Joseph and Jacob's Story

A few years ago we were getting ready to have VBS and we asked Dr. John Fortner to come and help prep our adults with a theological understanding of the story we were going to work on—the Joseph narrative. One of the best insights for me that came out of that story was how the Joseph story really fits into the larger narrative of the patriarchs, and particularly into the story of Jacob.For most of Jacob's life, he is an absolute control freak, scheming for control over virtually everyone in his life. He lies cheats and steals his way to the top. Even though God appears to him, and promises to be with him, he seems to believe that life would be much better if he (Jacob) were in control, and he consistently resists God's initiative.Now, I think most people would see and agree with that. Unfortunately, we tend to atomize the text—we separate out the stories of the Bible into individual tales, and lose the intergenerational narrative that Genesis (and the rest of scripture) is telling.  When we do that we lose some insights—for instance, the significance of the Joseph saga.The Joseph saga is not just about how things worked out for Joseph. It's about how things worked out for Jacob. It's about how things worked out for God's people.  See, the Joseph story is really just a long stretch within the story of Jacob—it's the definitive blow to Jacob's mentality that he is in charge. He can't manipulate God. He can't micromanage the promise of God. It seems like he's in control until Joseph (he thinks) dies. That concept completely rocks Jacob's world, and since he's not in control, he basically gives up on life and waits to die. He seems to think God has abandoned him.However, after he learns Joseph is alive, Jacob has another theophany, where God appears to him, reassures him that he is still with him, after all this time. Jacob turns loose of all the control, and it seems to me like he actually reinterprets his life through that insight.  Now he can (for the first time!) tell Joseph about the promise of God. (Joseph will later tell the rest of the brothers.) Now he can refer to God as the one who "has been my shepherd all my life to this day." Jacob can finally affirm the promise of God and the continual working of God, even in light of his own impending death! Reading Genesis 48 with this insight has been a powerful adjustment to the way I've read the Joseph saga before, and indeed the way I see my own life.Think about the deeper lesson here about reading the scriptures: Anytime we read a text, we need to remember to pull back and see it from a perspective of the broader story of the mission of God. Each story is unique and important on its own terms, but becomes even more incredible when viewed in terms of a longer context. Reading a text like the Joseph saga with a missional perspective allows us to pick up different layers of what's happening in the moment of the text as well as how that text contributes to (or complicates) the larger story of God and the world.It's not just Joseph's story. It's not even Jacob's story. It certainly isn't simply my story. These are all moments in God's story.[bctt tweet="It's not just Joseph's story. It's not even Jacob's story. It isn't my story. These are moments in God's story." via="no"]