So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s … Genesis 47:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 7, 2018): Genesis 47

I recently underwent a stress test, evaluating the condition of my heart. It is something that most of us have to suffer through at some point in our lives; the endless tests of our medical system trying to evaluate our health and predict, at least a little for those who want to insure us, when we are likely to die. According to the cardiologist, that point of death is still a bit into the future, at least if it is my heart that is going to take my life from me. My heart is fine.

Which is a little surprising. I haven’t always been nice to my body. While I am getting better, I still don’t treat my body with the respect it is probably due. I have friends, who are my approximate age, who are beginning to watch their health suffer. A running joke among a group of us is that we have no retirement plans. With the amount that we have saved in our retirement accounts, we are going to have to work well past our sixties and, at least, into our seventies. But that only works if our health holds. Although he didn’t need to, my father-in-law worked, at least part-time, until he was admitted into the hospital in his mid-eighties with the disease that would claim his life a couple of weeks later. What is the difference between him and some of my friends who are experiencing health issues and are not yet even closing in on their eighties? I am not sure that I know the answer.

Except maybe that everything is God’s. It is a truth against which we want to wrestle. The trap is to believe that the things that I own are mine because I am the one who worked hard for what I have achieved. And while that is partially true, the ability is given to us to work hard, and the aptitude with which we conduct our jobs is something that belongs only to God. We are blessed when our health us good and we are productive in our jobs. While there are things that we can do to increase our riches and maintain our health, the truth is that we are not the originators of all of our opportunities, and genetics, which is beyond our control, has a voice in the reality of how long we might live. Even self-made people have had the benefit of opportunities that were not within their ability to control.

And what might be that the best illustration of this principle is found in Joseph’s Egypt. Pharaoh had come through for his people, keeping the people alive in Egypt and the surrounding nations when the great famine raked the land. But that help came at a price. By the end of the famine, everything, at least in Egypt, belonged to Pharaoh. Now, it appears that Joseph had no intention of making the lives of the people miserable, but the reality that the people couldn’t escape was that Pharaoh owned everything. The cost for working the land, owned by the Pharaoh, with seed, also owned by the Pharaoh, would be twenty percent, actually not a bad rate of taxation. But the truth of life in Egypt, as life returned to normal, was that none of the land belonged to the people.

Our lives are no our own, no matter how much we may want to pretend that they are. Our days are numbered, and all that God asks of us is to do the best with the opportunities that he gives to us. Take care of your health and maximize the difference that you can make on this planet. After all, that is precisely Joseph’s story. He made the most of his opportunities, and the result was that he was in a position to give his family the best that he had to give.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 48

So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. – Genesis 46:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 6, 2018): Genesis 46

On March 22, 1765, The Stamp Act of 1765 was passed by the British Parliament. The Act passed through the House of Commons with a 205-49 vote. The House of Lords passed the Act unanimously. The Stamp Act was aimed at the British Colonies, including the American Colonies, and went into effect on November 1, 1765. The Act required that all documents in the colonies be printed on paper that bore a British stamp. It was to be applied to everything from legal documents to Magazines to playing cards. Essentially, “The Stamp Act” was a tax that was justified as a way of paying for the presence of the British military who maintained peace and protected the citizens of the colonies.

In North America, the Act was criticized because it taxed the citizens without giving them representation in the British Parliament. “No taxation without representation” became the cry of those who opposed the implementation of the Act. “No taxation without representation” would evolve from a cry against a tax to a revolutionary cry of a colony about to become a nation. “No taxation without representation” was the cry that would give birth to the United States.

Although it seems counterintuitive, a nation in Palestine was essentially born on the day that its founder and namesake, Jacob (Israel), left Palestine. The problem that God possibly had to fix was that the sons of Israel were becoming too comfortable with the local gods of Canaan. They had freely intermarried with the local people, and as a result, these foreign gods had made their way into the homes of the sons of Jacob. And maybe the best way to allow this family to become a nation was to isolate them together away from the influence of these foreign gods. And that is exactly what would happen in Egypt. Although originally they would be welcome in Egypt, the people would not readily accept them there. There would be little opportunity for them to mix with the local people. They would be given their own land and would have to rely on each other and their God for survival.

