Don’t Empower Villain Eras

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 47 Listen: (5:03), Read: Matthew 8 Listen: (4:09)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Genesis 48 Listen: (3:43), Read: Matthew 9 Listen: (4:56)
Read: Genesis 49 Listen: (4:54), Read: Matthew 10 Listen: (5:07)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 47.20-25

20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. 23 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. 24 But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.” 25 “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”

Reflection: Don’t Empower Villain Eras

By John Tillman

The problem of sorting the Bible into “heroes” and “villains” is forgetting that the same person who is heroic in one moment can be villainous in another.

Joseph is one of the most wholesome characters in the Bible. But he has villain moments. It’s debatable how prideful he was as a young man with his dreams. However, his actions in Genesis 47 read as if he had entered a villain era.

Joseph’s plan to get through the famine was for the state to collect twenty percent of harvests during the plentiful seven years. Then, Egypt would be saved from being “ruined by the famine” during the seven lean years. (Genesis 41.35-36) But when the famine hit, Joseph didn’t distribute the grain freely. Joseph took the people’s grain. They had to buy it back.

Selling the grain might not be unreasonable, but Joseph’s villain era started in the final years of the famine, when people grew desperate. The sixth year, they had no money so Joseph took their livestock. The final year, they had no money or livestock, so Joseph took their land and made them slaves.

It’s possible that Joseph didn’t have a choice. Maybe Pharaoh ordered this? Maybe there were terrible administrative costs? But scripture seems to imply it was Joseph’s decision. Pharaoh said, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.” (Genesis 41.55)

Even if this was not Joseph’s villain era, it empowered a future villain era.

Joseph was complicit in using a crisis to consolidate power and wealth under Pharaoh. Egypt was already a monarchy, but after the famine it was a nation of slaves in which Pharaoh owned the land, livestock, and the lives of the citizens. The power and wealth Joseph gave Pharaoh, turned against future generations of Israelites. (Exodus 1.8-14)

Joseph was dealing with a real crisis. Many leaders today create fake crises in order to consolidate power for themselves. You may have the right or ability to grant leaders emergency power or approve their expansion of power, but what will happen when the crisis is over? What if the hero turns villainous? What will tomorrow’s leaders do with the power you give today’s leaders?

Whether national or local, political or pastoral, leaders who desire unaccountable power, loyalty without transparency, and removal of checks and balances are dangerous.

Be careful that you don’t unintentionally empower a future villain era.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

For your name’s sake, O Lord, forgive my sin, for it is great. — Psalm 25.10

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Playing the Game for Fickle Pharaohs

If they break rules to help us, they will break rules to harm us.

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/playing-the-game-for-fickle-pharaohs

Read more: Divining the Truth by Actions

When reconciling with people, trust but verify. Watch for evidence of change. Don’t doubt their intentions, but divine the truth by their actions.

In the Face of the Impossible

Luke 1.18, 34, 37
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this?”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
“…no word from God will ever fail.”

Reflection: In the Face of the Impossible
By John Tillman

Luke plunges into visionary tales of the impossible and people who, to one degree or another, expressed doubts, reservations, and fears, and felt themselves unqualified for the task.

Madeleine L’Engle, in her book, Walking on Water marvels at how often God gave glorious visions and impossible tasks to those who were ill equipped.

“We are all asked to do more than we can do. Every hero and heroine of the Bible does more than he would have thought it possible to do, from Gideon, to Esther, to Mary. Jacob, one of my favorite characters, certainly wasn’t qualified. He was a liar and a cheat; and yet he was given the extraordinary vision of angels and archangels ascending and descending a ladder which reached from earth to heaven.

In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, Nathanael is given a glimpse of what Jacob saw, or a promise of it, and he wasn’t qualified, either. He was narrow-minded and unimaginative, and when Philip told him that Jesus of Nazareth was the one they sought, his rather cynical response was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And yet it was to Nathanael that Jesus promised the vision of angels and archangels ascending and descending upon the son of man.”

God’s chooses to do the impossible with the unqualified, to frustrate the wise with the foolish, and to overthrow the strong with the weak. He subverts the systems we rely on and reminds us that our competence is an illusion and his grace shown through us comprises all that is good in the world.

We face the impossible, like Zechariah, when the world sees us as cursed and broken.
We face the impossible, like Mary, when the world strives to keep us powerless and vulnerable.

In the face of the impossible we are forced to keep our faith where it always should have been—on God. We are not qualified, but, L’Engle concludes, God will be glorified.

“In a very real sense, not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there’s no danger that we will confuse God’s work with our own, or God’s glory with our own.“

Prayer: The Request for Presence
Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. — Psalm 86.4

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Genesis 47 (Listen – 5:03) 
Luke 1.1-38 (Listen – 9:26)

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Can we really be expected not to counter-attack those who attack us with falsehoods? We tend to answer Paul by saying, “Sorry. That’s not possible or practical.”

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