Not a Place Where We Can Be but God is Present There

Preacher: Jennifer Hosler

Scripture: Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 139:1-14

How closely does God care for us? Is God concerned with the intimate details of our lives, or just with some broader, overarching plan of redemption? Christians have varied in terms of how they understand God’s work in history and in daily human affairs. Sometimes, I have moved from one extreme to the other. I’ve thought of God as heavily involved in the most intimate and mundane details, or at least willing to care about them if I asked. God, please help me with this parking spot! God, I’m pulling my hair out—please help me find my keys. 

At other points in my life, I’ve focused my heart and mind on Jesus bringing wholeness and transformation to the broader world. I’ve emphasized the macro level, to the exclusion of the micro—thinking that God is still involved in the big picture of redemption but perhaps less intimately involved with me. And at some point I stopped praying for help with a parking spot.

I’m not sure how involved God get in things like parking spots. Regardless, I think it is mistaken to emphasize towards the individual or the macro to the exclusion of the other. When looking at scripture, I see that God is intimately knowledgeable and concerned with the details of our lives, and, at the same time, God is engaged in the overarching plans for wholeness and justice in the world. Both/and. It is not one to the exclusion of the other, even if my mind swings that way. 

 Our scripture readings today indicate both: God cares about the details of our individual lives, about our specific stories. God is working in us and through us as individuals, as part of a bigger plan to enact wholeness, justice, and reconciliation. We see in scripture that God values the uniqueness of an individual life and its connection to God’s plan. We also see God acting to preserve life, working for wholeness on a grand scale.

Our scripture passage today is Genesis 45:1-15, part of the broader narrative about Joseph. When I think of the book of Genesis, the story of Joseph is not something that typically comes to mind. God’s creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden, Noah, and the tower of Babel, followed by the Patriarch narratives Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: those are all what I think of in Genesis. Yet the story of Joseph covers almost 14 chapters. Despite the amount of time dedicated to Joseph, these passages are likely not texts that we have spent much time on—though some of us may have knowledge of a certain Technicolor Dream Coat (full disclosure: I’ve never seen it! But did YouTube a few minutes during sermon prep). 

The Story of Joseph (Gen 37, 39-35 recap)

When we meet Joseph (Gen 37), he is one of 11 sons, but the only son of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, and born to Jacob in old age. Joseph is the favorite son and his dad, Jacob, blesses him with a special coat, most likely a coat that had long sleeves, which would have indicated that he was not regularly doing manual labor. Traditionally, this cloak has been mistranslated as a coat of many colors, which eventually morphed into a technicolor dream coat. Whether because it was colorful or long sleeved, Joseph’s brothers resent him for the special status indicated by the coat. 

Divisions and animosity were rampant within the family: Genesis 37 says that the brothers hate Joseph and cannot not speak peaceably to him (37:4). Resentment only grows when 17-year-old Joseph doesn’t keep quiet about some prophetic dreams, visions that basically foretold a time when people would bow down before him—including his brothers and his father. Needless to say, this was not a winning story at the family breakfast table, “So I had this dream where you bowed down to me…” Beyond the dreams, scripture also says that Joseph had given “bad reports” about his brothers and their flock-tending. </