The tale of Joseph begins in Genesis 37 and ends with the end of the Book of Genesis. The writers of Genesis introduce Joseph as a seventeen year-old tattletale. The first thing we read that Joseph did was to give a bad report to Jacob about his half siblings who he was helping tend sheep. We are also told that Jacob favored Joseph above his other sons, that he gave Joseph a coat with long sleeves, making his brothers jealous. To top it all off Joseph starts telling his brothers about his dreams and his interpretation of them; that his brothers and his father will bow to him. Even though Jacob takes exception to Joseph's dream of preeminence, he recognizes there may be more to it than what this seventeen year-old can know.
Once again, Genesis presents us with a character who, like a young Jacob, does not fit the popular mold of a he-man hero. In fact, Joseph appears to lack any sense of instinctual self preservation and comes across as a naïve, arrogant teenager cruising for a bruising. Genesis constantly reminds us that appearances are deceiving.
THE PROPHETIC DREAMER
Joseph, like Jacob, is highly intuitive; so much so, that his intuition expresses itself in vivid, abstract, prophetic dreams. Joseph also has the ability to know what his dreams mean. In fact, his ability to interpret dreams launches him to a position fulfilling his dreams of preeminence.
As arrogant and naive as Joseph appears, what we see and encounter is the prophetic compulsion to prophesy. Prophets are portrayed in scripture as being compelled by the nature of being a prophet to reveal their prophecies. This compulsion frequently leads to putting their lives in danger. In Joseph's tale we see this graphically played out.
Joseph, like Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham before him is portrayed as being on a personal journey that the writers of Genesis use to great effect to point out its universal implications. What the tale of Joseph reveals is the prophetic nature of the mystic journey. While we are all on this journey together, it is "the mystics" in our midst who remind us that being on this journey is what life is about. This is why justice and mercy are what prophets emphasize because they clear the path to Paradise Regained from the unnecessary obstruction that is caused by our injustices and lack of mercy.
It is Joseph's dreams that reveals Joseph as a fellow mystic to his father. Jacob knows the power of dreams and sees them as mark of one who is a kindred spirit. There is a resonance between Jacob and Joseph that extends beyond their parent-child relationship. On the other hand, Joseph's ten older siblings (a rather murderous lot) are deeply offended by Joseph's prophecies and his goody two-shoe nature. They plot to kill him, but instead sell him into slavery which positions him for his rise to power and prophetic fulfillment.
PAUSE
Slavery is just the beginning of Joseph's dark night. What could not be bought or taken from Joseph is the kernel of integrity he possessed. As Potipher's slave, he became a trusted servant in control of Potipher's household. Joseph, being described as handsome, caught the attention of Potipher's wife who tried to entice him into committing adultery with her which he repeatedly refused to do. Genesis makes it clear that while he was in control of Potipher's household, the only thing not at his disposal was Potipher's wife. Joseph was Potipher's slave, not his wife's slave.
Long-story-short, Joseph is eventually accused of attempted rape by Potipher's wife when she fails to entice him and Joseph is imprisoned. In prison, Joseph does well and becomes a lead prisoner in charge of other prisoners. Genesis makes a point of saying that God was with Joseph and blessed Joseph in these less than desirable situations. It is in prison that Joseph's ability to interpret dreams leads him to release and transfiguration.
Nothing happens overnight for Joseph. It takes years of enslavement and imprisonment for him to breath the air of freedom. In fact, Genesis tells us that Joseph never feels fully free until he is united with his family and the father who loved him.
TRANSFIGURATION
By now most of you have figured out that I'm using the term transfiguration atypically. By transfiguration, I mean a person is transformed into their true mystical (cosmic) self that sees his/her world differently or is seen by others differently. In Joseph's case, he is transfigured into the prophetic person of his dreams.
It is when Joseph interprets a dream of Pharaoh that Pharaoh elevates him to unprecedented position of power; where Joseph's word is treated the same as Pharaoh's word. He literally is transformed from an imprisoned slave into an Egyptian potentate who saves the then known world of Joseph's time from starvation.
