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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