More Than Success

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
August 7, 2005

More Than Success
Genesis 37:1-11
Genesis 46:1-7

Are you ready?
Here’s the answer:
“It was through him that the children of Israel went into Egypt,
where they remained for the next 400 years
until Moses led them back to the promised land.”
Now, do you know the correct question to my answer?
This wasn’t something I pulled off of Jeopardy;
my guess is that it would stump most people.
The person provides the link between the first two books
of the Bible, between the book of Genesis
and the book of Exodus.
He is the link between Abraham’s descendants and Moses.

If you are thinking, “who was Joseph?” you would be right.
Do you remember Joseph?
He was one of Jacob’s sons.
In fact, he was son number 11,
one of the two sons he had by his beloved wife Rachel.
Joseph was the one who wore the famous robe
that has been described as the robe of many colors,
the robe his father made for him.
Joseph was his father’s favorite son,
and that fact alone made him extremely unpopular
with his older brothers.
And then as if he was not unpopular enough,
he went and made matters worse
when told his brothers and his father
of the dreams he had had which suggested that someday
they would all bow down to him.

The ten older brothers all had had enough of
their pesky younger brother,
and they talked about getting rid of him.
The talk quickly turned violent and murderous.
But Reuben, the oldest brother suggested that they not kill Joseph,
but simply throw him into a pit and leave him to die.
The other brothers all liked that idea,
even though Reuben’s intention was honorable:
he figured he could pull his brother out later
when the others were gone.

So the angry, bullying brothers grabbed Joseph,
stripped him of his robe, and threw him into a pit in the wilderness.
No sooner had they walked back to their campsite
when the practical and economical Judah spoke up and said,
“What profit is there in killing him?
Let’s sell him to the slave traders.”
The rest of the brothers jumped on that idea with enthusiasm:
They’d get rid of their brother, they’d have no blood on their hands,
and they’d make a little money in the bargain!
How could they beat that?!

They pulled their brother from the pit,
and sold him to a band of Midianite traders
who were traveling through the region,
part of a caravan headed south down into Egypt.
The brothers put goat’s blood on Joseph’s precious robe
and laughed gleefully.
But when Jacob saw the torn, tattered, blood-stained robe,
he cried out in agony over the loss of his beloved son.

The slave traders took Joseph down to Egypt
and there he was sold as a household servant,
sold to the house of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guards.
God was with Joseph even in Egypt,
and Joseph flourished in Potiphar’s house.
His responsibilities grew and eventually Potiphar entrusted Joseph
to run the entire household.
Life is never without its problems, however,
and the problem in Joseph’s life was Potiphar’s wife.
She took a little too strong an interest in Joseph.
In fact, way too strong, and Joseph found himself constantly
fending off her efforts to seduce him.
Each rebuff made her angrier and angrier
and finally, in a fit of rage she ran to her husband crying
that Joseph had tried to attack her.

Joseph spent the next two years in jail,
but even there God watched over him.
And then one day Pharaoh summoned Joseph,
summoned him to have him interpret a strange dream
that Pharaoh had had.
The dream was odd:
first seven thin ugly cows ate seven fat healthy cows;
and then seven ears of corn thin and blighted
swallowed up seven plump, healthy ears of corn.
No one could make sense of such a strange dream.
No one except Joseph, with the help of God.
And no sooner did Joseph hear Pharaoh recount the dream
than Joseph knew exactly what it meant:
the seven fat cows and the seven healthy ears of corn
meant that there were to be seven years of plenty.
The seven lean cows and seven blighted ears of corn
meant that the prosperous years
would be followed by seven years of disastrous famine,
famine throughout the land.

Joseph told Pharaoh that the Egyptians
should store one-fifth of all their crops
each year over the next seven years
to assure that they would have enough to last
for the seven years of famine.
Pharaoh was so pleased with Joseph’s wisdom and discernment
that he made him Governor over all Egypt,
second in authority only to Pharaoh himself.
And Joseph was put in charge of building up the foodbanks,
setting food aside during the years of plenty
in preparation for the years of famine.

And the famine came just as Joseph said it would.
There was famine not only in Egypt, but also throughout the world.
The people in Egypt did not starve; Joseph’s preparations
assured that there would be bread for all.
In fact, there was so much
that the hungry came from other nations to buy grain.
And the day came when ten Hebrew men traveled down to Egypt
from Canaan to stand before Joseph the Governor
as they sought to purchase grain to take back to their families.
It had been 20 years since the ten had last set their eyes on
their brother Joseph. The boy had become a man
and the ten did not recognize him, but Joseph knew them instantly.

As he stood literally over them,
his brothers all bowing low before him,
Joseph could have sought his revenge.
He had had years to nurse his grudge
years to think about the day when he would pay back
his brothers for the evil done to him.
Joseph had the power of the military might
of all Egypt at his fingertips.
He had only to give the order,
and his brothers would have been taken away to face
a punishment they surely deserved.

But Joseph followed the path taken by his uncle Esau,
the path not of grudges, but of forgiveness.
True, he played with his brothers at first:
shook them up, tried to frighten them.
But then he, like his uncle, wept with joy
when he revealed himself to his brothers.

Pharaoh then invited all of Joseph’s family to move to Egypt
to live in the land called Goshen,
an area in the very northeast corner of Egypt.
a land where they could graze their livestock and live in peace.
And the brothers went back and brought their wives and children
and their livestock and their servants and all their possessions
to live in the land of Egypt.
And one other person came to Egypt: the father of the twelve:
Jacob.
Jacob, now an old man,
Jacob who had begun life as a liar, a cheat, a thief,
Jacob who then went on to build wealth for himself
with his herds of goats, cattle, camel, and sheep.
Jacob, who was the picture of success,
came to spend his few remaining years with his son Joseph
who was even more successful – a man of power and riches.

Yet both Jacob and Joseph had learned in their lives
that success was not money, not things,
but family, brothers, love,
forgiveness, mercy, kindness,
contentment, peace.

As you come to the Lord’s Table this morning,
as you share in the meal our Lord has prepared for you,
the meal our Lord invites you to,
I invite you to consider your definition of success:
what is success for you – how do you define it.
Do you define success by what you have
or what you give?
Do you define success by who you know,
or who you love?
Do you define success by your lifestyle,
or how you live?
Come to this table and let our Lord Jesus Christ
show you what matters.
Come to this table forgiven and loved.
Come to this table to be transformed
through the power of the Holy Spirit
and the love of God that comes to us
through our Lord Jesus the Christ.
Amen