His Glory or Ours: Genesis 37:5-11
Human beings are genuinely skilled at turning the glory upon us. One of my favorite encounters with Jesus is the meeting of the rich young ruler who calls Jesus good. There, Jesus asks the ruler why he calls Jesus good and then explains only the Father is good. What a humble position reminding us that our glory is not the focus of life.
Today we see one of the greatest issues with favoritism: self-fulfilling prophecy. Because Jacob treated Joseph differently, Joseph believed it. He believed he was special, unique, and better. When he dreamed, he dreamed of his brothers bowing down to him. In fact, when he dreamed, he dreamed of his parents bowing down to him. Even the stars in the sky bowed down to him.
Care must be taken with these passages. Yes, Joseph is special. We are all special in God’s eyes. He loves each and every one of us. Some he calls to public displays of greatness and others he calls to much more personal displays of greatness. Those called to great public displays and not necessarily more loved than others. While the public leaders are often the ones remembered for being the figureheads of social movements, frequently the unremembered and unglorified assistants really deserve the credit. Greatness in God’s eyes is not evaluated the same ways as greatness in a history book.
Given the dreams’ place in the story, it is safe to assume these dreams were sent to Joseph by God. These dreams are sent to prepare him for his role in God’s plan. These dreams are meant to prepare him for his life-saving function much later in Egypt after a famine hits the area. God is using these dreams to orchestrate a long-term solution to a problem far in the distance.
In all his seventeen years of maturity, Joseph presents these dreams to his family in pride. There can be little doubt his older siblings picked on him, made him feel young and immature, and gave him the least favorite jobs to do. None of this would have been made any easier by Jacob’s preferential treatment of him. Whether he was trying to demonstrate his greatness or get back at his siblings for the way they treated their younger brother, Joseph brags about his dreams and brags about being the one being worshipped.
This is why we need to be careful. These dreams are not sent by God to show how great Joseph is. These dreams are not sent to Joseph to give him reason to gloat. These dreams are sent to Joseph so decades from now he’ll understand God is the one who orchestrated all the events of his life. These dreams are sent to Jospeh to illustrate God’s incredible greatness, but Jospeh turns it all on himself. Joseph turns God’s message pointing to God’s glory into a message about Joseph’s glory. Human beings are genuinely skilled at turning the glory upon us.
