Week 4: Genesis 36-48 and Psalms 22-28
The story of Joseph has to be one of the most nicely packaged and beautifully portrayed stories in all of Scripture. It is absolutely exquisite. It taps into every emotion of the human experience. There is injustice and mercy. There is betrayal and redemption. There is heartache and blessed reunion. There is repentance and forgiveness. All of it is perfectly wrapped up in the loving providence of God who is faithfully orchestrating every detail from beginning to end. Joseph’s story almost seems too good to be true. It is the stuff of Disney movies. The astounding thing is, Joseph’s story is our story! The redemption played out in the last 8 chapters of Genesis, is a breathtaking preview of the complete redemptive story for those who have come under the shed blood of Christ. Our story, the Gospel story, does seem too good to be true! Because of the Gospel, the story of the believer in Jesus, no matter the twists and turns and upsets that take place, is culminated in sweet consummation of right relationship with the One who saves us.
I don’t know about you, but for years I read this story and identified myself with Joseph. I could relate to certain elements of his suffering and also being rewarded for doing good, moral things at certain points along the way. I took great comfort in believing what Joseph said to his brothers applied to my own life.
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” Genesis 50:20.
Joseph’s story helped to make sense of the painful things that had happened in my life as I held them up against his experience. I could hold to the assurance that no matter what the enemy had brought about, God would use it for my own good and the good of many others.
While that application is absolutely true of the character and providence of God, I have recently begun to understand that it is perhaps not the primary point of the story.
As Jesus walked along the road to Emmaus with two perplexed men, Luke 24:27 says that “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he (Jesus) interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” I just wonder what Jesus had to say about the narrative of Joseph!
I imagine that Jesus would have pointed out all of the similarities between Joseph’s experiences and His own. From Joseph being the favored son of his father, despised by his brothers, sold for silver, thrown in a pit, falsely accused, and forsaken by his friend (the cupbearer) to him being exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh, being the source of provision and survival for Israel and Egypt, and a vessel of mercy and forgiveness for his brothers, the correlation between his and Jesus’s experience on Earth is uncanny. The overwhelmingly obvious take-away would have been that Joseph was a type and shadow of Jesus!
That puts me in a very different place in the story than what I had always imagined. As it turns out, I, along with all of humanity, are actually more like Joseph’s brothers or the cupbearer. When I truly think about it, that shoe fits a whole lot better.
Nancy Guthrie, a Bible teacher/writer/podcaster who I deeply respect, calls this the “Ordinary Israelite Principle.” The principle in short is this: rather than identifying ourselves with the heroes of the Bible (who all actually reflect aspects of what Jesus would ultimately fulfill), we ought to identify ourselves with the ordinary Israelites (the doubting, grumbling, fearful, unbelieving, compromising, etc…people). This idea was completely revolutionary to me! Of course, the profoundly heroic story of Joseph is about Jesus, not me!! Maybe every other Christian already had that figured out, but I was so thrilled to finally have that clarification!
With myself at the center of the Joseph story (and all the others for that matter!), I felt so much pressure to somehow live up to Joseph’s example. I thought if only I had the faithfulness and integrity that he did, then all of the wrong in my life would to be turned to right. I felt like a testimony of redemption and restoration was somehow up to me and my morality. In the end, this understanding of the text left me feeling defeated and uncertain about my future as I lived out one failure after another in the faithfulness and integrity departments!
Thankfully, it is Jesus in whom all that was meant for evil is transformed into absolute good. It is because of His perfect faithfulness and obedience that all of the enemy’s intensions are thwarted. I am simply the recipient of underserved provision, forgiveness, mercy, relationship and hope.
This shift in my understanding has caused me to read the story of Joseph with the eyes of my heart fixated on Jesus. He is the hero. I am the one in desperate need. Thankfully, this is how I am learning to read all of Scripture. My family and I were part of a wonderful church body in Bend, OR prior to moving to Sandpoint, ID, where the pastor taught with this same “Ordinary Israelite Principle” in mind. No matter what book of the Bible he was teaching through, he had the gift of magnifying Jesus and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel at the heart of every passage. Each week, my eyes were opened to the centrality of Christ a little bit more. I could not be more thankful!
As we move our way on from Genesis, into Exodus and beyond, it is my prayer that the Holy Spirit leads us to see how all of the Scriptures point to the good news of Jesus. There is such a glorious harmony between the acts and the nature of the Father, Son and Spirit in bringing the Gospel to life throughout. Just as Jesus interpreted for the men on the road to Emmaus, may He do the same for us. In so doing, Jesus will stand alone as the One to redeem all those who would believe in Him. Our own stories will find their proper context within His. As we see ourselves as the ordinary Israelites and Christ as the hero, our hearts will not be able to keep from worshipping Him. As He opens our eyes on this Worthwhile Journey, may we recognize Him and say,
“Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” Luke 24:32