Eventually, this burgeoning people would become slaves in this new land. And like the American cry of “No taxation without representation,” the descendants of Jacob, now slaves, would begin to cry out to their God for relief. And with the addition of a new leader, Moses, they would transition back to Palestine and become a nation.

But it is likely that none of that would have happened without Jacob packing up his possessions and leaving the land that God had promised to him and his descendants, just as a change in policy by King George III in 1765 might have prevented a Revolution. The future of a people was changed when Jacob left Canaan. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 47

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. – Genesis 45:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 5, 2018): Genesis 45

Have you ever had a secret that was too good to keep? On the day after our wedding, my wife and I planned to crash a party our families were having at my in-law’s house. The only one who knew that we were coming was my father-in-law. He kept the secret, but just barely. Everyone seemed to know that something was up, but not exactly what. From the stories we heard afterward, he couldn’t seem to sit very long, kept on going to doors and windows to “look” at whatever it was that was happening on the street. He was probably relieved when he finally saw us pull up. He no longer had to keep the secret.

Joseph’s motives in keeping his brothers in the dark about his identity are clear. In forming a plan of action, he had some questions that needed answering. And the first question was whether the events of his sale years ago still described the character of his brothers – or had they changed. Benjamin became an important pawn in the masquerade. Joseph believed that if his brother's character had remained the same as on the day he was sold, then they would gladly sell his only full brother into captivity as well, to save themselves. And if that were so, then Joseph had a chance to save his younger brother from the consequences that he had suffered.

But that was not the case. Over the time that Joseph had dealt with his brothers, he was convinced that they are not the same people who had sold him into slavery. Time had passed, and they truly regretted the action that they had taken so many years earlier. Maybe they had matured a little bit. And Joseph had matured as well. The events of his life, as terrible as some of them had been, had shaped him, molding him into the respectable government official who now stood in front of them. He was no longer the annoying little brother that he had once been.

And as Joseph comes to the conclusion that his brothers have changed, the desire to reveal himself to them, and to find a way to reconnect with his aging father, overwhelms him. And he begins to break down in a way that he did not want to in front of his servants. It must have been a scary moment for his brothers. Here, this Egyptian official was ordering his staff out of the room, leaving the sons of Jacob alone with the official. For whatever was coming next, there would be no witnesses. After all that they had suffered, from silver mysteriously returning to them to a missing cup that was found in young Benjamin’s sack, they must have felt that someone was out to get them. And now the Egyptian could do and say whatever he wanted. At least a small part of them must have wondered if they would get out of the room alive, or whether soldiers would march in and dispose of them without anyone knowing that they had been there.

They would leave the room alive, but they would be changed. In a moment, the brother they had betrayed would be returned to them.  And life would continue but in a very different manner.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 46

“Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. – Genesis 44:27-28

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 4, 2018): Genesis 44

The Conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte argued that “History is a set of lies agreed upon.” The end result is that what we think is true, might not be. Several colorful characters in history have had different histories attached to them. President Donald Trump argued, from history, that Canada burned down the White House during the War of 1812 (although the actual burning down of the White House didn’t happen until 1814). Canada, for the most part, is quick to agree with the President. The band “The Arrogant Worms” even wrote a tongue in cheek song about Canada burning down the White House, and then argues that if the U.S. continues in their arrogant ways, don’t miss the connection with the Canadian band’s name, we might have to do it again. So pack your matches the next time you go to Washington, D.C. (Please do not take this seriously. As with every “Arrogant Worms” song, the whole thing is meant as a joke and an attempt at Canadian humor.) But the reality is that the story as told by President Trump and “The Arrogant Worms” is just an agreed-upon lie. Canada didn’t exist until 1867, fifty-three years after the burning of the White House. So the White House was actually burned by the British.

