Week Three - July 24th - Joseph Series 2022 - Ken
Readings: Matthew 1:18-21 and Genesis 41:25-46
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
When Fiona first mentioned writing these sermons on Joseph. I initially thought what the ……….. is she up to now. My knowledge about Joseph was very scant indeed and the thought of presenting a sermon on him was to say the least unlikely.
I tried to think of ways I could get out of it to avoid any embarrassment which would show the lack of my knowledge on the subject.
I think that shows my reticence to get down and read the Old Testament again. When I was at theological college of course we read the Old Testament and were requested to to write essays about certain aspects of it. However I can’t remember the subject of Joseph playing any major part of my studies other than His dream of then ladder and the relationship with his twin Brother Esau, or was that Jacob?
Joseph led an interesting life and I do recommend a read of his history and escapades. His dreams and his interpretation of them are legendary.
This brings us up to date with the story in to days reading. It begins with Joseph in Jail in Egypt. In fact he had been in jail for some time. During which he listened to the the dreams of someone who later became a trustworthy member of Pharaohs’s closest advisors.
Now Pharaoh had been experiencing the same dreams for a while, and they were clearly bothering him. So the advisor who had had his dreams explained to him by Joseph said to Pharaoh to summon him to ask Joseph to explain them to him. So Joseph was called.
Joseph explained that God had revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do to In Egypt and the surrounding Countries. Joseph explained that the dreams of the seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream.
The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.
So to cut a long story short Pharaoh was very impressed with Joseph, firstly because of his understanding of the dreams, and when pressed, how he would go about solving the crisis. Pharaoh made him jointly in charge of Egypt so that he could save the pain of the people.
Joseph set in motion his ideas to save a part of each harvest of the good years so that the seven years of the bad harvest were supported by the store that Joseph had arranged.
The famine didn’t just happen in Egypt it happened to the countries close to Egypt and when these other countries begged Egypt for food Joseph arranged for them to have some.
Now what can we learn from this story.
Well God had given Joseph the vision to explain the dreams of his and other people. So given the opportunity of using that gift, he did with amazing effect.
God has given each one of us gifts that we can use. They may not be the understanding of dreams but talents they are.
Joseph was given his gift from birth as we are. Joseph used his gifts whenever he was asked and had an amazing effect on people. His crowning moment was advising the Pharaoh.
We may not know the effect our talents have on people or what gifts we have that may be useful to people, but we must use the gifts God gave us. We may not think that we have the talents that can help people but how often has someone said or did something for us that had an effect on us.
We may never have the gifts that will effect a Country. However we all have gifts we can use to help people. That to God is as important as any.
It may be singing, acting, a love of cooking, a love of looking after people, flower arranging, gardening, or a gift of oratory, writing. The list is endless but everyone has a talent of some description.
So let us not waste our talents let us use them to benefit others because they are a gift from God by using them we show Gods love for people and show Gods love in our actions.
Amen.