Sermon Tone Analysis

The Suffering Servant: Joseph

At the end of the last chapter we found Joseph, once again, stripped of his high status and thrown into the bottom of a pit, this time a prison cell.

Yet, even in prison, Joseph continues to faithfully rely on the LORD.

It would be very easy for Joseph, at this point in the story, to question God’s methods.

Nevertheless, when two other prisoners approach Joseph with a dream, he does not hesitate to go to God in order to help these men.

Everyone knew, in Joseph’s day, that dreams like the ones these men recieved were from the gods.

And if you get a dream from the gods, its probably something very important!

And so these two other prisoners, the cupbearer and the baker, are distraught that the gods are trying to tell them something important, but they can’t interpret the dreams.

Joseph quickly sees the perfect opportunity to minister to these two men.

There are no Egyptian magicians or dream interpreters in this prison cell, but Joseph knows that the LORD is.

And so, despite all he’s been through, Joseph does not hesitate to go to God in prayer, and minister to his fellow prisoners.

Joseph’s suffering, by God’s grace, becomes just another opportunity to do the ministry of God.

Joseph, imprisoned in Pharaoh’s dungeon, had every right to complain against God, to sit stubbornly in the corner and refuse to carry on with the LORD.

It was by no fault of his own that he had ended up there, after all.

Instead, Joseph did not complain, but leapt at any opportunity to use his horrible circumstances for God’s glory.

We may be reminded here, of Isaiah’s prophecy about the suffering servant:

13 See, my servant shall prosper;

he shall be exalted and lifted up,

and shall be very high.

14 Just as there were many who were astonished at him

—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of mortals—

15 so he shall startle many nations;

kings shall shut their mouths because of him;

for that which had not been told them they shall see,

and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away.

Who could have imagined his future?

For he was cut off from the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people.

9 They made his grave with the wicked

and his tomb with the rich,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.

When you make his life an offering for sin,

he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;

through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.

11 Out of his anguish he shall see light;

he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.

The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

The Suffering Servant: Christ

And this prophecy of Isaiah, of course, brings us to Jesus.

If Joseph’s sufferings were bad, then Christ’s were unspeakably terrible.

Like Joseph, Jesus was imprisoned for no good cause.

And not only imprisoned, but crucified on account of the sins of other people.

And yet, even on the cross, we see Jesus fulfilling his role as the suffering servant.

The one who continues to work for God’s glory even in the midst of his own suffering and humiliation.

Even as the Romans drove nails into his hands, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they’re doing.”

In fact, Jesus very often spoke of his crucifixion as his enthronement.

This was not just a moment of suffering that God could bring good out of, but it was a kind of serving in the midst of suffering through which God could do more good than he’d ever done before.

As we well know, the cross of Christ is something every christian is called to take up.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he spoke with Peter and said,

Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished.

But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.)

After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Indeed, it may very well have been the love and compassion Christians displayed even in the face of death that caused so many to come to Christ in the days of the early Church.

One early Christian remarked, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church” (Tertullian).

So “take up your cross and follow me” should never become a quaint and simple phrase for the church.

It is what defines us as followers of Jesus Christ.

Our Church is not being persecuted in the way those early Christians were, sure.

But we suffer nonetheless.

We suffer as we see so many pass away.

We look around at the empty pews and remember the smiling faces that used to fill them.

We suffer emotionally, many of us suffer financially, and in so many other ways.

Yet if, in our suffering, we continue to act as humble servants of the Lord, God is able to do so much good in the world.

Through our suffering, God is able to bring about healing.

Forget Me Not: When the World Doesn’t Return the Favor

But that’s no easy task.

Especially when it seems as if the world has forgotten us.

Joseph, despite his poor condition, did all in his power to minister to the baker and the cupbearer.

And he had only one simple request:

remember me when it is well with you; please do me the kindness to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this place.

Remember me! Don’t forget me!

I’ve healed you, now would you please return the favor?

I imagine that, after the cupbearer left, Joseph sat expectantly in the dungeons for a few days.

As shadows would pass by the door, and the sound of footsteps echoed by, perhaps Joseph’s heart jumped, and he hoped beyond hope that the cupbearer had put in a good word for him.

But, after many days, Joseph must have finally realized what Genesis already tells us:

23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

What do we do when we do take up the cross, when we do play the part of the suffering servant, and it seems, nevertheless, that the world has forgotten us all the same?

What happens when we serve the poor, feed the hungry, and care for the orphan like God has asked of us, but the poor, the hungry, and the orphan don’t remember us?

We live in a time where this happens to the church more and more.

As followers of Jesus, we can go out and do wonderful things in the name of Christ.

We can give more than we can really afford, we can minister to people on the streets even while we deal with our own aches and pains, and yet the pews remain empty, and the Church still seems to have a bad reputation in our culture.

Everyone remembers when a church had a bad pastor that abused his power, but no one remembers that it was the Church who helped build our hospitals, our orphanages, and our education system.

Everyone remembers Westboro Baptist, who protested at funerals even as parents and family grieved, but no one remembers the small church on the corner who cooks and feeds the homeless every week.

There’s only so much suffering we can take before it just becomes unbearable.

We can only serve so much with no reward before we begin to wonder if there will ever be a reward for our work.

Abiding in the Vine

So how did Joseph do it?

He remained in prison for two whole years before the cupbearer finally remembered him, and Pharaoh sent for him.

For two years, Joseph continued to suffer and yet to serve the LORD, so that when he finally walked out of prison, he said as confidently and as boldly as ever, “It is not I, but the LORD who will answer Pharaoh.”

Despite two years of fruitlessly serving and wrongfully suffering, Joseph emerged as faithful and strong as ever.