Faith remains: the story of Joseph (Ray Webster's sermon prep for August 7)

First reading: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Beginning the story of Joseph

This Sunday we read the beginning of the great story of Joseph. The story of Joseph is dramatic and interesting in and of itself, but his story also sets the scene for the stories of Moses and of the Exodus. Joseph’s story tells how the Jewish people ended up living down in Egypt, where they were enslaved. Then we are given the great story of how God acted in history to save the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. This story is remembered in Judaism at Passover. It is the formative story of Judaism. It is remembered and echoed at the heart of the story of Jesus Christ.

Setting the story: the eleven sons of Jacob

Two weeks ago, you will remember that we read the story of Jacob’s marriage to Leah, and then to Rachel. Ethics had not yet developed the concept of having only one wife. Jacob had twelve sons by his two wives and two slave girls. At the time of this story, Joseph was seventeen, and there were ten older brothers. One brother younger than Joseph will later figure in the story, Benjamin. Have you ever heard a youngest child referred to as the “Benjamin” of the family? Joseph and Benjamin were the sons of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel.

Jealousy and betrayal

Now Israel …

Remember that Jacob was given the name Israel by God --

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age;

It is a beloved detail of the King James translation of the Bible in the 17^th century, that Jacob gave his beloved Joseph a coat of many colors. In this translation it is a more prosaic long robe with sleeves. At any rate, Jacob clearly treated Joseph as a favorite and that made Joseph’s older brothers envious and angry.

Joseph loses everything – except his faith

Most of the brothers decided to kill Joseph and they threw him in a pit. The eldest brother Reuben tried to save Joseph, but the brothers took Joseph out of the pit and sold him to traders, into slavery down in Egypt.

Joseph lost everything – his freedom, family, homeland, language, possessions, and found himself a slave.

The one thing he had was his faith in God.

Second reading: Romans 10:5-15: The word is near you

We are reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans and come to the great statement:

"The word is near you,

on your lips and in your heart"

(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
One of the great principles of the Reformation was that the Bible be given into the hands of the people, translated into the language of the people. In that extremely practical sense the word is indeed near each one of us. It is intended for each one, not for some special elite, but for every one.

(Ray Webster)