I know some of you grew up going to Sunday School, reading Bible stories like this one, and some of you did not. For those of you who did: Are you ever amazed, when you think back to those days, at how crazy some of these stories are, and how crazy it was that we were taught them as children?
Joseph’s brothers found him… annoying. So they decided to kill him! What kind of story is that, to learn as children?
And then, we were told: It’s OK, it was all part of God’s plan.Yikes!
So, it’s OK, even though there was attempted murder, and the selling of Joseph into slavery, and all the subsequent abuse he endured because of it.
Even as a child, this didn’t seem right to me. I didn’t want to accept this explanation, this interpretation, of this story. I didn’t want to accept the idea that what Joseph’s brothers did was part of God’s long-term plan.
Because, to me, it didn’t seem that the end justified the means.
But I was quiet, and obedient, so I kept my mouth shut.
But now, I get to speak. I get to preach. And if you haven’t noticed, if there’s a traditional interpretation of scripture that I’m uncomfortable with, I’ll wrestle with it, and I’ll tell you about it in my sermons!
To me, this story doesn’t seem real. It seems comical, not because it’s funny, but because it sounds so far-fetched and unrealistic, that they would want to literally kill their own brother. How can you even take this story seriously?
There’s a reason why Andrew Lloyd Weber made Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat such a comical, lighthearted musical. If it had the same serious tone as Phantom of the Opera, I don’t think it would work.
It’s hard to take this story seriously.
So Joseph was a little annoying. It would maybe not be so surprising if his brothers picked on him, maybe even bullied him a little. But when they said to each other, “Hey, here he comes; let’s kill him, and then say a wild animal got him,” they sound so casual, as if what they intended to do wasn’t any worse than, say, hiding a frog in his bedding, or dumping a bucket of water on his head.
But, of course, it was much worse.
At least Reuben interceded on behalf of Joseph. “Let’s not kill him, so that we are the ones responsible for shedding his blood. Instead, let’s throw him in a pit he can’t escape from, and leave him there.”
And the other brothers figured, hey, the end result is the same. Joseph will have no food, no water, and he won’t be able to get out. So they agreed to that.
…And they stripped Joseph of his fancy robe, and they threw him into the pit, and they left him there.
And then, they sat down to eat. As if they had done nothing wrong.
And while they were eating, they saw a traveling group of Ishmaelites, and they thought, “Maybe we can not only get rid of Joseph, but also get some money…”
And they decided to go back and get Joseph, and sell him as a slave to the Ishmaelites.
Who would be so cruel, to inflict such harm on another, on one’s own brother? Who would treat the act of killing so casually? Who could possibly think slavery is something that a decent person could condone?
It’s so unrealistic! Isn’t it?
Well, it would be, except for the fact that there is at least one person today who thinks slavery isn’t so bad. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that slavery was beneficial to those who were enslaved, and that these benefits of slavery should be taught to schoolchildren.
Just like I have a hard time believing that Joseph’s brothers really were as mean as they were, I have a hard time believing that someone like Governor DeSantis could really believe the things he believes and say the things he says.
And also, there is at least one person today who would kill another person, just because he felt annoyed by him.
On July 20, O’Shea Sibley, a professional dancer who was featured in several music videos and also performed at New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, was killed in front of a gas station in Brooklyn.
He and some friends were… dancing… there on the sidewalk, something that annoyed a group of men who approached them; The group started to shout anti-gay slurs at Sibley and his friends. The anti-gay slurs eventually led to a dispute, and one of the men—a 17 year-old boy, actually—stabbed Sibley, killing him.
O’Shea Sibley was killed simply because he was dancing. Or, because he was gay. Either way, it’s a stupid reason to kill someone —it’s as stupid as killing your brother because he was a dreamer, and liked to annoy you by wearing his fancy robe, that “coat of many colors.”
It’s hard to believe such things happen. But they do.
This reminds me that Joseph’s coat, or robe, was (you may recall) actually a dress. Since I’ve talked about it before, I won’t go into detail now, but the Hebrew word used to describe that particular garment refers to a dress typically worn by a princess.
