Tower and Town, February 2021

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Clergy Letter: Jospeh

At Emmanuel Church, we have been studying the story of Joseph in the Bible. In the rollercoaster of life, Joseph’s story teaches us to live by faith and not by sight.

In Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, the narrator sings to Joseph, “I’ve read the book and you come out on top.”

We have read the book. We know that God ‘was with Joseph’ and ‘showed him kindness’. We know how the story ends. But, as Joseph stares through the window of his Egyptian jail, imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, Joseph does not know that. He cannot see God. As the butler and the baker (all we need now is the candlestick maker!) tell Joseph their dreams, we know this is God’s providence: that the butler is Joseph’s get-out-of-jail-free card. But Joseph does not know that. All Joseph knows is that, at the end of that chapter, the butler “did not remember Joseph; he forgot him”.

Yet, Joseph serves God, even when he cannot see him. That is why his behaviour is consistent, whoever his earthly master is. In jail, Joseph says to the butler and the baker, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

Joseph serves God in his work. He is not doing anything religious; he does not even have a proper job; he is in prison and yet he serves God in his work. And Joseph serves God in his words. Whether he is bringing good news to the butler or bad news to the baker (he does not miss out the hard bits), Joseph serves God in his words.

Maybe we are weeping for loved ones, weary of COVID-19 and its consequences or worried about work or studies. Like Joseph, we cannot see what God is up to. But let us be encouraged. To live for God, when we cannot see him is the life of faith. “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Maybe it feels like we are running a cross-country race in deep fog: we cannot see the sun. But let us fix our eyes on someone in front who’s run our path already: “Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Reuben Mann