Resisting Cultural Pressure

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 50 Listen: (4:07), Read: Matthew 11 Listen: (4:06)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 50.24-26

24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” 25 And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

26 So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Reflection: Resisting Cultural Pressure

By John Tilman

Joseph assimilated a great degree into Egyptian culture.

It was impossible for Joseph to prevent or resist some assimilation to the culture he was unwillingly trapped in. Rising out of slavery did not make this easier. Greater levels of privilege create greater pressure to assimilate.

Joseph married into a powerful, prominent family. His father-in-law, Potiphera, was high priest of the Egyptian sun god, Re in the city of On, better known by its Greek name Heliopolis, meaning “City of the Sun.”

Joseph adopted Egyptian dress and cultural practices, including Egyptian burial practices for his beloved father and himself. (Genesis 50.2, 26)

However, Joseph maintained faithfulness to God and adapted to maintain his identity in many ways. He affirmed God as the source of his sexual ethic and his skills of interpretation. He named his children referencing his faith. He secured his family a separate area in which to live.

Regardless of his level of cultural assimilation or his comfort and privilege, Joseph recognized that Egypt was not his home, nor that of his descendants, nor that of the descendants of his brothers. Assuring his brothers that God would “come to your aid” (Genesis 50.25) meant assuming that they would need God’s aid.

Did “that dreamer” (Genesis 37.19-20) have another prophetic dream from God? If so, scripture does not report it. However, with or without divine revelation, Joseph saw trouble coming for his family in Egypt.

We also face these cultural pressures. Trouble is coming. Our culture does its best to get inside us and usurp our identity. Culture tells us that we are Americans first (or Indians or Europeans or Australians or South Africans…). Culture wants us to think we are primarily identified by our race or sexuality or gender or political party, but no cultural identity is our primary identity. (Galatians 3.28)

We are children of Abraham’s promise and carriers of his blessing to the world. That is our gospel identity. Anything else must submit to that or be swept away before it. We must adapt or avoid cultural mandates that conflict with our God-given identity.

Just as Israel claimed Joseph’s children as his, God lays his claim on us. We are not at home in this world or in our “home” culture. Let us not expect comfort but struggle, knowing that God will come to our aid and take us home.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. — Psalm 31.24

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

Read more: Public, Prayerful, Persistent Protest

Those who wish to regulate protests often say to protesters, “Not here. Not now. Not like this.”

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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.

Playing the Game for Fickle Pharaohs

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 46 Listen: (4:47), Read: Matthew 7 Listen: (3:31)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 46.31-34

31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

Reflection: Playing the Game for Fickle Pharaohs

By John Tillman

During a red, white, and blue-striped halftime performance a character played by Samuel L. Jackson warned Kendrick Lamar to not be too loud or too ghetto, and to play the game right to please the powerful.

In Dr. Esau McCaulley’s memoir, How Far to the Promised Land, he reflects on his survival. He played by the rules, never did or sold drugs, and stayed out of trouble. Yet, on multiple occasions his life nearly ended due to the “game” he was living in. Many around him also played by the rules, yet still lost their lives to a rigged system.

As powerful as Joseph was, he recognized his family’s position in Egypt was politically precarious. They were foreigners, immigrating for shelter and aid during a crisis. Joseph warned that Egyptian culture considered them detestable.

As we listen to Joseph carefully coach his brothers on speaking before Pharaoh, we can sense the tension. Much depended on gaining Pharaoh’s approval. They needed to play the game.

But playing the game doesn’t guarantee good outcomes in a corrupt and fickle system. Joseph knew this better than most. He saw Pharaoh restore one imprisoned servant and impale another on a pole. Just because the king favored him or his family today, tomorrow could be a different story.

Joseph was correct. A generation later, a new king saw Israel’s children not as blessings but as enemies of the state. God sent Moses to declare, “Game over.”

We may be tempted to apply this solely to a specific political figure—to this year’s or last year’s “Pharaoh.” Resist the urge to limit this application to one man or party. There are multitudes of past, present, and future pharaohs wanting us to dance to their tunes and play their games.

The powerful tell us to play their game and they will take care of us. But if they break rules to help us, they will break rules to harm us. Even if they don’t harm us, what will we do when they harm others? Will we speak up for those they call “detestable,” “sub-humans,” and “animals”?

Early Christians were known for protecting the detestable from the powerful. Christians saved unwanted babies, the sick, the poor, the outcasts, the foreigners, and freed those enslaved.

Are we still willing to do so? I pray we are. When the time comes, may we stand before pharaohs and say, “Game over.”

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me. — Psalm 69.7

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

Read more: Dream On

Joseph was not forgotten in prison. Jesus was not abandoned in the grave. Certainly we are not forgotten or abandoned when the ups of our lives turn to downs.

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Reconciliation in the Family of God

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 45 Listen: (4:10), Read: Matthew 6 Listen: (4:35)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 45:1-2, 4-5, 24

1 So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!

Reflection: Reconciliation in the Family of God

By Erin Newton

The events in Genesis 45, according to Sibley Towner, “are the stuff of shalom-making.” The stuff that makes happy endings. The stuff that we can use as an example.

