Genesis 39:1-23
All of us know what it is like to be unjustly accused and all of us know what is like not to be believed.
You have all seen those lists of “the weirdest laws you never knew existed in your state -- they’re quirky, they’re fun, and after reading [Kastilia Madrano’s research into them on the travel website Thrillist], I can tell you they’re about 95% bogus.”1
But there is one weird law that I absolutely know to be true from personal experience. If you ever drive into Chicago and park your car more than 12 inches from the curb you’ll get a ticket. This little lesson cost me $25 and now I carry a t-square and chalk with me so the traffic attendant and I know that I am close enough to the curb.
I was enraged when I found that orange envelope on my windshield but even more furious when my partner’s cousin parked his huge Chevy pick-up that he uses to haul his Airstream that is much larger than my Suburu Forester. His truck stuck out so far into the traffic lanes that it almost crossed the double line.
That is minor stuff. But this week in particular we are dealing with some serious accusations. Whether it be of a shortstop for the Chicago Cubs or a Supreme Court nominee the charges and denials are flying.
I honestly have no idea what to think but I do believe that today’s tawdry tale of an ancient event from scripture and a tweet from a couple of enraged fans can help us look at the bigger picture and higher stakes of both matters.
You have all seen those lists of “the weirdest laws you never knew existed in your state -- they’re quirky, they’re fun, and after reading [Kastilia Madrano’s research into them on the travel website Thrillist], I can tell you they’re about 95% bogus.”1
But there is one weird law that I absolutely know to be true from personal experience. If you ever drive into Chicago and park your car more than 12 inches from the curb you’ll get a ticket. This little lesson cost me $25 and now I carry a t-square and chalk with me so the traffic attendant and I know that I am close enough to the curb.
I was enraged when I found that orange envelope on my windshield but even more furious when my partner’s cousin parked his huge Chevy pick-up that he uses to haul his Airstream that is much larger than my Suburu Forester. His truck stuck out so far into the traffic lanes that it almost crossed the double line.
That is minor stuff. But this week in particular we are dealing with some serious accusations. Whether it be of a shortstop for the Chicago Cubs or a Supreme Court nominee the charges and denials are flying.
I honestly have no idea what to think but I do believe that today’s tawdry tale of an ancient event from scripture and a tweet from a couple of enraged fans can help us look at the bigger picture and higher stakes of both matters.
Today we find Joseph in pretty good shape. After an up and down start - loved by his father and hated by his brothers. After being sold into slavery. Joseph by skill, luck, or another force has landed a big job in his master’s house. Eventually he became boss over everything - farm and field, flock and forest, kitchen and kitchen utensils. Joseph was so in charge that his master eventually had very little to do with any of the day to day machinations of his domain. Think Carson’s relation to Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey.
I am not so sure that when Joseph rang the bell, like Carson, Potiphar and his family didn’t dress for dinner. Talk about Pavlov’s dogs.
Now we get to the tricky park.
There was one person in the household who wasn’t so much interested in dressing as undressing. In particular Mrs. Potiphar apparently spent a lot of her idle time wondering what Joseph would look like sans tunic.
Scripture plainly tells us he was a hunk. And we post #metoo movement skeptics might be well within our rights to ask: What did he do to contribute to the situation? Did he walk around with a little extra chest showing? Did he wear his garments above the knee? Or, was he just walking around minding his own business never taking that extra moment to glance at his reflection and say to himself, “Dang it! Look at you sir! You’re hot.!”
Remembering that all of Scripture is written from a male point of view apparently he does not. He sees himself as more mope than model, more accountant than object of anyone’s affection.
Never-the-less he gets propositioned in the least subtle of ways. Mrs. Potiphar’s pick-up line is startlingly direct. (You can’t imagine how worried I am about a double entendre here.) Joseph’s response to this “come on” is very important for then and for now.
I am not so sure that when Joseph rang the bell, like Carson, Potiphar and his family didn’t dress for dinner. Talk about Pavlov’s dogs.
Now we get to the tricky park.
There was one person in the household who wasn’t so much interested in dressing as undressing. In particular Mrs. Potiphar apparently spent a lot of her idle time wondering what Joseph would look like sans tunic.
Scripture plainly tells us he was a hunk. And we post #metoo movement skeptics might be well within our rights to ask: What did he do to contribute to the situation? Did he walk around with a little extra chest showing? Did he wear his garments above the knee? Or, was he just walking around minding his own business never taking that extra moment to glance at his reflection and say to himself, “Dang it! Look at you sir! You’re hot.!”
Remembering that all of Scripture is written from a male point of view apparently he does not. He sees himself as more mope than model, more accountant than object of anyone’s affection.
Never-the-less he gets propositioned in the least subtle of ways. Mrs. Potiphar’s pick-up line is startlingly direct. (You can’t imagine how worried I am about a double entendre here.) Joseph’s response to this “come on” is very important for then and for now.
“Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in the entire household; he himself has no more authority here than I have! He has held back nothing from me except you yourself because you are his wife. How can I do such a wicked thing as this? It would be a great sin against God.”2
One of the great Old Testament scholars, Gerhard von Rad, has said of Joseph’s response.
Joseph’s statement must ... be understood in the sense that a wrong against the husband would be a direct sin against God. Joseph in addition uses the argument of universal human decency which is unwilling to break a trust.3That phrase “universal human decency” jumped out at me.
Joseph didn’t react to the temptation that was set before him with an “Oh, what the heck!” he reacted as he did because he was genuinely decent man who had a higher loyalty to his master and to God.
Still it doesn’t look good for him. This is not a he said/she said situation. On Mrs. Potiphar’s second attempt at luring Joseph he flees with her still holding his shirt.
She screams! He’s caught. And at this point she also plays the ultimate card when she refers to his ethnic origin. “This Hebrew slave.” she says first to the guards and then to her husband. It is almost like she is saying: “You couldn’t find a nice Egyptian boy to run your household? No, you had to go and hire an outsider, a foreigner, a Hebrew.”
Even with all the evidence on her side she appeals to tribalism.
In our divided nation we know this all too well. In this divided moment we are finding yet another way to place ourselves within a tribe.
These are not benign affiliations they are malignancies that cloud our judgement.
If he or she belongs to our tribe she or he must be right. Evidence don’t matter. Facts don’t matter. Getting at the truth doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that our side wins. It is like being on the set of “Survivor” and, if you’re like me, begging to be voted off the island.
Let’s leave the unholy mess in Washington out of this.
Witness the furor of fans at the Chicago Cubs shortstop being put on “administrative leave” in the middle of a pennant race. Here are two of the tweets which both echo the same thing:
JATaylor wrote: “Good God, Addison Russell's wife blew him up while the Cubs are playing!”
And, Bones McGee responded: “But of course she did five minutes before the playoffs.”4
What is missing is any sense of “universal human decency.” The only thing that seems to matter is that our tribe triumphs.
You’d think that generations after the Joseph story was first written down things would be different but they are not. Joseph is in the clink. And we are in a world where allegations are believed or disbelieved on the basis of what tribe we belonged.
You’d think that generations after the Joseph story was first written down things would be different but they are not. Joseph is in the clink. And we are in a world where allegations are believed or disbelieved on the basis of what tribe we belonged.
Yet, we are told that even in prison Joseph prospers. That is the only grace note left in the very sour sounding story. Commentators maintain that this happened because over and over again the author restates that “the Lord was with Joseph.”
Before long the prisoner is running the show. The inmate becomes the warden in charge of everything that happens.
Before long the prisoner is running the show. The inmate becomes the warden in charge of everything that happens.
Walter Bruggemann writes:
It is not claimed that because of Yahweh everything will work out. Nor is it promised that the key actor will be easily saved from trouble. But the narrative offers an understanding ... that there is and inscrutable power for life at work in spite of everything human cleverness devises.5
Prison will not be the end for Joseph because there is more to his story. His words, and deeds, and dream lives on.
Prison wasn’t the end for Bonhoeffer, his The Cost of Discipleship, written in a Nazi prison, has become a must read classic.
Prison wasn’t the end for Dr. Martin Luther King who in his Letters from a Birmingham Jail, still speaks to those who are “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.” 6
Prison wasn’t the end for Nelson Mandella who went from being a prisoner to the president of his country.
The Lord was with these servants in their travail and the Lord will be with us through these troubled times until God’s deepest desire for a sense of “universal human decency” is restored among God’s people.
No matter our tribe let us all strive to be the first in line for God’s good restoration project.
Thanks for listening.
Prison wasn’t the end for Bonhoeffer, his The Cost of Discipleship, written in a Nazi prison, has become a must read classic.
Prison wasn’t the end for Dr. Martin Luther King who in his Letters from a Birmingham Jail, still speaks to those who are “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.” 6
Prison wasn’t the end for Nelson Mandella who went from being a prisoner to the president of his country.
The Lord was with these servants in their travail and the Lord will be with us through these troubled times until God’s deepest desire for a sense of “universal human decency” is restored among God’s people.
No matter our tribe let us all strive to be the first in line for God’s good restoration project.
Thanks for listening.
__________
1. Kastalia Medrano, "The Weirdest Law We Could Track Down in All 50 States," Thrillist, April 27, 2018, , accessed September 22, 2018, https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/weird-state-laws#.
2. Genesis 39:8-9. (TLB) [TLB=The Living Bible]
3. Gerhard VonRad, "Joseph's Temptation," trans. John H. Marks, in Genesis: A Commentary (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1961), p. 360.
4. Liz Roscher, "Addison Russell Put on Leave after Ex-wife's Allegations of Physical, Mental Abuse," Yahoo! Sports, September 21, 2018, , accessed September 22, 2018, https://sports.yahoo.com/addison-russells-ex-wife-accuses-physical-mental-abuse-blog-post-143802823.html.
5. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, ed. James Luther Mays and Patrick D. Miller (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), 317.
6. Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail. The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
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