Sermon -08-07-2011

Psalm 105:16-22 Genesis 37:1-8

“Joseph, the Dreamer.”

On August 28, 1963, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered his most powerful message in Washington, D.C. in front of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, it reads in part:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning

of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day, on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi… will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!”

PRAYER

“The saga of Jacob continues with the story of Jacob’s sons, the longest narrative in Genesis. In today’s focus, the account begins with the story of Jacob’s entire family in Canaan and ends with son Joseph in Egypt.”

(Seasons of the Spirit, Cong. Life, Pentecost 1, pg.80)

“Jacob is now in the land where his father was a stranger, the land that God promised to Abraham’s descendants. Jacob had the chance to establish his family in peace and happiness. But he begins with a serious blunder. He shows the same sort of favoritism which his mother (Rebekah) had shown him which caused plenty of trouble growing up… Jacob was a complex man, there was good in him, even if sometimes it seemed hard to find; one favorable element that was evident, that was the love he had had for Rachel. Let us remember that, for seven years Jacob served her father Laban for the promise that then he may marry her, “ and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had for her,” (Gen. 29:20). Laban broke the promise and he worked for him for seven more years. Jacob had more than one wife, but that was more a matter of an accepted custom than his own doing. Apparently the only woman he really loved was Rachel. (He had other children, as we know, 10 boys and one daughter with the other wives), but Rachel’s children’s were closed to his heart. Joseph was the first born. Then, when she gave birth to Benjamin, she died… but Joseph the first born, still stood first in his affection.

Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children. Jacob saw so many traits of himself in Joseph, his ambition and his thirst for life – he would enact more brilliantly the role he had always wanted to play. The coat of many colors which he put on Joseph was a symbol of that desire, royalty. Jacob had always wanted to be admired and the envy of all.” (Interpreters Bible Dictionary, vol.1, pg. )

Do we have a favorite son or daughter, the one that has the most similarities to us? Is there one that mirrors you, and through him or her you want to see your frustrated dreams come true? What is the reaction or response from the other siblings?

“For Joseph’s brothers the favoritism toward him from their father, made them hate him. Joseph, at his young age of 17, was bright, of imaginative spirit and more attractive than they were. He had a gift, a gift of dreaming dreams and interpreting dreams, a gift that amused his father and made his brothers hate him more.” (Idem)

One day Joseph had a dream he shared with his family: I have a dream!

“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. His brothers said to him, ‘Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?’ So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.” (Gen. 37:7-8).

Was God sending them a message through their brother?

In his innocence and youth, he once again shared with his brothers another dream: “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. But when his father heard the dream he rebuked him, and said to him, ‘What kind of dream is it you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?. So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”

(Gen. 37:9-11)

Soon after, Jacob realizes that this kid has too much time on his hands and that maybe it was time for Joseph to go and work in the fields as a shepherd with his brothers. The fields were a bit far but Jacob showed him the way, and with the help of a man on the road he found his brothers. “When they saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. Here was their long awaited chance! ‘Let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; (a hole dug by shepherds to capture rainwater for the sheep), then we can say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams! But Reuben, decided not to take his life, just throw him into a pit in the wilderness.’ (Gen.37:17b-22) Reuben planned to just scare Joseph and to rescue him later. So Rueben went back to work.

“When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of the robe, the coat of many colors, that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit, (just as

planned). The pit was empty; there was no water in it.” (Gen. 37:23-24).

“Then they sat down to eat; and they looking up and saw a caravan coming from Gilead with their camels carrying… goods to sell in Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, what do we gain by killing our brother? Let us sell him to the traders passing by… and they all agreed.” (Gen. 37:25-28)

“It is interesting to see how in the darkness of the story, in the cruel and malevolent heart of the brothers there was a bit of compassion, they could not bear to take their brother’s life. The value of a human life and the bond of brotherhood, had a cheap cost over death, for twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph as a slave.” (Ibid, pg. 753-754) The traders took Joseph to Egypt.

“When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that the boy was not in the pit, he tore his clothes.” (Gen.37:30) As the oldest brother he was responsible to his father for the well being of Joseph. What did we do? What did I allow to happen? What would I do now?

“The consequences of their wrong doings could not be cut short. One sin creates another in order to try to hide the first. The sons of Jacob had been guilty of a crime against their brother… they had no direct desire to hurt their father… but in order to protect themselves and to protect their guilt, they had to hurt him worse… They could not tell him what they actually did… They even asked Jacob to recognize the coat torn into pieces, the one they previously smeared with the blood of a goat, and pretended to have found in the wilderness. They have created a lie that needed to be used as truth to cover up their wrong doing… “and Jacob wept for his son.” There was no consolation for his pain and loss. (Ibid, pg.756)

Here end the story for today…

For the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his dreams where visions of hope for a future he wished to see coming for this nation. He was a victim of the rage of his opposites but his dreams came true in God’s time.

To Joseph, God gave a special gift, he was a dreamer, one that was not understood by his brothers or his father. It almost cost him his life as the hate of his brothers grew more and more against him. God was with Joseph, and he had a plan for him. In the midst of what looked wrong, God used Joseph as “an instrument for his deliverance, he lifted him from the pit and gave him strength, the hope which was to lead him on.” (Idem)

“As Joseph enters life as a salve in Egypt, God remains active in his life, and dreams will again guide his path.” (Seasons of the Spirit, pg. 72)

“Wherever we are, God is with us. When all seems lost, we can trust that God will come to us, to strengthen us to carry on.” (Idem)