Have you ever had the feeling that things were not going your way? That it was going to be a "bad hair" day and not much else was going to go well either? Robert Orben(1) was quoted as saying, "Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that’s not true. Some of the smaller countries are neutral."
One of the great challenges in life is to deal with opposition and the knowledge that not everyone likes us. There are other experiences that are very hard for us to deal with and one of them is when we experience a sense of abandonment. It is then that the "pit of our stomach" ties us in knots as we cry and cry without any relief.
During WWII six Navy pilots left their aircraft carrier on a mission. After searching the seas for enemy submarines, they tried to return to their ship shortly after dark. But the captain had ordered a blackout of all lights on the ship. Over and over the frantic pilots radioed, asking for just one light so they could see to land. But the pilots were told that the blackout could not be lifted. After several appeals and denials of their request, the ship’s operator turned the switch to break radio contact--and the pilots were forced to ditch in the ocean.(2)
Abandonment is but one of the many things that the "pit knows" in our story about Joseph from the reading in Genesis this morning. The story of Joseph is a major story in the Old Testament. There are twenty chapters devoted to it in Genesis, rivaling the story of Abraham in length. It has been described by biblical scholars as a novella, or short novel, with its subplots and intrigue.
Summarizing this story is difficult. Part of the intrigue comes from the history and character of Joseph’s father, Israel. Before his name was changed to Israel, he was called Jacob, the youngest son of Isaac, son of Abraham. Jacob is the one who tricked his nearly blind father and stole Isaac’s blessing from Esau, the older brother. To get him away from Esau his mother, Rebecca, sent him to Midian to find a wife. Asking to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel, Jacob works seven years to provide a dowry and is deceived when he discovers he just married Leah, the firstborn. So, he works another seven year for Rachel. Leah bears him ten sons, but Rachel does not bear a child for many years.
Reuben is the firstborn of Leah, and Joseph is the first born of Rachel. Reuben scandalized the family and lost the blessing and affection of his father, Jacob now called Israel, when he slept with one of his father’s concubines. One might get the impression that this was a dysfunctional family. In fact I’ve read that most of us have some dysfunctional elements in parts of our family experiences. I think that some TV shows and movies have borrowed from these narratives and just changed the names and settings to make it seem like a recent story. Of course, they leave out the part about relating to and serving God, while working through failures and sin.
As I was saying earlier, Reuben messed up by what he did and his father did not forget it. In fact it seems that Israel made a decision probably after Joseph was bar mitzvahed at age 12 to give his blessing to Joseph in place of the elder Reuben. The scripture tells us that Joseph had some dreams that were vivid and were about sheaves bowing down to him. He told the dream to his brothers and his father. The brothers were angry with him and felt that he was not only spoiled, but he was arrogant too.
There was little affection among the brothers for Joseph who seemed to get all of his father’s affection. In fact Israel had a special coat made for Joseph. It has been called a robe of many colors or a robe with sleeves. Its intent was to be a robe of distinction, however it was made. And it was perceived to be that by the brothers. Some scholars suggest that this was Israel’s outward announcement to the family that Joseph was the one who would receive his blessing. Stir that into the festering pit of jealousy, resentment and rejection.
Israel seems oblivious to the dysfunction in his own family and its consequences. So, one day the brothers are out tending their father’s herd of sheep. Joseph didn’t do that kind of work. Israel wants to know if the boys are doing all right and how the herd is doing. He decides to send Joseph to go find them and bring back a report to his dad.
In the family of Israel, who was once the Jacob that stole his brother’s birthright and blessing, there has already been quite a lot stirred into the pit. We might personify this pit and say that it "knows" quite a bit about the whole family, and it is not all pretty. And, it is about to learn a lot more.
The brothers out in the fields look up and see Joseph coming with his robe of distinction that screams "I’ve got my father’s blessing," and they also hear, "and you don’t." When they see him coming alone, they begin to plot to kill him. Here, the elder Reuben, who has plenty of reasons to resent Joseph, steps in and suggests that they not kill him, but just leave him in a nearby pit. The pit hears the whole ugly conversation. It hears what anger and resentment and hurt feelings can do to a person when they are allowed to stay and grow. We live in an unhealthy state of co-existence when we insist on holding onto our hurts and resentments, and we build walls that make reconciliation impossible until we are willing to tear them down.
Joseph’s brothers look out from their camp and see a caravan of Ishmaelites on their to Egypt to do some trading. Then Judah suggests that they don’t need to kill Joseph. They can sell him to the Ishmaelites, and they do for twenty pieces of silver.
Who or what would we betray for twenty pieces of silver? What are the temptations that draw us away from our integrity to our covenant to serve God and to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? The pit not only knows everything about Joseph, his brothers and his father, the pit knows everything about us too. It knows about all of our dark secrets that we have tried to hide.
How does one escape the pit? How do we overcome it? When we continue to look at the life of Joseph, how he was sold into slavery, how he did well in prison and won favor by his interpretations of dreams, how he was seduced and falsely accused by Pharaoh’s wife who had him thrown into prison, and how he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream about the coming seven-year drought and was made second in command in Egypt and was placed in charge managing the economy and the storage of the grain for the years of drought, we may wonder why he was not controlled by bitterness.
When we look at all the times he could have been overcome by the pit, we ask how did he keep on, how did he forgive his brothers and not take out his vengeance on them? What the brothers meant for evil, God would use for good. I believe that! I believe that we are all broken and dysfunctional in some ways and that we experience the pain of living in a world full of others who are broken and dysfunctional. I believe that God does not spare me the pain of living, the pain of hurt and disappointment, but I do believe that God takes who we are and all that we’ve experienced and uses it for good. Do you believe that?
Maya Angelou, a great contemporary American poet, writes about how she dealt with slavery and prejudice in her moving poem entitled, "Still I Rise." Her words could well have been written by Joseph, who had been made a slave in Egypt. Can we face our own difficulties with this kind of confidence that she expresses?
"You may write me down in history.
With your bitter, twisted lies.
You may trod me in the very dirt.
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
"Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells,
Pumping in my living room.
"Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides.
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
"Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
"Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard.
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines,
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
"You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness.
But still, like air, I’ll rise...
"Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
"Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
"I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
"Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
"Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
"I rise
"I rise
"I rise."
There is a spirit to this poem that you can feel. It is a spirit that does not give in to defeat and despair. It is a spirit of confidence when things seem hopeless. It is a spirit that we can see in Joseph and that we can see even more in the life of our Lord, Jesus the Christ. We face and live with the pitfalls of life every day, but we are not defeated. As Christians we can take our troubles to a God who knows what it means to suffer and be disappointed. The pit that churns within each one of us can either lead us to finding our peace in God or it can lead us down the path of anger and despair.
Which path we take is ultimately our own choice. We may take the path of anger and despair because of the examples of others-our parents before us, people around us caught in the same churning pit who would keep us with them in their misery if they could. Or, we can choose to put our faith in Christ-who takes our suffering, who enters the pit with us, and fills us with His love. The Christ who gave His life for us can lead us to a new life in Him, if we are willing to follow.
Listen again to the closing lines from Maya Angelou,
"Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
"Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
"Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
"I rise
"I rise
"I rise."
The pit may know everything, but it is still a pit to wallow in. The next time that you fall into the pit of life’s messes, will you choose to stay in the pit, or will you choose the way of Christ and choose to live a life that says not only to yourself but to others, "I rise?" Amen.
Century Christian Church, August 7, 2005 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Robert Orben is the author of many witty books on using humor in public speaking.
2. Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 12.
