The Bigger Picture: Joseph 4

Joseph 4: Joseph the Prisoner.

(preached May 16th, 2010)

I wonder if you’ve ever felt hard done by? I remember one occasion when I was about 15 at school, when I was told off in no uncertain terms and punished so unfairly by one of my teachers – I hadn’t actually done anything wrong, but my teacher just wouldn’t listen to what I had to say about it. I felt so aggrieved by it then and, more than 35 years later, I still do! Even though it was a relatively small and pretty inconsequential injustice, a sense of hurt has endured over the years.

So, just imagine how Joseph felt. Betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, framed by his master’s wife, and thrown into prison, he had every reason to feel hard done by – after all, he hadn’t done anything to deserve this ... he’d always tried to do the right thing. Was he crushed? Was he bitter? Did he turn his back on God? No, he didn’t, because he knew that God was with him – even though he was many miles from his homeland and his family – yes, God was with him watching over him and caring for him, turning the wickedness of others around to his blessing and making sure the dreams He had entrusted to Joseph would be fulfilled.

But Joseph was still in prison. Through the grace of God, the chief jailer had been kind to him, giving him a degree of responsibility for the care of the other prisoners – but he was still in prison, and there was no prospect of him being released. Potiphar wasn’t going to change his mind and have a wayward slave released – in fact, I expect that, within a very short space of time, he had forgotten all about Joseph ... after all, slaves were ‘ten a penny’. So, how was it possible that he would get out of there? Enter the cupbearer and the baker from Pharaoh’s court.

The Cupbearer and the Baker

At the beginning of Genesis chapter 40, we read:

Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker offended their royal master. Pharaoh became angry with these two officials, and he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the captain of the guard.

Well, what a surprise! Two senior royal officials in prison with Joseph.

The cupbearer would have been the person who tasted the wine and food before it was presented to the king to ensure that it wasn’t poisoned. He was also there to ensure that everything served to the king was of a high standard and healthy. As a result, cupbearers and kings became very close and the king would often treat his cupbearer as a confidant, someone with whom he could share his ideas and his concerns. You may remember that Nehemiah was the cupbearer in the court of King Xerxes and was able to persuade the king to allow him to travel to Jerusalem to repair the city walls.

For the cupbearer and the baker to end up in prison, there must have been some mess-up on the catering front: maybe the baker prepared something which wasn’t of a high standard and the cupbearer mistakenly let it through for the king to eat. Whatever was the cause of their downfall, the important fact is that they ended up in the same prison as Joseph. And Joseph, drawing on his own dreadful experiences, was able to minister to them, able to help them cope with their new circumstances – if he himself had been bitter or angry, I don’t think he could – or, would – have done that. It’s only when our hearts are right with God that we can truly empathise with and minister to someone in need.

Anyway, both the cupbearer and the baker have dreams and they’re depressed when no-one can interpret the dreams for them. Like the 19th and 20th century psychoanalysts, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the Egyptians and other peoples of that day reckoned that dreams had deeper meanings and that there were those able to unlock those meanings. Little did they know that they were talking to God’s dreamer-in-chief! But Joseph makes it clear to them that only God can accurately interpret dreams and then he invites them to share their dreams – he is so confident that God will give him the power to understand them.

The cupbearer goes first and tells the story of how he had dreamed of a vine that grew with three branches which produced healthy clusters of grapes. In his dream, he picked them and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup for his master to drink. Quick as a flash, Joseph tells him that it means he will be restored to his position in the royal court in three days’ time. Oh, and he asks the cupbearer to remember him when he is restored.

Hearing this gives the baker confidence to share his own dream. In it, he was carrying three baskets of pastries on his head, when birds came down and ate the goodies in the top basket. Again, Joseph is quick to share the meaning of the dream, but this time it’s bad news: in three days, the baker will be executed! Now, Joseph could have made something up, so the baker didn’t know the full horrific truth, but he didn’t – in fact, he couldn’t, because he was representing God and had to share the meaning that God showed him.

Like Joseph, we too have sometimes to tell people the blunt truth, because this is what God has called us to do. It’s not easy and they may not like it, but it is the right thing to do. We should always be very positive and very compassionate in the way we deal with everyone – that is how Jesus was – but we also have to be very realistic and straightforward with them – Jesus was like that, too.

