“Reaping what they sow”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Sunday, August 13, 2023
Genesis 37:1-4,12-28 (Forward, p. 15) CEV p. 38
Elsewhere in the Bible we are told that we will reap what we sow, and nowhere is this more forcibly borne out than in this passage. Both Joseph and his father Jacob would eventually suffer great anguish and hardship, and, in a sense, this was like ‘their chickens coming home to roost’. They were reaping what they sowed.
Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children, because, as our account says, ‘because he was born when Jacob was already very old.’ But not only that, he was the first-born son of his favourite wife Rachel, born after it was despaired of her ever being able to have children. And furthermore, Jacob let this favouritism show by gifting Joseph with a fancy coat, a long-sleeved coat (a coat of many colours), which exempted him from any serious, hands-on labour. And the fact that Jacob used Joseph as his delegate and messenger didn’t help one bit (see later).
Joseph, sad to say, fed right into this mistaken policy for he tended to be a talebearer, and would come back to his father with bad things to say about his brothers. So, as you might guess, there was no love lost between the brothers and Joseph. They hated his very guts, and for good reason. And then there was the matter of the dreams, which, by right, Joseph should have kept to himself—that is, if he had been at all wise and understanding. But, instead, in a fit of bravado and boasting, he let them be known both to his brothers and his parents, with the obvious reaction. The brothers hated him all the more.
No wonder they wanted to be rid of him, and said to each of other--with a certain sense of irony, given what would later transpire, ‘hey, what will then become of his dreams?” Now, if truth be told—jumping ahead just a bit—they later decided not to kill him but sell him into slavery, which would achieve the same thing: they would be rid of him.
All told, between Jacob’s silly and ill-advised favouritism, Joseph’s childish boast and tattle-tailing, and the brothers’ hostility, there be great suffering down the road, suffering and trauma for all of them.
But little did any of them know, but that God was at work in their ill-conceived plans. The trauma and suffering produced some great character changes in Joseph—he matured a great deal—and in his brothers as well. Furthermore, God sent Joseph ahead into Egypt in order to be able to provide for the rest of his family in a later rather dire time of crisis.
And so, in like manner, God is able to use even our mistakes, even our worst decisions, for good. As with today’s story, this may take years and years—perhaps even beyond our lifetimes—but it will happen. And, like Joseph, we simply have to remain constant in doing what is right and constant in trusting in God, no matter what the immediate outcomes or prospects might be.
Forward notes: “An they took Joseph to Egypt” (verse 28c).
“Youi knew it was going to happen like this. Out of 12 brothers, one was the father’s favourite. He was the family star. He flaunted it, wearing his special coat and taunting his brothers. It was classic sophomoric behaviour, always destined to crash and burn.
“Joseph’s family was the model of dysfunction. His father cheated his brother and father, ran away, and took years to recover. When Joseph found his brothers grazing the sheep, their resentment boiled over; they stripped him of his fancy coat and threw him in a well to perish.
“As luck—or providence—would have it, one of the brothers convinced the others not to kill Joseph but enslave him. So, they pulled him out of the pit, sold him to traders, and off he went to Egypt to be forgotten.
“But God did not forget Joseph. Down the road, he become the lifeline for survival for his dysfunctional family, and God used him to bring life to the world.”
Moving Forward: “The next time you find yourself at the bottom of a pit, remember Joseph, and don’t lose heart.”