When Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, Potiphar, Pharaoh’s chief officer, the commander of the royal guard and an Egyptian, purchased him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man and served in his Egyptian master’s household. His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful. Potiphar thought highly of Joseph, and Joseph became his assistant; he appointed Joseph head of his household and put everything he had under Joseph’s supervision. From the time he appointed Joseph head of his household and of everything he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s household because of Joseph. The Lord blessed everything he had, both in the household and in the field. So he handed over everything he had to Joseph and didn’t pay attention to anything except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.
Some time later, his master’s wife became attracted to Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”
He refused and said to his master’s wife, “With me here, my master doesn’t pay attention to anything in his household; he’s put everything he has under my supervision. No one is greater than I am in this household, and he hasn’t denied me anything except you, since you are his wife. How could I do this terrible thing and sin against God?” Every single day she tried to convince him, but he wouldn’t agree to sleep with her or even to be with her.
One day when Joseph arrived at the house to do his work, none of the household’s men were there. She grabbed his garment, saying, “Lie down with me.” But he left his garment in her hands and ran outside. When she realized that he had left his garment in her hands and run outside, she summoned the men of her house and said to them, “Look, my husband brought us a Hebrew to ridicule us. He came to me to lie down with me, but I screamed. When he heard me raise my voice and scream, he left his garment with me and ran outside.” She kept his garment with her until Joseph’s master came home, and she told him the same thing: “The Hebrew slave whom you brought to us, to ridicule me, came to me; but when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment with me and ran outside.”
When Joseph’s master heard the thing that his wife told him, “This is what your servant did to me,” he was incensed. Joseph’s master took him and threw him in jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were held. While he was in jail, the Lord was with Joseph and remained loyal to him. He caused the jail’s commander to think highly of Joseph. The jail’s commander put all of the prisoners in the jail under Joseph’s supervision, and he was the one who determined everything that happened there. The jail’s commander paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s supervision, because the Lord was with him and made everything he did successful. Gen. 39:1-23 CEB
Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Over these past few weeks, as we’ve heard the stories of people from the Bible in worship, we’ve reflected upon our own stories. We’ve thought about how God might be at work in our own stories, just as God was at work in the biblical narrative. We’ve seen how God was with Noah and his family when the rest of the world had turned away from God. Last week, we walked with Abraham, as God promised him and Sarah generations of heirs and a new land. Today we hear a story about their great-grandson, Joseph. One of those heirs. It is a story of challenge and joy.
Now Joseph, if you remember, was the youngest of Jacob’s sons. The family line begins with Abraham. Then Isaac, then Jacob, finally Joseph, the youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons. If you remember the entire story of Joseph, you might recall that he was a little arrogant. Because of this and because Jacob doted on him more than his brothers, they hated him. In fact, they hated him so much that they sold him into slavery.
As our story opens today, we learn that Joseph is now in Egypt. He has been sold once again by his human traffickers to be a slave in the home of Potiphar. Potiphar is the chief officer to the pharaoh - a pharaoh is like a king. He is also the commander of the royal guard, the soldiers who protect the pharaoh. So, as you can imagine, Potiphar is trusted, and a pretty important person in Egypt. Probably the second-most important person after the pharaoh.
Our story tells us that Joseph quickly becomes important in Potiphar’s house. In verse 2, we read that “The Lord was with Joseph and he become a successful man and served in his Egyptian master’s household.” In fact, Joseph was so indispensable and trusted, that Potiphar handed everything over to Joseph. Potiphar didn’t pay attention to or worry about anything except the food he ate. Except for that food, Joseph handled everything else in Potiphar’s household. In verse 3, we hear that even Potiphar noticed right away that the “Lord was with Joseph,” because everything that he touched was successful. We also hear that the Lord blessed Potiphar’s household because of Joseph.
Then, at the end of verse 6, we read this short, but intriguing, sentence. “Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.” It’s an interesting verse, isn’t it? A verse that cleverly sets up what is about to happen next. "Joseph was well-built and handsome.”
