This is only part of my sermon from August 14th. A large part has been omitted to preserve confidentiality:
So let’s do a recap of the Joseph story. Many of you probably already know the Joseph story, either through reading the Genesis or watching Jospeh and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat -- but in any case, it’s such a page-turner, I’m going to tell it to you again if only to pump up the entertainment value of this sermon.
So here’s the cliff notes version of the story of Joseph, minus a few subplots. The full novella is available to you in Genesis, chapters 37 all the way through 50.
First, Jacob had two wives. His first wife was Leah, but his first love was...? Right, Rachel, Leah’s younger sister. And Jacob had 12 sons who became the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. And Joseph, Rachel’s firstborn, was Jacob’s favorite son of his favorite wife. And so Jacob gave Joseph a special robe – or a Technicolor Dream-coat if you will.
Now of course Joseph’s older brothers were jealous of this preferential treatment. And to make sibling rivalry worse, Joseph tells his brothers of two dreams he has wherein they all bow down to him. So in order to get rid of the spoiled dreamer and prevent his dreams from coming true, the brothers plot fratricide, but they end up instead selling Joseph into slavery to a band of Ishmaelites headed for Egypt. And to cover their tracks, the brothers bring back Joseph’s coat of many colors covered in animal blood, telling their father Jacob that his favorite son has been killed.
Meanwhile, God was making a way for Joseph where there appeared to be no way. Joseph was sold to a great Egyptian named Potiphar, and Joseph was so good at all that he did that Potiphar eventually put him in charge of his entire estate. But then things turned sour again for Joseph when Mrs. Potiphar started making passes at Joseph. Every time Mrs. Potiphar made a pass, Joseph would snub her. Finally, she got so frustrated that she accused Joseph of attempted rape, and so our dear hero was thrown into prison.
But still, God was making a way where there appeared to be no way. See Joseph had a God-given gift that saved him: he made himself known in the prison as one who was skilled at interpreting dreams. And word of this special talent made its way to the Pharaoh, who had been having some really disturbing dreams involving cows. So Pharaoh pulled Joseph out of the dungeon, and Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams to mean that there would be a great famine, and he should store up as much grain as he could. Pharaoh immediately trusted Joseph, took his advice, and made him ruler of all Egypt.
Nine long years later, the famine was in full fury, and Jacob’s tribe was starving. Jacob heard that the Egypt had stores of grain, so he sent his sons to buy some.
Then finally, the boyhood dreams of Joseph came to fruition. He saw his brothers – now old men – walk through the doors of the palace, and not recognizing him, bow down at his feet. They begged him for grain and Joseph gave it to them generously. And then, after they left, he wept. After all this time, Joseph wept bitterly.
But the grain runs out, so the brothers return to buy more, this time with Benjamin, Joseph’s only full brother born of Rachel. And after Joseph sees his little brother for the first time in years, he again removes himself from view, and he cries his eyes out.
Joseph then collects himself devises a test to see if his brothers are sorry for what they did to him: he plants his silver cup in Benjamin’s bag, and so Benjamin is accused of stealing from the Pharoah’s house. Joseph wants to see if they will betray another favorite son of Rachel, but this time, the brothers have learned their lesson. Judah comes forward and ruefully confesses what happened to Joseph, lamenting that they are now all being punished by God for it, and he begs to take the punishment for Benjamin, so that his father does not have to lose his only surviving son of Rachel. The brothers who once jealously plotted to kill the favorite son will now sacrifice themselves for the favored one.
And then we reach the scene in our reading for today. Joseph can’t just take it anymore. He commands everyone to leave the room except for his brothers. Then Joseph weeps so loudly this time that everyone outside can hear him. The great Joseph, mighty ruler of all Egypt, weeps before his brothers like an abandoned child. All the pain from those years in slavery and prison, all the hurt and betrayal, all the anger and fear and love pours out of him in a torrential wave. The Jewish translation of the text says that Joseph sobs.
Then, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and they are utterly terrified. But then the most shocking thing of all happens: Joseph speaks words of forgiveness. He tells his brothers “now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” And then Joseph throws his arms around Benjamin and weeps, and then he embraces all his other brothers and weeps on them too. He even invites them to move their tribe to nearby Goshen so he can provide for their children and they can all live together.
What an incredible epic. And how amazing, that after the utter betrayal by his own kin, after all the years of pain and suffering Joseph went through because his brothers, how amazing it is that he is able to forgive them and embrace them before they even ask for forgiveness. Joseph had every right to go to his grave furious at his brothers. In ancient Egypt, a culture where an “eye for an eye” was the rule of law, Joseph would have been perfectly justified in, at the very least, enslaving or imprisoning his brothers for life. And as the most powerful man in all Egypt, he had carte-blanche to do whatever he wanted with them. But instead, to the shock of everyone, Joseph weeps… steps down from his throne… hand embraces them.
What enables Joseph to forgive his brothers? What instills in him this Christ-like benevolence? How is it possible that he could forgive such betrayal and embrace his family again?
I have a theory. There are two elements here that fostered Joseph’s amazing ability to let go and forgive something so horrible. First, he sees God at work in his life. He says that God sent him ahead of his brothers to preserve life. Joseph sees how God has picked up the trash in his life and sculpted into something beautiful and good.
But today what I want to focus on is the second reason why Joseph is able to forgive. Joseph is able to forgive and embrace his family again because he weeps. Joseph sobs. He is able to let go because he gives up his pain to God through tears.
In fact, Joseph is a bit of a cry-baby in this story. He weeps four separate times, and in our reading today, he sobs so loudly that people can hear him all the way down the hall. It’s striking portrait to me, the image of the mighty ruler of all Egypt, sitting on a throne in a long robe, wearing the Pharoah’s ring yet sobbing like a child. It’s an image that’s a mixture of great power and great weakness all at the same time. Joseph may be an old man who rules over all of Egypt, but inside, he’s still the teenage boy whose brothers betrayed him and sold him into foreign slavery.
And by re-entering that weakness, by pouring out all of his grief and pain, Joseph is able to do the strongest and most powerful gesture of all… forgive, to let go, and embrace his family anew. The act of crying, of pouring out our tears is an emotional emptying, a way to give our feelings to God and make room to embrace something new. Joseph can let go of the past and embrace his family because he has first poured out his grief to God in tears.
So the question I have for you today is what are you clinging to? What is the story, the fear, the wound that you’ve haven’t let go of? What is the transgression that you were never able to forgive? Like Joseph, were you betrayed? Do you secretly hold grief inside of you? What losses have you just not been able to recover from? What anger do you carry? Pour it out to God. God can handle it. Pour it all out before the cross so that you may embrace new joy.
