Genesis 37:1-28

I’d like to say that Joseph was completely innocent when he reported to his dad about his brothers’ activities in the fields; that might make me innocent, too – totally naïve.  

But, what (if any) evil were the bothers doing? 

We don’t find that out from the text. Joseph reports to his father; that causes stress.

Next, partiality comes into play.  Joseph was most certainly his father’s favorite.   

In earlier passages, we learn that Jacob loved Rachel, Joseph’s mother, more than any of his other wives. 

I used to think that children without sisters or brothers, “only” children, were the only ones who could be certain that siblings weren’t loved more than they were.

They didn’t have any competition.  That was before I met a young teen named Leslie. 

Leslie was an only child and said her parents loved their dog more than they loved her. 

She was actually jealous of her little dog when her parents showed him attention. 

Showing attention is huge with all of us, isn’t it?  Showing someone attention indicates liking, loving, and comparisons are so easily made. 

I do know that my mother, unlike Jacob, took pains to not show partiality to any of her five children.  She even counted the jelly beans in the Easter baskets and made sure we had the same amount, and that we each had the exact same number of the yummy black ones.  It was one of her attempts to show that she loved each of us and showed no favoritism.

We can be certain that Jacob didn’t count or distribute the jelly beans equally.

Our text, beginning with verse 5, tells us that Joseph was a dreamer. 

Perhaps he was born to dream – not to work, not to shepherd. 

His dreams can be seen as a gift from God, God’s hidden way in this narrative.

This son must dream.  The others have taken over the family business and are doing very well.   

If we were to read further we would find that Joseph’s gift of dreaming leads him from imprisonment into leadership and eventually his family from starvation.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.  The dreaming that Joseph is doing in the text we just read is causing conflict and endangers the “pecking order.”  Hatred mounts. 

The one called to dream is in peril because of this disruptive dream. 

“My sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.”   

Joseph is the powerless one in the family, but he dreams this dream of power

which permits the imagining of new political possibilities that threaten the old and call it into question; it’s a new arrangement, very different from the present. 

Even as a dream, such hope is a threat.  It anticipates the end of the present order.

Hatred becomes jealousy; the thought of murder is born.  

It’s as if this text has two voices: one voice in the struggle is for keeping life as it is, resistant to every hope and vision.  The other voice, hopeless as things now stand, thinks revolutionary thoughts of another way.   

We can understand this.  Our very country was born by dreamers with revolutionary thoughts of another way of life. 

Then there’s Jacob, the proud father of 12 sons. 

He’s had visions throughout his life (you can find them in earlier chapters of Genesis)  and can dream with his precious son. 

But Jacob also has wealth and could settle for a little peace in the family. 

When Joseph comes with another dream, “The sun, the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me,” Jacob chides the dreamer.  

“What kind of dream is this that you have had?  Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?”   

Jacob at first sounds like the brothers in his indignation, but there is a difference.

Verse 11 says the brothers were jealous of him, but his father “kept the matter in mind.” 

Jacob pondered what was said. He knew enough to realize, on second thought, that dreams should not be discounted offhand.   

We remember someone else who “kept things” or ‘pondered them in her heart,” that being Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Joseph is fortunate to have a father who believes that dreams and inversions

are not altogether foolish, a father who allows for possibilities.   

The gospel of Luke points out that Mary also knew something was afoot. 

She didn’t know what, but honored it in ways that the others did not.

The brothers, those immersed in their hatred, meet up with Joseph.  They resolve to stop the dream and the dreamer – the master of dreams. 

One might conclude that those who are well off prefer what is to what may come by way of dreams.

“Let’s deal with the dream.  Let’s kill it.” 

Everyone in his own way contributes to the mess in which the family finds itself.  No individual in this story emerges innocent.

But God uses even the evil design of people to bring about good, and although sinful behaviors do indeed frustrate the divine purposes in the world, they do not, finally, stymie them. 

We have read what the lectionary assigned for today, but this story needs to be taken a step further.  So rather than assign it to you for homework, let me tell you what happens next. 

Reuben, the oldest brother, returned to the pit where Joseph had been dumped by the other brothers, only to find that Joseph was gone – sold as a slave, you’ll recall.

So what did they do next?  They knew their father would wonder about Joseph!   

They took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 

Then they took the robe to their father, who immediately recognized the robe and surmised that his beloved Joseph had been devoured by a wild animal.  None of the brothers “‘fessed up.”  No one could console Jacob, who was, understandably, grief stricken, to put it mildly.   

Meanwhile, Joseph had been sold in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.  Joseph was put in charge of his master’s house and manages it with unusual success.  He was obedient, honest, and completely reliable. 

Chapter 39 states that his Egyptian master saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. 

The Egyptian’s house was blessed for Joseph’s sake.   

The Lord was with Joseph.  This is key.  Joseph is recognized as a man of God and is a source of blessing to those around him. 

            Joseph, essentially a kidnapped young man of 17,

taken from the father who so dearly loved him,

and who is now forced to live far away from home. 

Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph, but he resists.  Since he is at all times conscious of God’s presence, Joseph believes that sinning against man is sinning against God, sins being actions against God.   

Joseph’s victory against temptation is seen as the model of conduct for every young man to emulate.  He has been called the ideal character of the Old Testament. 

Falsely accused by the official’s wife, Joseph is imprisoned.  But Joseph knew the Lord was with him even in prison.  While in prison, Joseph is given responsibility for other prisoners, among whom are the Pharaoh’s butler and baker whose dreams are correctly interpreted by Joseph.   

Eventually, Joseph is asked to interpret Pharaoh’s dream since none of the Egyptian wise men were able determine its meaning.   

“I dreamed that I saw seven fat cows and seven thin cows.  The thin cows ate up the fat ones. Then I saw seven good ears of grain and seven bad ears.  The bad ears ate up the good ones.” 

Joseph tells Pharaoh that God is the One who will give the interpretation, through Joseph, and explains that there will be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven years of famine.   

Enormous quantities of grain are stored for the first seven years.  During the seven years of famine, all the surrounding lands come to Joseph to buy grain.   Included in these are Joseph’s brothers, who come not recognizing Joseph and bow before him. 

Eventually the family is reunited, Joseph declaring that it was God’s will that he save his own people from hunger.  The family tragedy became their salvation.

This story is much richer than time permits this morning.  Please consider reading it this week in Genesis.  It is a story in our history that speaks to us repeatedly of God’s grace: no matter what messes we get into we can be comforted knowing that God is with us wherever we go and will never abandon us.  God will keep us. 

Like Joseph, we sometimes dream.  Sometimes like the brothers, we deny the dream. 

At times we are Jacob who keeps it to study awhile.

A friend recently spoke about her belief that one of our presidential hopefuls, if he gets elected, will age, turn gray, and be corrupted – that it’s inevitable.  Do we dare give up that easily? 

What dream is still dreamed over us?  What promise is guarded on our behalf? 

And do we trust that God is with us, regardless of where we find ourselves, if we but trust in Him to guide and accept his amazing grace? 

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Now go from this place.  Go as a child of God,

loved no matter where you find yourself,

and be the blessing you were meant to be,  

for our Triune God is with us at all times and in all places and will give us what we need if only we trust and believe and   
            ask.  Amen.