Our story continues that some time later, Potiphar’s wife (Do you notice that she is not even named in this story?)...some time later, she came to Joseph and tried to entice him. Joseph knew that this was wrong. He knew that to do what she wanted him to do would not only be disloyal to his master, her husband, Potiphar, but that it would also be disloyal--a sin--before God. And so, Joseph refused her. And he ran away. And she was left there. Holding onto his outer garment, which he had left behind in his haste to get out of the situation.
It is then that Potiphar’s wife reacted and acted in a way that I’m thinking every one of us has done. I know I have. When I’ve been rejected. Or someone has said “no” to something I wanted. So, whether out of embarrassment, or shame, or humiliation or for whatever reason, Potiphar’s wife gets angry. At Joseph. Then, out of spite, she accuses Joseph of assault. That it was Joseph who attacked her.
But, it’s not only that she gets angry at him and accuses him. Did you hear her words? What she said in verse 14? What she spoke to the men of the house who she had summoned after Joseph left? Knowing that this would eventually get back to her husband. “Look,” she said to them. “Look, my husband brought us a Hebrew to ridicule me…” A Hebrew. Not “a man.” Not “a servant.” Not even “a slave.” But, this Hebrew. Going immediately to Joseph’s ethnicity. This Hebrew. This Jew. This Muslim. This African-American. This immigrant.
Potiphar’s wife knows this a sure way to rile her husband. To make him angry at Joseph. To punish Joseph. It’s what people in power frequently do. Using ethnicity or other slurs or epithets to rile people up against other people. And often not for reasons that are true. But for their own purposes. As a wedge to divide people. To rile people up against each other. Why? Because it works.
It works with us. It worked with Potiphar. When he heard the rumors and the lie his wife told him, he got angry. At Joseph. Even though he knew Joseph so well. Even though he trusted Joseph so much. He didn’t even hesitate. To take a step back and to look at the entire situation. Perhaps, even to step into Joseph’s shoes and understand what might have happened, from Joseph’s perspective.
I think I’ve mentioned to you before how much I love both the book and the movie, “To Kill A Mockingbird.” This week, I watched a program on PBS about Harper Lee, the woman who wrote this story. In 1960. In the midst of the civil rights movement. A woman from the deep South--from Alabama--who wrote a fictionalized story about a black man falsely accused by a white woman and about the attorney who defended him. Who, through her story, bravely held up a mirror to our society for us to see, to witness what we had become.
There’s a scene in the movie that I especially like. And that has always stayed with me. It’s a scene between the attorney, Atticus Finch, and his young daughter, Scout, after her first day at school with a new teacher. Let’s watch.
“Climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” Consider something from someone else’s point of view. Hear another side of the story. Get another perspective.
How often we fail to do this! Just like Potiphar. To step back and take a second look. To look at the situation from another perspective. To challenge our own perceptions. Or to see through something or someone and find the truth. How often we are just like Potiphar!
Because, if he only had. If Potiphar had challenged his initial perception, perhaps he would have taken the time to hear the whole story. Both sides of the story. Perhaps he wouldn’t have become angry at Joseph or thrown him in jail. Wouldn’t have punished him. Perhaps, instead, he might have rewarded Joseph for his loyalty.
But, he didn’t. Yet, even after he threw Joseph into jail, our story reads, “The Lord was with Joseph and remained loyal to him.” Even when the rest of the world wasn’t.
And, we know, by the end of the story, that Joseph, once again, had become successful and trusted. Even in prison.
That’s the message for us today. That, even when we have messed everything up. When we’ve falsely accused someone. Or when we’ve been on the other side and have been falsely accused ourselves. Or even when something bad just happens to us, we have this promise. That in the midst of the dark, and the blue places of our lives, God is present with us. Just as with Joseph. And that God is working there, in those places to create new, golden possibilities. Just as God did on that Easter morning so long ago. And as God does, each week, for us in the bread and the wine--the body and the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Presence and possibility. This is God’s promise to us. God’s promise that brings us hope. Amen.
Preached Sunday, September 23, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Pentecost 18
Readings: Matt. 5:11-12; Gen. 39:1-23
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