It is when his father Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to purchase food, that his brothers and Jacob find themselves caught up into Joseph's mystic journey. They must come to him for survival and find that their once loathed, arrogant brother is literally in control of their world. At first they do not recognize him and are given a taste of their own medicine which Joseph uses to entice them back to his court.
What is intimated in Joseph's tale is that during the period from when his brothers sold him into slavery to their begging him for food at his court they too were in a state of pause. Their deceiving Jacob into thinking Joseph was killed by wild beasts came at a price to Jacob and to them in the form of relentless regret for causing Jacob such intense suffering which is evident in their protective attitude towards Joseph's full sibling, Benjamin.
Joseph's absence obviously left a void in their family relationships that was never rectified. Genesis does not specifically talk about this but it is implied in their reaction to Benjamin being accused of thievery; in particular, that Judah, who suggested that Joseph be sold into slavery, ironically offers himself to be imprisoned instead of Benjamin rather than return to Jacob without Benjamin. It is at the brink of their despair that Joseph reveals who he truly is and his revelation, his brothers are transfigured also.
STRUNG ALONG BY THE THREAD OF LOVE
If one steps back far enough to look at these tales found in Genesis from a distance, one can see that what appears to be an everyday human occurrence is caught up in something much larger than its everydayness. The "real," mundane, world doesn't seem to change when viewed up close. Human behavior hasn't changed since the day of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Yet, in their tales we see something that cannot be seen at the time by those living at that time; that all our lives are on a trajectory towards the fulfilment of God's promises.
What Genesis points out is that we cannot adequately judge the times in which we live. God works silently and personally with and through the serpentine twists of human affairs to move us along the mystic path of our collective journey to paradise regained.
What we see in these four related characters is a deep love at work. It starts with God's deep love for humanity as a whole which is established at the start of Genesis and then demonstrated in the deep love of all shown in the love to one everyday Joe, called Abram. There is no reason given why God chooses Abram, and that fact is extremely important to hold on to.
Genesis asserts that Abraham is the mystic father of all of us. All the nations are blessed through this average Joe that God choose to be the father of a nation, whose children would be as numerous as the stars.
We experience in these tales a Godly love that involves letting go and letting be; that bridges the catastrophic relational chasms we see. Abraham loves God who directs him to send his beloved Ishmael into the desert and demand the sacrifice of his beloved remaining son, Isaac. Both Ishmael and Isaac are saved by God's grace and fare well; ultimately bonding as brothers.
Isaac who favored Esau also loved Jacob deeply and being mindful of God's favor maintained his personal integrity after bestowing his blessing on Jacob through deception and allow Jacob's deception to run its course. Jacob's fear of Esau proves unfounded. Esau does not seek revenge, but reunion with his twin.
Jacob's tragic loss of his beloved Joseph due to the jealous actions of his older children is turned to joy in the discovery that Joseph survives and Joseph restores the familial bond of love in the unconditional forgiveness he shows his older siblings in their time of need. He proves not to be arrogant or self-serving individual at all. In fact, Joseph proves to be a pure heart, who has no guile. His is a life of integrity; lived in hope, faith, and love.
At the time of the occurrence of these events, the outcome was anything but certain. The likelihood that any of these tales would end happily was near impossible:
Ishmael could have starved, and Isaac could have been sacrificed.
Isaac could have disowned Jacob, and Esau could have actively sought revenge.
Joseph could have been killed by his murderous brothers or thrown to the crocodiles by Potipher for being suspected of adultery.
That those results didn't occur is meant to tell us that God is present; working in and through the drama that is human life which ultimately is shaping the trajectory of our collective history.
Genesis makes a point of telling us that all these characters die, which is to say that life on this planet has an ending, but that ending is not the ending. The promise God made to Adam and Eve of Paradise Regained and to Abraham being father of a nation through which all the nations of the world will be blessed is never fully realized in their lifetimes nor at anytime. It remains a fluid, ongoing process that I suspect will extend to the end of time on this planet. It is living in such a fluid atmosphere that encourages all and engages the aware to live like Joseph, in hope, faith, and love.
Until next time, stay faithful.
No comments:
Post a Comment