If we were going to make a fashion catalog based on the descriptions of clothes we find in the Bible, how big do you suppose this catalog would be? A couple of pages could be dedicated to the uniforms that the priest and the high priest wore since we have detailed descriptions of these. Then there’s that curious camel-skin outfit that both Elijah and John the Baptist wore. But are there any other clothes that could be included in such a fashion catalog? How about that cool coat Joseph, the son of Jacob, wore? It’s been described as a coat of many colors, but the truth is we don’t know if it was colorful. The Hebrew translation is uncertain. The coat may not have been colorful, but its owner’s life certainly was. Today we start a sermon series entitled “Joseph: a life of many colors.” Each sermon will connect a different color to an aspect of Joseph’s life. Our color today is green…for envy.
Before we get to Joseph, have you ever wondered why the color green is associated with envy – that feeling of jealousy? A number of sources pointed to the ancient Greeks who believed that envy was a sickness, and sick people, they thought, looked a little green.
But enough about that. Let’s talk about Joseph. Who was he? In our text from Genesis 37 he appears as a seventeen-year-old boy who was absolutely loved by his father, Jacob. Jacob, you’ll remember was the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. Jacob had twelve sons from four different women. These twelve sons would become the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel – God’s chosen people.
Since that’s the case, they must have been good boys, right? Hardly. You wouldn’t have asked the sons of Jacob to babysit your children. Rueben, the oldest, slept with one of his father’s concubines. Judah, the fourth oldest and forefather of King David and Jesus, would sleep with his daughter-in-law when he mistook her for a prostitute. Simeon and Levi, the second and third oldest, went on a murderous rampage against the whole town of Shechem because one of its citizens defiled their sister. Since these four half-brothers may have been considerably older than Joseph it seems that he hung out with Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher – the sons of Jacob’s two concubines. Yet they weren’t very godly boys either because Joseph heard unsavory reports about them, which he passed to his father. Because of this perceived “tattling,” and because Joseph was daddy’s favorite, the brothers hated him.
Jacob didn’t help matters when he made his favoritism obvious by giving Joseph that special coat. It may not have been a colorful coat, but it was a long-sleeve coat like one an overseer would wear. Imagine what would happen if on your next spring cleaning day at home, you gave one child a clip board and a lawn chair, but gave every other child a mop, broom, and shovel. The message would be clear, wouldn’t it? The rest of you get to work while so-and-so supervises. That’s just about what Jacob was saying with his gift of that coat to Joseph.
But we shouldn’t think that Joseph was innocent in the matter. He had two dreams which foreshadowed how one day he would be in a position of authority over his brothers and parents. In the second dream, the sun, moon, and eleven stars all kept bowing down to Joseph. Since he knew what his brothers thought of him, Joseph would have been wise to keep the matter to himself. Instead he seemed to relish telling his brothers that one day he would be the center of their universe.
Do you know anyone like that? Perhaps it’s a classmate who loves to tell you how little he studied for the test, but still aced it. “And oh, what did you get? Five wrong? Maybe you’ll do better next time.” Or maybe it’s the acquaintance who describes in detail how much she spent on patio equipment and on her last cruise where she got to go shark-cage diving. We don’t care for people like this and so we can understand why Joseph’s brothers didn’t care for him. BUT such spiteful feelings are never excusable. They are prompted by the sin of envy. When someone tells us about their blessings, even if they’re bragging about it, we are to rejoice with them. The reason we don’t readily do this is because we’re actually angry with God – angry that he hasn’t blessed us in the same way. We accuse him of being unfair and not knowing anything about how to run the world and distribute his blessings.
Job once accused God of that. Sure, Job was frustrated at how he had lost his children, his possessions, and his health. At first he accepted it as God’s will, but the more he thought about it the more unfair it seemed. What had he done to deserve such treatment? God owed him at least an explanation! When Job demanded that from God, the Divine answered with these piercing questions: “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!...Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” (Job 40:2, 8) And that’s what we do when we give in to the sin of envy: condemn God to justify our feelings.