There are others. Benedict Arnold is seen historically as a traitor in the United States, while in Britain he is remembered as a patriot, although a disgruntled and unhappy one. The truth is seldom so clear-cut. Maybe the only truth to be had is that Arnold was disgruntled and unhappy. He might have been neither a patriot nor a traitor but, like most of us, stuck somewhere in between with a set of circumstances that he did not understand. The Fake News battle between Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, President Trump, the Republicans and the Democrats might be better viewed as a fight over the lie upon which we will eventually agree.

In the story of Joseph, it is evident that the history of the family has been constructed around an agreed upon lie, one that said that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Of course, the other sons of Jacob know that the wild animal story was a fabrication, with the exception possibly on Benjamin, Joseph’s younger brother. But there is a suggestion that the whole family was aware of the lie. As the brothers speak about Joseph being “torn to pieces” the addendum to the statement is that the family has “not seen him since.” If Dad knew that Joseph had been torn to pieces, why would there be an expectation that he might see him again? But if the family was all in on the lie, allowing the lie to survive because the implication of the truth to the family dynamics was too much to contemplate, then maybe even Dad was still holding out hope that he might see his son again.

But, at this moment, it was the lie that was holding the family together. The truth of what the sons of Jacob did to their brother, and to their father, was a truth that could only end in bitterness and a family that was torn apart. So, for now, the lie was the better option. But the lie would not be able to survive the reappearance of Joseph, which was now just around the corner.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 45

He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?” – Genesis 43:27

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 3, 2018): Genesis 43

We live in a world of quick and easy communication. Although I often rail against FaceBook, the truth is that it can be an easy way to keep in contact with important people in our lives who are far away. We get to share pictures of ourselves and our loved ones and help to feel like we are still part of each other’s lives. I get to be jealous of the beautiful pictures from my aunt’s cottage 2000 miles away. We can share our love and at least try to support each other in times of stress.

It hasn’t always been that way. Just over 50 years ago, I moved 2000 miles west and away from my extended family and the important people in my life. And back then, we wrote letters to those we wanted to contact who were far away. I remember dutifully sitting down to write to my grandmothers. It brought a little comfort, knowing that my family was just a letter, and a stamp, away. The reality is that I missed my extended family with whom I had lived in the same geographic area for the first years of my life.

I don’t write letters anymore. An email, a text message, or a quick message through Facebook has replaced the act of putting a letter in an envelope, adding a stamp and then placing the package in the mailbox. Now I can know quickly when something important has happened. Messages of births and deaths and pictures of friends are delivered straight to my computer.

But even letters and mailboxes are a product of our modern world. Joseph had no easy way of communicating with his family. He didn’t know what had happened to them, just as his brothers had no idea what had happened to Joseph. And so, as his brothers once again stand before him, Joseph asks the questions that had remained unasked for years. The simple “how are you” questions of life.

As far as the brothers were concerned, were they not under a high degree of stress because of the interrogation of their lives from this mysterious Egyptian official, they might have wondered at the questions that were being asked. Why would this Egyptian care so much about their family? Surely he didn’t have the time to ask every purchaser of grain about the personal minutiae of their lives. 

Of course, the reader of the story knows the answer. This was not just a random Egyptian official. This was Joseph, their brother and the lost son of their father. And this was Joseph’s only means of communication, his early version of FaceBook, where he could connect with the important people of his life who now lived so far away.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 44

He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes. – Genesis 42:24

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 2, 2018): Genesis 42

Thriller author Michael Connelly in “The Black Echo” writes that “you can't patch a wounded soul with a Band-Aid.” There are things that happen in this life that take a toll on who we are. There are still nights that I wake up in a fright because of things that have happened decades ago. I am wounded. And there is no Band-Aid that can help my healing.

