Richard Davenport
February 24, 2019 – 7th Sunday after Epiphany
Genesis 45:3-15
The Book of Genesis has some pretty crazy stories. There’s the whole story of creation, of course. God creating the whole universe of out nothing over the course of 7 days, setting everything in its place and making it just how it needs to be. There’s the first murder, with Cain and Abel. There’s Noah and the flood, then the tower of Babel after that. You fast forward a while and get to Abraham and all of the different things going on with him. That continues with Isaac, and then still more with Jacob, who has to work a long time to marry the love of his life.
Jacob and his sons are what lead us to the reading for today. Jacob’s 11 sons banded together to sell the 12th off into slavery in Egypt. I don’t really get the impression it was Joseph’s fault his brothers resented him. He simply got the most attention from dear old dad and it rubbed everyone else the wrong way.
Joseph doesn’t really have an easy time of things in Egypt. He gets some unwanted attention from a married woman. Turning her down just gets him tossed in prison for a while. He was there for at least a couple of years before God finally gives Pharaoh a vision that only Joseph can unravel. After that his fortunes turn around almost immediately. He tells Pharaoh about the 7 years of plenty and the 7 years of famine that are coming and says what will need to happen to survive them. Pharaoh sees no one more suited to the task than Joseph and immediately raises him to be second in command in all of Egypt.
Genesis 41 says, “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah.”
Joseph went from nothing to becoming the second most powerful person in one of the most powerful countries of the age in the blink of an eye. The only thing Joseph couldn’t do was directly contradict Pharaoh. Pharaoh knew Joseph had the plan to save the kingdom and he knew God was with Joseph to help him carry it out. So Pharaoh was eager to give him all the freedom and authority he needed to do what needed to be done. Pharaoh sees the power of God at work in Joseph. Maybe it kindled faith in his heart, we’ll never know. But we do know Joseph was the instrument of God’s grace and through Joseph, not only were the Egyptians saved from the seven year famine, but many surrounding nations as well, including Joseph’s own family back in the land of Canaan.
This would all be according to God’s plan, of course. God provides for Joseph and, through Joseph, provides for many people. God keeps them safe in the face of disaster. God uses all of this to pave the way for his greater act of power and grace in the Passover and the Exodus. He will lead them out of slavery and they will begin their journey to the Promised Land. The whole book of Exodus gets its start here, as Jacob and his family move to Egypt to be safe.
You can imagine what it was like for Joseph’s brothers as they came to Egypt seeking food and safety. They’re a long way from home. They had no reason to expect any help. They simply knew Egypt had food and their own land had none. They could have tried to tough it out at home. I’m sure many people did. The Bible tells us the famine didn’t just hit Egypt but the whole surrounding region. Many countries would have suffered and many people probably died, many thousands even, which is a huge number given the populations of the day.
But they took the chance. Egypt was reported to have food and they probably heard the rumors that Egypt was even offering that food to outsiders. They didn’t have anything to lose by trying. Death might come for them either way. As they crossed the border into Egypt, they’d see the Egyptians living well. No feasts and banquets perhaps, but they were doing ok. They had food sufficient to their needs. As they came to the capital, they’d hear one name repeated over and over, the person who made all of this possible. That name wasn’t Joseph, however. It was Zaphenath-paneah. This person, whoever he was, had the respect of the entire nation and the admiration of even the Pharaoh himself. He had nearly unlimited authority and if the family offended him somehow he could cast them out of Egypt without food, or do something even worse. This was not a man to be trifled with. He was to be treated with the utmost respect and humility, knowing that he decision would determine whether you lived or died.
It’s a bit after this the passage for today picks up. Joseph had been testing them to see how they were faring. He manages to gather all of his brothers together where he reveals to them the person they’d been hearing so much about was actually the brother they thought dead.
Suddenly they are relieved and elated. They know their salvation has come. They have nothing more to fear and will be able to live out their days in peace. The one who had all of the authority in the kingdom, who was mighty beyond their imagining has suddenly become family and their joy is complete.
There’s much here that relates to the life of Jesus. Jesus is God, but becomes a humble man like you and I. As a consequence of his humble station, he is able to bring salvation to many people. Those who come to him to be fed are given what they need and find shelter. Through this, he is elevated and glorified again, seated at the right hand of Father and given the name that is above every name. So at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
It should sound pretty familiar. Jesus has in his hands your salvation, the very thing you need to live. That’s great news! Without him, we would all be lost. The world suffers from a spiritual famine. No righteousness can grow in this world that suffers under the blight of sin. Only in the kingdom of God can the food of life be found. You hear the message that salvation is out there, that Christ has it and is willing to give to those who seek it. We come into his presence to ask him to give us what we need, knowing he is the only one who can give it.
There the similarities often end. Joseph’s brothers knew what was riding on this and knew that only the man called Zaphenath-paneah could authorize the food they came for. They were humble petitioners before him. Coming in thinking they were just going to get what was owed them, get what they deserved, it would not have been the reunion he was hoping for. He had the authority to show them exactly what they deserved. Jacob loved Joseph and his brothers took offense to that. They were going to kill him, but sold him off instead and considered him as good as dead. Now they come before the very one they wanted dead.
But God had plans for Joseph, plans to bring salvation. If they weren’t humble before him, his brothers might easily find their own deaths, either by a quick execution or a slow starvation, and they would have deserved what they got. In humility and admission of their guilt, they are reconciled to their brother and they find salvation at his hands.
We don’t treat Jesus as one we’ve greatly offended, much less someone we’ve unjustly killed. We assume his gifts are things we’re owed. Forgiveness is already ours, we’re just impatiently waiting for him to give it to us. His body and blood are simply our due for being here, for showing up. We don’t take our sin very seriously. We don’t see what we’ve done or think it means anything. On top of all of that, we don’t consider the consequences. It’s as if Jesus is the moody teenager stomping off in a huff. We have to make the effort to go to him, even though we didn’t really do anything wrong. We get what we want and Jesus gets to spend a little time with us, maybe get over his high and mighty attitude, if we even think about him that much. Mostly we just want what we’re after and we forget about the rest.
The idea of coming before a king never really occurs to us. Our cross at the front shows Jesus as the crucified king. We put him on the cross, but the Father is the one who crowned him in glory and honor. Jesus announces to the disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He alone decides our fate. We have no say in the matter, because we’re the ones who sent him to die.
The Father planned for this situation all along. He knew we would despise Jesus, resent him, and send him to die. He accounted for it and used it to bring something greater. He would end up saving us through it. The blame still falls squarely on us for causing it all in the first place. We come before the king bowing our heads, humbling asking him to give us what we so desperately need. We ask, knowing he is under no obligation to give. We ask, knowing what we have done, how terribly we have hurt him and how we continue to offend him and reject him. We ask the king who is so far above us we could never know him, his glory so bright we can’t even bear to look at him.
We ask humbly, and Jesus throws off his glory, steps down from his throne and embraces us as long lost brothers and sisters. He is pleased to know us and call us his own. He forgives every slight done to him, even though we sought his death. His love for us is so great that he considers this the only option. If we acknowledge we’ve hurt him and we seek his forgiveness, he is eager to offer it. Like long lost brothers and sisters, he rushes to embrace us and call us family again.
The Father uses this terrible situation to bring about our salvation. Though he knew we would do it, it doesn’t exempt us from the responsibility we have for our sins. Our life is held in the hands of the king, a king we have hurt deeply, a king who could cast us out into darkness and should for what we’ve done. But he is also a king who would much rather come down and celebrate with us as family.