Like a forgotten saucepan of milk on a hot stove, the sin of envy will only simmer for so long before it boils over into a frothy rage and makes a mess that’s not easy to clean up. That’s what happened with Joseph’s brothers. One day when they were far from home tending their father’s flock, they saw Joseph coming towards them. He was on an errand from his father to see how the brothers were doing. They must have recognized him from that special coat and immediately began to bad-mouth Joseph. “Here comes that dreamer,” they said. “He thinks he’s so much better than us. Well, if we kill him, what will become of his dreams then?” Reuben, the eldest, realized that this wasn’t just locker room talk; the boys were serious. And so he persuaded his brothers to throw Joseph into a pit instead. This way, he could rescue Joseph later, or so he thought.
Is it shocking to hear how the brothers hated Joseph so much that they were willing to kill him? That’s what unchecked sin will do. It will grow and multiply as quickly as thistles do in an untended garden. So be warned, fellow Christians, you may feel justified in speaking poorly of the braggarts you know, but in so doing you’re feeding your sinful nature. And where will that lead? Contemplating murder? It’s possible. Instead starve the sinful nature by remembering who you are: a baptized child of God. You are already one of God’s favorites. Right now Jesus is preparing a room for you in the mansions of heaven. You’re not there yet but you have the keys. And you have his promise to give you what you need until you arrive there. Rejoice in this. And rejoice in how God chooses to bless others even if it’s not the way you would do it.
After the brothers threw Joseph into a pit they sat down to eat dinner as if they had done nothing more than lock up a wayward sheep for the night. They hated Joseph so much that they weren’t even moved when he kept crying out for mercy (cf. Genesis 42). But God was watching over Joseph. When the brothers noticed a caravan of traders bound for Egypt, Judah suggested that they sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him. After all he was their brother. This plan met with approval so that Joseph’s life was not only spared, he ended up going to Egypt where God planned to make him into a powerful man thus fulfilling the dreams Joseph had received.
But now what were the brothers going to tell their father when they returned home? That was easy. Smear goat blood on that prized coat. Dad would conclude that his favorite son had been mauled by some wild animal. That went according to plan, but the brothers did not anticipate how devastated their father would be. Jacob’s heart was broken and he refused to be comforted. Can you imagine how the brothers’ sin now weighed on their conscience? It would do so for the next twenty years. Why did none of them confess? Why did they not go down to Egypt to buy their brother back from slavery? When they started to feel bad for what they had done they must have shoved aside that uncomfortable feeling by saying, “Joseph asked for it!”
Do you ever find yourself doing that? Instead of confessing your sins and admitting the evil that is in your heart, you justify your thoughts and actions by blaming others for them? And perhaps you feel OK about this because, if matters were really that bad, if you were really that guilty, wouldn’t God have made his feelings about those sins obvious? Well he has. He dumped his anger over your sins onto Jesus. He caused his only-begotten Son to cry out: “Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?” If these words from the cross don’t stop us dead in our sinful tracks, when we finally drop dead there will be no mistaking God’s feeling about our sins because his righteous anger will forever burn against us.
The sons of Jacob were really rather clumsy in trying to cover up their sin by smearing goat’s blood on their brother’s coat. It would take stronger blood than that to wash away their sin and cleanse their conscience. It would take lamb’s blood. And that’s exactly what Jesus provided as the Lamb of God. Not only the brothers’ sin, but yours and mine have been soaked through with this loving offering. So really, what do we have to be envious about? In Jesus, God gives us more than we deserve: forgiveness and eternal life! The next time you find yourself green with envy, focus your thoughts on Jesus and all that he has given you. You’ll see a different kind of green then – a green that will be the signal for you to go – go and serve; go and encourage! Amen.
SERMON NOTES
List at least five facts about Joseph.
Joseph’s coat may not have been colorful, but it was long-sleeved. Why would his brothers be so upset that he would receive such a coat?
Review the details of the dreams Joseph had. What was their meaning?
Why is the sin of envy never excusable?
How is the sin of envy often like a pot of milk left on a hot stove?
Why don’t we have to be envious of others?
Compare the brothers’ attempt to cover up their sin with God’s attempt (and success). What similarities and differences do you see?