The bad news is that I suspect that you are broken too. Oh, I have weekly conversations with people who argue that they are not broken. They will tell me about the educational level which they have attained, or cry out about the horrible way that other broken people treat them. But at the end of the conversation, the message is usually the same. They are not the broken ones. They are fine; it is the rest of humanity that is broken. But deep down we really believe that it is the other way around. We are the broken ones, and the rest of the world is fine. But that isn’t true either.

In reading the Joseph story arch, we often seem to believe that the victim of the story is Joseph. And there is no doubt that he is a victim of his brother’s evil intent. But he is not the only victim of the story. Reuben is a victim. His intended salvation of this brother fell short; an event for which it is doubtful he was ever able to forgive himself. Benjamin was a victim. His only full brother was stolen away from him, and Joseph’s mysterious disappearance meant that dad refused to allow Benjamin out of his benevolent sight or away from his area of protection. But even the rest of Joseph’s brothers were not free from the damage caused by the sale of Joseph into slavery. Something that was done in the moment caused damage that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

And so, decades after the event, the brothers are forced to watch a graphic depiction of the sin they committed toward Joseph be carried out against another brother, Simeon. Commentators are often quick to mention that Simeon may not have had a large role to play in the sale of Joseph, but the truth is that we really don’t know who instigated the plot against Joseph among the brothers. We know that Joseph was sold, that Reuben tried to save Joseph and return him to his father, and that is was Judah that argued that Joseph be sold into slavery rather than killed. But beyond that, the origins of the incident are unknown to us.

So, maybe Simeon was the ringleader of the attack on Joseph. And here he gets to atone for his sin against his brother by finding himself a slave to this mysterious Egyptian official. Or maybe he volunteered for the post. It was likely that the brothers felt that Reuben could not stay in Egypt. He would be responsible, as the oldest of the brothers, to get the rest of the family home safely with the food they were bringing from Egypt. But Simeon was the second oldest. He would stay in Egypt, hopefully ensuring freedom for his brothers.

As a result, Simeon would live out his broken soul in Egypt, while his brothers would return home to nurse their brokenness with dad and Benjamin. But the one thing that is certain is that life had broken every one of the brothers – just as it has broken us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 43

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile … - Genesis 41:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 1, 2018): Genesis 41

Bishop Fulton Sheen argued that “patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is "timing" it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.” Life is often about timing. And often it involves patience. There is an old joke that it is dangerous to pray for patience because God usually makes you wait for it. Much of the Christian life seems to involve patience and this kind of waiting.

We have no idea how long Joseph was in prison. Before the Cupbearer and Baker show up, the Bible says that he had already been in jail for “some time.” It is likely that some unspecified amount of time passed while the events of the story arch of the Cupbearer and the Baker took place. (The story specifies three days after Joseph interprets the vision, but we are not sure if any time had passed between their condemnation into the prison and the visions that they saw there.)  But finally the Baker was executed, and the Cupbearer was restored to his position, with a promise to tell the king of this man who was spending time in his prison.

And then two years passed. And Joseph waited. Somehow Joseph was content that it was not yet time for God to act, but that that time would come. This kind of waiting is not unknown in Christian life. Neither is the idea that sometimes the good acts that we do seem to be ignored by God. And often God seems to be much more comfortable in making us wait than we are m ready to spend our time patiently waiting.

Yet, the moral of the story is clear. When the time was right, the Pharaoh would have a dream that would need to be interpreted, and at that moment, the Cupbearer would know exactly where Joseph was to be found. If he had been released earlier, Joseph might have used his newfound freedom to return home, and then he would not have been where he needed to be when the Pharaoh would have need of him. And as it turns out, Joseph being in a place where he could be found was not only important to Pharaoh and the Cupbearer, but to Egypt and Joseph’s father and brothers as well. So much of the future of Joseph’s own family depends on him being in jail these two more years later. The time was not yet right, but soon it would be, and that would make all of the difference.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 42