If Joseph was almost killed and then sold into slavery because his brothers were offended by the princess dress he wore, and if O’Shea Sibley was killed because a group of men were offended by the way he expressed himself through dance, that makes these two events frighteningly similar.
And it’s hard to believe that such cruelty exists in the world.
But I guess the cruelty Joseph’s brothers inflicted on him isn’t so far-fetched after all, since we see it in our own time._______
What Joseph’s brothers did was cruel and wrong, there’s no doubt about that. But don’t you think that their father, Jacob, also shares some of the blame?
Jacob didn’t hide the fact that Joseph was his favorite son, and he gave Joseph special favors, and special gifts, which contributed to the resentment Joseph’s brothers felt. Maybe the brothers resented their father Jacob as much as they resented their brother Joseph, but Joseph was an easier target for them.
In the same way, what that teenager who stabbed O’Shea Sibley did was certainly cruel and wrong, but don’t others also share some of the blame?
Those who speak against LGBT rights; who mock, or ridicule, people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or gender-diverse; those who seek to deny rights and even pass legislation against LGBT individuals;... they, too, share the blame for the death of O’Shea Sibley, and the deaths of countless others who have died violent deaths because of their sexuality or gender identity. They contributed to this teenager thinking he was justified in killing someone because of their sexual orientation and the way they expressed themself.
One would have thought that the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming, 25 years ago, would have shocked us into becoming a kinder, more accepting, more loving nation; and maybe for some people it did, but there is still far too much hate in the world, and far too much bigotry, and far too much fear; all of which is fueled by the rhetoric that irresponsible politicians and preachers and other leaders continue to spew forth.
Words have power. Words, like actions, have the power to bring life and bring death. More often than we are aware of, life and death are in our hands.
Jesus, in Matthew 5, said this: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool’, you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
And in the book of James, it says that ships “are guided by a very small rudder…. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire.”
I think one of the most important things we can teach and learn in the church is how to express ourselves in ways that are kind and loving.
There are a lot of issues in our world which get us angry; issues of injustice, issues of inequality, and news like the news about O’Shea Sibley.
How we respond is important. How we allow God to transform our anger into positive action is important.
How do we do that?
It’s so easy to let our anger lead us to react in ways that are harmful—perhaps as harmful as the words or actions that led to our anger in the first place.
I think that’s why Jesus said that if you are angry, you will be liable to judgment. Any anger that leads us to hate another person—a sibling who likes to dream, or a guy dancing on the sidewalk—is anger that leads us away from the way of Christ. Any anger that leads us to wish for harm to come upon another person, is anger that leads us away from the way of Christ.
But anger that can be transformed into good…, that is anger that, I think, Jesus would approve of. After all, didn’t Jesus himself express such anger when he overturned the tables in the temple? He didn’t wish ill on any person, but he did feel the need to call attention to the unjust economic practices that took place in the temple, practices which made life especially hard for the poorest, most vulnerable members of society.
That is the challenge, then, isn’t it? To transform our anger into something good, something positive, something constructive…; to let our anger motivate us to work for justice, work for equality, work for peace.
So often, our anger leads us to become resentful, even hateful.
If we do not transform our anger into something good and positive—or allow God to transform it into something good and positive—then we will transmit the pain, the negativity, the hate to others.
In next week’s sermon, I’ll talk about how the story of Joseph ends, but I’ll give you a little preview now.
If you know how the story of Joseph ends, you know that, after many trials, Joseph and his brothers are reunited. By then, Joseph is in a position of power, and he could have sought retribution or revenge on his brothers. And, in fact, he did play with them a little. But ultimately, he showed that he had transformed any anger and any resentment he had into something positive.
And that, too, seems hard to believe. After all he endured, to not harbor any ill feelings toward his brothers! …To not want to do back to them something like what they did to him!
But that’s a demonstration of God’s transformative power. It’s the power to take hate, and transform it into love. It’s the power to take evil, and transform it into good. It’s the power to take anger, and transform it into compassion. It’s the power to take even death, and transform it into life.
It is grace, given freely, in the hopes of creating a world that is more peaceful, more loving, and more just.
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