31 October 2021 – Reformation Day

So Joseph asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.” Genesis 40:7-8

We’ve been studying the book of Genesis in Bible Study. Have you ever studied the book Genesis? I mean really studied it? I got to be honest with you. It’s a lot of fun! My grandma Jean, who authored Sunday School curriculum was known to say that every single type of family dysfunction can be found in the book of Genesis. My wife Sheri recently said that reading Genesis was like watching the Jerry Springer show. The level of scandal and human depravity is quite honestly, off the charts. Some things never change; like human capacity for sin. 

Let me give you an example. Adam and Eve have two sons: Cain and Abel, until Cain gets jealous and kills Abel. This was the first family. Many generations later we read about Jacob.

Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter with Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah. Dinah, the daughter, was gifted with diplomacy and almost was a nation builder. The twelve brothers were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. From these twelve brothers would come twelve tribes of Israel. Of the twelve boys, Joseph was different, special, and favored by his father. As a youth he was kind of a brat. Joseph had a special coat and had fanciful dreams and his brothers thought he had delusions of grandeur. So what did his brothers do to him? They took a page from their ancestor Cain, and sought to kill him! Reuben the firstborn son intervened, worked out a compromise, and Joseph was sold into slavery. He was sold to Ishmaelites, the descendents of his great uncle: his cousins basically. His cousins sell him to Potiphar in Egypt. Joseph is betrayed by Potiphar’s wife and thrown in jail. Joseph always seems to land on his feet, and soon is working for the jailor and has a degree of authority among the other prisoners. 

Then one day Pharaoh’s baker and cup-bearer are imprisoned and feeling down for the terrible and troubling dreams that they have. Joseph sees that their faces are downcast and asks them what is wrong. They tell him they have had terrible dreams. What does Joseph the dreamer say? In true rabbinic form he asks a question: “Do not interpretations belong to God?” Interpretations belong to God!

We don’t get to choose our dreams, at least not the ones that come to us while we sleep. We don’t get to choose holy scripture. We don’t get to choose our families. We don’t get to choose whether or not we pay taxes or for how many days we will walk on this earth. People like to say that God gives you a free will. Really? Where does it say that? 500 years ago our dear brother Martin Luther was summoned to debate the brightest minds of his age, including Erasmus of Rotterdam. What was it that they debated? Nothing less than whether or not the will was free. Erasmus was put forth to represent the intellectual power of established dominant teachings of the church. His position was that the will was free. Erasmus and many o