A question for you today, a question to help us think about who God is and what he has to give us as we spend time in his word and in his house together today:
Who is Jesus to you??
Who is this guy, to you?
What do you know about him, what do you believe about him, how is he present in your life, how has he shown up for you over the journey?
Here are some different ways we might think about Jesus, if we had to give an answer off the top of our heads:
He’s a good bloke, he’s a man who lived over 2000 years ago in Israel. He was Jewish, he was brought up in a Jewish household and culture around him. He claimed to be the Son of God, and that one really got him in trouble with the authorities at the time…
This is an evidence-based, factual perspective isn’t it, stating the mostly-accepted facts about this guy Jesus actually existing many years ago. What someone might say when asked ‘what do you know about Jesus?’
But what about someone who BELIEVES in him, who believes he actually is who he says he is?
What would someone who believes in Jesus say about who he is?
He is the Saviour of the world, who gave his life for me so I could be called a forgiven and loved child of God.
In the words of a band called ‘The Lads’ Jesus is the creator of the universe, and he’s also my best friend. Imagine that, getting to be best friends with the creator of the universe…
What would you say, what would you add to those answers?
Who is Jesus to you, today, here and now??
Have a good think about that today, maybe even let it sit with you through the week and see what comes up to the surface for you.
This line of questioning leads us into our first reading today, from the book of Genesis, an excerpt from the story of Joseph I was just sharing with the kids.
How does asking about who Jesus is relate to the story of Joseph you might ask?
Well the story of Joseph – as with many major biblical stories and characters – actually reveals a whole lot about who Jesus is, if we take the opportunity to look closely enough.
Let’s have a look through this passage to see what we can learn first about what goes on for Joseph in his story, and then how his story can help us see who Jesus is.
What are the ways Joseph expresses himself here, what emotions or feelings go on here between him and his brothers, how does he communicate with them – don’t forget his own brothers had sold him off as a slave and probably thought he was dead!
What does Joseph do?
Joseph ‘weeps.’ We read he ‘wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.’
What do his brothers do?
They are ‘terrified at his presence.’ They cannot answer him when he asks if his father is still alive because they are terrified in his presence, they are stopped in their tracks.
What does Joseph do next?
He says ‘come close to me.’ Come close, not ‘bow down in fear and trembling,’ not a command for his servants to take his brothers away and punish them, get revenge on them for what they had done many years earlier. He says ‘come close to me.’
And then he explains – in a bit of a matter-of-fact way as someone we know often does in the New Testament – who he is to them, acknowledging the wrong they had done to him, but also explaining the purpose underneath all this, the plans God had for him and his brothers.
He says ‘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.’
Who does that sound like to you as you hear it again this morning!
Some more things play out from there in the passage, where Joseph makes sure his family and his people are provided for ahead of the years of famine to come, but I want to draw your attention to one subtle line at the end of the passage, which says this – ‘afterwards his brothers talked with him.’
So let’s put it together, let’s see how what happens here can teach us about who Jesus is, how God reveals himself to us through his word > and that’s always the whole point isn’t it, that’s always the question, always what’s going on here in church! How God reveals himself to his people.
Joseph ‘weeps’ >
Joseph is now in a position of leadership in his community, he’s second only to Pharoah, he has a status and responsibility and reputation.
And we know his own brothers had disowned him – how would you be feeling and responding if you were in Joseph’s shoes?! Would you have been angry, hurt, out for revenge? Most of us would have a bit of that going on, but not Joseph here > he has a different response, a response that reveals much more than what we might get at first glance.
He weeps, he cries. Over his brothers, out of love and compassion for them. One of the most profound expressions of forgiveness happening between people in the entire bible isn’t it. He has every right to hate them – as they hated him – and is also in a position to deal with them in a very serious way, but that’s not what happens is it. This is not Game of Thrones, this is the word of God.
How is Jesus revealed to us in this moment?
By most measurements we would say Joseph’s brothers deserve punishment, they deserve to pay for what they have done – that might explain some of the ‘being terrified’ that we’ll get to in a moment. Like us, we know we deserve punishment for our sin. For what we have thought, said and done, and what we have failed to do.
But that’s not what Joseph’s brothers get, that’s not what we get is it.
Instead they are forgiven, they are loved, they are provided for in their time of need. What grace, what compassion on display here.
And for us, in the person of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross, we are forgiven, we are loved, and we are provided for in our time of need. Exactly the same dynamic going on here. Joseph’s love for his brothers points to the ultimate love Jesus has for us.
Joseph’s brothers are ‘terrified at his presence’ >
Joseph’s brothers are terrified because they’ve been found out, they are in serious trouble here in their eyes, they can’t even answer questions directed to them.
How is Jesus revealed to us in this moment?
This is an interesting one… I wonder if you’ve ever been ‘terrified’ at the presence of God? Maybe you’ve been in awe, maybe amazed at his goodness, his big-ness, his divine-ness? Hard to say in the moment, but we can probably look back over our lives and see a few moments of being in awe of God and his presence with us.
The truth here is that we should be terrified in God’s presence. We are sinners, we have nothing to offer him, we come to him as weary beggars. We have no power, no control, no standing in front of our God.
But as we know that’s exactly where Jesus meets us > he meets those who have been found out, who cannot answer him with love, with mercy, with grace. He has love for sinners, beggars and the powerless as we well know. And that’s not ‘other people out there’ as the Pharisees would say, that’s you and me. We are beggars, we are sinners, we are powerless. But our God is gracious, loving, compassionate and he reveals himself to us.
Joseph says to his brothers not go away but ‘come close to me,’ and he reveals how God has been at work all this time >
As we’ve seen Joseph could have done all manner of things to exact vengeance or justice on his brothers, but he does none of that > he instead reveals the deep love he feels for them, he shows them forgiveness and love just as Jesus shows those same things to us.
How is Jesus revealed to us in these moments?
Joseph says ‘come close to me’ > sounding a lot like the one to come who says to little children come to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to these.
We are at God’s mercy, and he shows us mercy > and he also is merciful enough to let us in on the purpose and meaning behind all this!
As Joseph points to the purpose and meaning behind what has happened in his life, our God has much to say to us about the purpose and meaning of our lives > all we need is ears to listen. We listen to his word, and his word begins to work in us, that’s how it works.
And finally there’s that little line at the end, we read ‘afterwards his brothers talked with him.’
Why could that line be in there? Maybe to reveal to us what we get to do with God after he has forgiven and loved us > we get to talk with our maker, with our forgiver, with the one who loves us, and from there that love and forgiveness takes hold of us and can flow out of us for others as well.
So we come back to that initial question today: who is Jesus to you??
As we continue to think about that, to pray to our God asking him to reveal himself to us in the everyday things of life, we have this to go on:
Jesus is someone who doesn’t give us what we deserve, instead he gives us forgiveness, love and hope.
Jesus is God’s grace and compassion in human form, personified and made real for you and for me.
Jesus is someone we can talk with, anytime anyplace as we go along the journey, doing life with him.
And Jesus has much to say to us – not only through words attributed to him in the gospels but all through God’s word, in more ways than we ever fully reach or understand in this life.
We just need ears to listen.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father we thank you for your presence among us. We thank you for the many ways you reveal yourself to us through your word and the stories of your people. Help us when we have been found out, to know we can come to you – our good and gracious God who hears our prayers. Help us to hear you, to hear and to receive what you have for us. All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Tom Kitson 