Joseph, Justice and truth. A sermon preached as part of a series on Joseph. July 31st 2022.

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my lord my God and Redeemer.

There was a point, early in the years when I came back to church after a time away, when I had a sense that okay, now I’m Christian, it’s plain sailing from now on, life will be much simpler, there will be fewer trials and tribulations because God is with me. We’re becoming good pals now so it’ll all be fine.

Turns out, only some of that was true,

And only some of that is true for Joseph. We’re now in the fourth week of our series on his journey and life, so if this was the musical, it would nearly be time for the interval and a chance to stretch your legs, hoping you hadn’t lost the ticket for the drinks you ordered before the show…

Last week we heard how Joseph found favour with the Pharoah and saved the people of Egypt from famine by interpreting Pharoah’s dreams. This week we take a step back to the moment before this.

In today’s reading, Joseph is still a slave and is sold to Potiphar who is the Captain of Pharoah’s guard. At that time, we are often reminded, Joseph was greatly blessed by God, and he quickly become someone of great responsibility in the household.

He was handsome and charming and had control over everything. This drew the attention of Potiphar’s wife who, we are told, tried to seduce and tempt him.

But Joseph resisted, to the point where after being alone in the house with Potiphar’s wife, he had to leave his shirt behind as he fled.

A shirt which she then used as evidence to accuse Joseph of attacking her, so that he ended up in prison. Once again though, his charm and favour with God put him in a good light with the Jailer who put him in charge of the jail.

So, wherever misfortune occurred, Joseph would usually come out of it smelling of roses, rather than anything else.

After this passage in Genesis, while in prison, Joseph went on to interpret the dreams of some prisoners, including the Pharoah’s butler.

The butler is later released and when the Pharoah has confusing dreams,

the butler remembers Joseph who is summoned from prison to help interpret the Pharaohs dreams, which eventually is what we heard about last week, being able to use our talents as well as we can.

The central theme of our story today though, is the injustice suffered by Joseph from Potiphar’s wife. To be tempted, resisting then being falsely accused and going to prison.

Joseph’s story is certainly full of ups and downs and in the musical, it’s this moment in prison where he sings the song, “Close every door to me.” He is at another low point, wondering what will happen.

Injustice is also at the centre of the story about Jesus we heard in the Gospel today. Joseph’s descendent was sentenced to death by a mob whipped into a frenzy of revenge by the temple leaders.

Pilate would try to release Jesus but gave in to false accusations by people with ulterior motives.

The offence may have been different but the situation for Joseph was similar.

 

He was falsely accused with no opportunity to present a case, have a fair trial, submit evidence or be judged fairly. He was simply thrown straight into jail as Jesus was simply sentenced to crucifixion.

Now there are some underlying questions for me in the story about Joseph. It is possible that Potiphar’s wife did falsely accuse Joseph. And this is the only story in the Bible where a woman is accused of attempted sexual assault while the reverse does happen a few times in the Old Testament.

And it is true that men get do assaulted by women, it is less common, there is a stigma about it and as ever, it is difficult to prove. So it is important to listen and believe whenever anything seems to be not quite right.

So, knowing this but also, that the Bible was written by men, for temples run by men, from stories recounted by men, and that Joseph, a man, is the main character and the hero of the story, I would be wary to assume this story is completely true.

After all, can we be sure that a woman unnamed in this story, is really someone we can be confident is the only aggressor, that she really has a voice in such a patriarchal world.

Yes, she was the wife of a powerful man, so would have had some influence, and could have felt undermined by Joseph being promoted so quickly.

Interestingly, the same story is also told in the Qur’an where Potiphar’s wife is named as Zuleikha.

Here she is seen as obsessed with Joseph, and the poet Rumi describes this obsession with Joseph as being a symptom and manifestation of the soul's great deep longing for God (for Joseph is fully blessed by God).

For this, he insists, is true of any person's deep love for another.

There are parallels throughout. Joseph lost his coat of many colours when thrown in a pit, here he lost his shirt, thrown into jail.

Zuleikha is one of very few women in the Bible to express desire, the other example being in the book Song of Songs, and by contrast, Joseph is seen as being very passive, unusually for a male protagonist.

Is this a realistic portrayal or a convenient plot device?

In our culture today, issues around consent and safeguarding have become more significant as we now understand that someone being even touched without permission is not acceptable.

Certainly, children in our schools learn about this very early now, so that things like hugging, tickling or anything else need to be done in an open environment of consent.

Clearly, as the account is recorded, Joseph did not consent to be propositioned by Potiphar’s wife.

It is possible that she has been unfairly portrayed in this account and through history, we can’t really be sure. She was believed by her husband which is a comfort, but the outcome of Joseph simply being thrown in jail was clearly unjust.

It’s interesting to note that time after time through the Bible and through history, people who were blessed, who were called or born to be a king, prophet or messiah, very rarely had an easy time of it.

So often they would be arrested, stoned, crucified, exiled and so many other things, that one would question whether being blessed or called by God was such a good thing.

Yet, the outcome, in the end, for every story would be one of redemption, resurrection or restoration.

The people would be saved from the flood, the people would be saved from famine in Egypt, the people would be saved from slavery being led by Moses through the wilderness. The whole of humanity would be saved through Jesus Christ being born, living, dying on the cross and being born again.

None of these events, none of these journeys or lives were easy. None of these prophets, leaders or kings, except Jesus, were truly good, many had flaws, committed sins, broke laws and had to be redeemed.

It has always been through the suffering, the trials of life that we form the resilience to run the race before us. I do wish I could say that being a follower of Christ makes life easier, but we face the same challenges as everyone else.

The difference is that we are not alone in our struggles. We are never abandoned or forsaken, God is with us now. We are held, consoled and blessed as Joseph was in prison.

He must have felt that his mission to do God’s work was being hampered at every turn.

That he may not be able to do what needed to be done. But his faith and trust held him fast.

And this is what I hold onto when life is difficult, when I confront a situation which seems like it is too much. When I thought being a follower of Jesus would make things easier, knowing that God remains with me, always, through faith is a reassurance and a comfort, as it was for Joseph and as it is for us all today.

That however difficult things get, God is with us all, always, to guide us and just be there for us.

Amen.

Genesis 39:1- 23

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. So Joseph found favour in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. 

One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, she caught hold of his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me!’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called out to the members of her household and said to them, ‘See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.’ Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.’

When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, ‘This is the way your servant treated me’, he became enraged. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favour in the sight of the chief jailer. The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

 

 

John 19:6-16

⁶When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ ⁷The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’

8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. ⁹He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ ¹¹Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ ¹²From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’

13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. ¹⁴Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!’ ¹⁵They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ ¹⁶Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.