10]“Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah; and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Thus, Joseph gained authority over all the land of Egypt.”
Eventually, Joseph and his brothers (and even his father!) would be reunited and redeemed. Joseph would have sons of his own, brothers, naming them Manasseh, meaning “God has made me forget all of my hardship and my father’s house” and Ephraim, which meant “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes.” The process from Joseph being betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongfully accused of adultery, thrown into prison, and promoted to second in command to Pharaoh took a total of 13 years. Joseph never would have made it through to his purpose, the dream God had revealed for his life, if he had not persevered through the prison cells of his life.
I believe Joseph’s story can speak volumes during a time when many are experiencing the significant pain of family rupture, or of delay and disappointment in redemption of our family stories. For it is not just the holiday season, a time which evokes strong emotions in even the steadiest of us, but it is the second holiday season as the world struggles to emerge from a global pandemic which has revealed pain, trauma, and stress throughout our family dynamics and life circumstances. It is a holiday season in which we may find ourselves in relationships in states we are not sure how to repair.
Joseph’s story can teach us what it looks like to hold onto belief in our purpose as we wait for redemption to arrive. His life depicts an example of leaning into purpose in the midst of the disappointments we face in the present. Whether it may look like losing a loved one, leaving behind a community to relocate, job or housing insecurity, relational difficulty, or frustration at our disrupted ways of doing life, we are faced with many challenges and disappointments. And yet.
Joseph’s choice to lean into purpose despite heinous, frustrating circumstances, can inspire us to move past our own experiences of familial pain and interpersonal conflict, which may have arisen even before the holiday season, and give us hope that persevering will be worth it. Joseph’s story can teach us to be diligent even in the phases of life which knock the wind out of our sails. His story inspires us hold close the vision of what is to come, even as we wait out the prison cells of our stories.
Brother, son, dreamer, prisoner, second in command, savior of his people. Joseph was all of those things. I would also dare to say he was one of the first imaginative prophets, evoking the call to the rest of us: to lean into purpose, even when the going gets hard, and to hold sure to the vision in our hearts of the redemption which will surely come.
[1]Genesis 37:1 (New Revised Standard Version) [2] Genesis 37:3 (NRSV) [3] Genesis 37:6 (NRSV) [4] Genesis 37:9 (NRSV) [5] Genesis 37: 13 (NRSV) [6] Genesis 37:17-19 (NRSV) [7] Genesis 39:3 (NRSV) [8] Genesis 39:21 (NRSV) [9] Genesis 41:38-40 (NRSV) [10] Genesis 41:45 (NRSV)
Comments