Life Lessons

I think by now you know that our family is a Disney family. We love going to Disneyland and watching Disney movies. When it comes to Disney movies, many of their movies are reimagined classics from authors like the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen. Obviously they are what have made the Disney company so popular by capturing the the wonder and beauty of these worlds and transporting us into them.

While our family loves and appreciates them there are some people who do not agree with the way that Disney has adapted these classic stories into ones that do not truly reflect the original tales. Let’s just say that the originals share more details in parts of the story that might not be as engaging for young children. I thought about how sometimes when we read a book, see a movie, or read the Bible we sometimes forget the difficult parts and remember the ending which ends up being the happy ending especially in the Disney films.

What got me thinking about the re-imagining of classic stories was because I was listening to a commentary called Pulpit Fiction and they suggested sharing and watching the DreamWorks film Joseph King of Dreams on Netflix. So earlier this week I shared that idea on Facebook and I watched it myself.

The film does a good job of capturing the main ideas of the story which is the difficulty between Joseph, who is clearly the favorite son and the rest of his brothers. We start our reading today with the very verse that tells us Israel loved him more than the rest of his children and made for him what has become popularly referred to as a technicolor dream coat. Technicolor or of many colors or whatever you might imagine of Josephs robes to look like, one thing I think makes sense is that wearing a robe like that would indicate that the person wearing it was not intended to do a lot of manual labor that would get that coat dirty or torn. The film of Joseph does a nice way of showing this by having Joseph always in his coat and all of his other brothers shirtless.

To make matters worse Joseph then has two dreams about his family and how they will all bow down to him, which is ridiculous sounding because he is the youngest child and Reuben was the eldest and should be the son who gets the inheritance and blessing. It’s bad enough that everyone knows that Joseph is the favorite son, but then for that favorite son to be wearing a coat that wasn’t intended to be worn for manual labor like everyone else was intended to do to come and say that on top of everything else you hate about me, there will be a day that you all bow down because I will be higher than any of you.

I’m not sure about you but sometimes family dynamics can be downright difficult to navigate. My 3 brothers and I get along really well, but it wasn’t always that way as I am sure might have been similar situations for you and your family growing up as well. When doing weddings or funerals for families I always ask if there are any family dynamics that I need to be aware of in case something were to come up or happen on the day of this special moment for the family. Can you imagine sitting down in a room with all of these sons of Israel and asking them about any family dynamics that might be happening?

Many of the brothers want him dead. They simply just want him out of their lives and are so upset with him and his special treatment and dreams that they just think death is a viable option. But as we keep reading we see both Reuben and Judah offer alternatives to death. Perhaps they weren’t as hurt or didn’t take things as personally, but nevertheless still want him gone. So they sell him into slavery for 20 pieces of silver.

The story continues to tell us of ways that Joseph prospers and falls until he is finally lifted up to just a little lower than Pharaoh himself because of the gift from God to have and interpret dreams. But our text has us skip all the way to basically the end of the Joseph novella in which Joseph and his brothers have already been reunited. Which to me tells me that the focus should be on Joseph and his brothers.

In the film when the brothers come to Egypt the buy food there are two parts that are not in the Biblical text so it was creative license but it really hit me as a powerful moment. When the brothers want to buy food one of the brothers specifically says that they are willing to pay for it and that they have brought with them 20 pieces of silver to get what they could for it. The same amount Joseph was sold for and you see Joseph wince in hurt and anger when he hears that. The other is a child drops a toy by the brothers feet and one of them picks it up and Joseph watches as he hands it back and treats the child so kindly.

So obviously this is creative license as I mentioned but I think it shows the hurt of the past that probably drew Joseph to do those things that he did to test his brothers, but then it also shows how the brothers treated this child so kindly.

Perhaps the brothers weren’t who they were 20 years ago when then sold Joseph into slavery. Even more telling is that they are so protective of Benjamin their younger brother who was born after Joseph was gone and how they would do anything to protect him and bring him back to their father Israel. They lost one brother, Joseph, and they weren’t willing to lose another. They realize the mistake they made all those years ago and Joseph recognizes that.

Past mistakes are forgiven. In our final passage we don’t know if Joseph believes this story about their father asking for Joseph to forgive them, but we do know they all weep and Joseph pronounces the famous passage that despite the evil and harm that happened, that God intended good for it.

I take that to mean not that God planned out this entire series of events that caused Joseph so much hardship with the pit, slavery, prison and everything else, but that God worked through the bad that happened to bring about God’s plan. God promised Abraham to have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. These brothers will now live into that promise even in the temporary land of Egypt.

This story of brothers is a story of hurt and forgiveness. It is a story of regret and restoration. It is a story where we see God caring for and loving God’s poeple even when we as people actively do things to one another that goes against what God wants for us. This is a story to show us that even in the hardest and darkest moments God is alive and active and can bring about good through it.

There is no doubt that this pandemic has been anything but hard, difficult, hurtful, and at times feels like so much evil has come out of it. And that is one side of the story. At the same time I have seen how people have stepped up to do more for their neighbor than they ever have in the past so that love, grace, and forgiveness may abound.

God is always active and alive in our world. Look for it and let God work in and through you so that you can experience God’s grace and love for each and every one of us just as God chose to bring about good through a rather horrible family dynamic. God brings good in the midst of the storm. May you see God in the midst of whatever storm you may be facing this day or any day of your life. Amen.