And that is saying a lot, especially after all those chapters of misbehavior, scheming, abusing, and traumatizing done by the hands of God’s chosen family. Suddenly, the clouds break and the sun shines on the text with a story of peace, happiness, and wholeness.

What can we learn about reconciliation from Genesis 45?

1. Reconciliation is an emotional event. Joseph rattles the neighborhood with his weeping. I’m sure he cried and wept when thrown into the pit when his brothers tried to kill him. These are not the same sort of tears. These are the tears of joy—the impossible has become possible. Joseph was left for dead (or worse, wished dead!), and any hope of seeing his estranged family was zero. The tears at their reconciliation are tears for a renewed life together.

2. Reconciliation doesn’t ignore the pain caused by one another. Joseph’s brothers are nervous to answer his question about their dad. They were probably filled with shame for their actions and anxiety over whether he would retaliate in kind. Joseph encourages them to throw off self-loathing for their past behavior. He’s obviously reached a place in his heart to forgive them. (Mind you, it’s been decades since that fateful day.)

3. Reconciliation can end with blessings that outweigh the prior pain. Joseph recognizes the place of privilege he now has over the land as well as his brothers. He has the power to give them life, even when they dealt him death. Joseph’s reconciliation is enhanced by his own virtue of generosity.

4. Reconciliation avoids further conflict. Joseph yells after his brothers as they go home to fetch their dad, “Don’t quarrel on the way!” He seems to know the emotions would be tense. They’d likely want to argue over whose fault it really had been. Joseph’s attention is on the present peace.

Some of the worst conflicts happen between members of the same family. The family of God is not exempt.

How have we lamented over division with our fellow believers?

How have we addressed the real pain dealt to one another?

What power or privilege can we use today to help our brothers and sisters?

And are we willing to try and keep such peace?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Show us the light of your countenance, O God, and come to us. — Psalm 67.1

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

Read more: Spiritual Twins

Forget the birthright-stew debacle. Remember when Esau showed unmerited forgiveness. He loved his brother…ran to him…hugged him…wept.

Read more: From Darkness to Light

Psalm 105 tells Israel’s story of moving from light to darkness to light. Joseph goes from favored son to slave and prisoner, then rises to the bright pinnacle of power.

Divining the Truth by Actions

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 44 Listen: (4:38), Read: Matthew 5 Listen: (6:03)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 44.11-15

11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city. 14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”


“The play’s the thing in which to catch the conscience of the king.” — Act 2, Scene 2 of Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Reflection: Divining the Truth by Actions

By John Tillman

Divination refers to spiritual practices from diverse religions and sects, that are believed to derive the truth, usually the future, through interaction with “the divine.”

When Joseph said he could find things out by divination, he was being clever.

Among the divination practices of the day were the interpretation of natural phenomena (such as the flight patterns of birds or weather), examining of animal entrails or tea leaves, and interpreting dreams.

Divination was used by Joseph’s family. Laban told Jacob that he used divination to discover God was blessing him because of Jacob. (Genesis 30.27) Joseph’s interpretation of dreams was a God-empowered form of divination. Later, God would ban the Israelites from pursuing knowledge through these methods. (Leviticus 19.26)

It’s possible that Joseph did use the silver cup for divination practices learned in Canaan or Egypt, but that is not what Joseph was talking about. Joseph wasn’t reading tea leaves or entrails at the bottom of a cup. Joseph used the planting of the cup to read what was at the bottom of his brothers’ hearts.

Like Hamlet, Joseph’s theatrics were a play in which to catch the conscience of his brothers. The way Joseph constructed this event suggests that he wanted to know certain things.

First, he wanted to know if his brother, Benjamin, had met a similar fate. He wanted “proof of life” that Benjamin was still living and well. But seeing Benjamin alive wasn’t enough. Joseph needed evidence of changed hearts. Would the brothers abandon Benjamin in hardship or betray him to save their own necks?

Joseph places before them a chance to save their lives by abandoning Benjamin to a false accusation. When Judah offers his own life in place of Benjamin, the test is passed and the play is over. The curtain comes down and tears of reconciliation flow. (Genesis 45.1)

Forgiveness can be one-sided. Joseph was able to forgive his brothers without ever seeing them and we can forgive anyone for anything. Reconciliation, however, often requires steps that reestablish trust.

Joseph’s situation was unique. If you weren’t sold into slavery for decades, don’t go around planting evidence and carrying out elaborate plots. But it is not unreasonable to expect reconciliation to be a structured process that is more robust based on the severity of the offense.

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

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

He said again to the crowds, “ When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it’s going to be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?” — Luke 12.54-56

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

Read more: Dream On

Did Joseph wonder why a pagan cupbearer’s dream should come true, when his dream, given by the one true God, seemed denied?

Read more: Truth in the Cistern

Joseph and Jeremiah share something else in common other than being held prisoner in a cistern—telling the truth put them there.