Maybe people don’t want to hear that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that no-one comes to the Father except through Him; maybe they don’t want to hear that there are dire consequences for those who turn their backs on God and go their own way, but we fail them and we fail God, if we don’t share it with them because we fear hurting or annoying them.

Joseph didn’t fail God in interpreting those two dreams in the way he did and, three days later, he is totally vindicated, as his interpretations come true. The cupbearer is restored and the baker is executed. But, we’re told, “Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.” Again, Joseph has done all that he could do – and got it right – yet still he languishes in prison. What a let-down! It’s enough to knock the stuffing out of anyone.

Application

Being let down, feeling abandoned, feeling hard-done-by are common human experiences. At some time or another, we probably all feel that we have been treated in ways that we just don’t deserve – whether it be a case of being told off at school for something we didn’t do, or of being overlooked for a job that we really should have been offered, or whatever it might be. It hurts and, unless the hurt is dealt with, it will go on hurting and will affect our ability to serve God and others.

An American Christian writer, Chuck Swindoll (in "Joseph: A man of integrity and forgiveness", Word Publishing Inc., 1998) argues that there are four main causes of such long-lasting and hurt:

first, there is the way people have been treated within the family, either in the past or at present or both) – the pain of physical or emotional abuse within the home may affect the victims of it for a lifetime, if not addressed;

then, there is the hurt that comes as the result of unexpected restriction of circumstances – for example, a sudden injury, or the onset of a debilitating illness, can often make a person feel very alone and abandoned;

there’s also the damage suffered through untrue accusations – the spreading of gossip and rumour is so destructive and can cause people such mental anguish that some even resort to suicide;

and the fourth area that Swindoll highlights is unfair abandonment – it may occur within marriage, when one partner or the other leaves without any warning or valid reason, leaving wife or husband high and dry; it may occur when so-called friends disappear when your circumstances change through no fault of your own; it may occur when you’re made redundant, after tirelessly working your socks off for your employer. Let’s face it, it can occur in any number of circumstances.

From what we’ve already read in Genesis, it’s clear that Joseph suffered all these kinds of mistreatment: suffering cruelly at the hands of his half-brothers, finding himself as a slave without any human rights, being thrown into prison because of someone’s false accusation; and then left there by the forgetful cupbearer. He must have felt the pain of all that, but he survived it because he never stopped trusting or hoping in God.

Even though people – even friends and family – may mistreat or abandon us, God never does and, as we turn to Him in hopeful trust, He offers us the healing we need and sustains us in our darkest hours. That is an integral part of His nature: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love” – that’s what the Bible tells us on numerous occasions.

In fact, God took upon Himself all of that mistreatment and hurt, when He came in the form of Jesus Christ to dwell among us. At one point in His ministry, He was dismissed by members of His earthly family as being mad. His circumstances were very definitely restricted when He was arrested and tried by the Jewish authorities, and nailed to a cross by the Romans. He experienced the pain of false accusations, when some said that He must be in league with the devil and when so-called witnesses lied at His trial. And, of course, He suffered undeserved abandonment, when His disciples fled after His arrest and when His closest friend, Peter, even went so far as to deny any connection with Him.

Christ experienced all those hurts and took them to the cross with Him, so that we can find our healing, our relief, and our comfort in Him, and in Him alone. So, if you are hurting right now, turn to Him, trust in Him, pray to Him and, in faith, receive from Him. If you are in that position this morning, I invite you to repeat in your hearts this prayer (from Swindoll's book) that I’m going to say now – let’s pray:

Lord, God, help me now. PAUSE


Right at this moment. PAUSE


Deliver me from my own prison. PAUSE


Help me to see beyond the darkness to see Your hand. PAUSE


As I am being crushed, remould me. PAUSE


Help me to see You in this abandonment, this rejection. PAUSE


Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner. PAUSE


Amen.

If you would like to pray with someone about your own painful circumstances, please ask me or any of the deacons afterwards, and we will be delighted to do that, here and now. Or, if you would like to pray at another time, maybe in your own home, do speak to me afterwards and I will gladly arrange to come and visit you.

Next week, we will see how God rescues Joseph from His predicament and dreams begin to become reality.

Until then, to God be the glory! Amen.