More than just a dreamcoat

This week in Genesis we start the story of Joseph, known to many from Sunday school and to many more thanks to Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice. The human drama by itself is compelling – family favouritism and sibling jealousy, violence, deceit, false accusations, weird dreams and their interpretations, triumph out of disaster. No wonder it makes a great musical. But behind the human drama is the hand of God, preserving the descendants of Abraham in fulfilment of his covenant. At 45:5-7 Joseph tells his brothers: ‘… 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. … God sent me ahead of you to preserve a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’

In some ways Joseph foreshadows Jesus. Here’s a paragraph from Edmund Clowney’s book The Unfolding Mystery (subtitled Discovering Christ in the Old Testament):

‘Joseph was God’s righteous servant, suffering because of his faithfulness to God. Yet the path of suffering led to a throne and to the fulfillment of the word of God, given by the revelation of his dreams. God had made the life of Joseph a sign of the way in which his blessing would come. By the word of God and the servant of god, the mercy of God would be made known to the nations.’ (p. 82)

In Matthew this week we have a whole chapter of parables (chapter 13 – Matthew likes to group Jesus’ teachings together in chunks). Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, in their excellent book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, argue that the main function of parables is to call forth a response from the hearer. Here is what they say about the parable of the Sower:

‘… the point of the parable is the urgency of the hour: “Take heed how you hear. The word is being sown, the message of the Good News of the kingdom, the joy of forgiveness, the demand and gift of discipleship. It is before all, so listen, take heed, be fruitful soil.”‘ (p. 131 in 1982 edition)