[Text: Gen. 39] “The Patient Endurance of a New Cross”

“Life isn’t fair” is one of the first lessons we learn on the playground and it continues to be a lesson we learn throughout life. But how do we think about this as Christians? What does God have to say about such suffering?

[Read and Pray – Merciful Father, give us ears to hear your Word this morning, hearts that believe it and wills that are conformed to it. May we look outside of ourselves in our suffering and remember your glory and through that think, feel and act rightly in the midst of suffering. We ask it so that Jesus is more glorified in us. Amen.]

The previous story in Genesis was one of deep selfishness given full expression. And at the end Judah, the chief among the selfish men, is not only spared punishment by the mercy of God but is welcomed into the ancestry of Jesus Christ himself. Now, as the storyline returns to Joseph, the reverse happens. A man who has committed no sin suffers. The man unjustly accused of wrong is thrown into a 20th century B.C. Egyptian prison to suffer.

This story might have raised a few different questions in the hearts of the first hearers, the Israelites of the Exodus. As they considered their own recent suffering at the hands of the Egyptians, they might have wondered, “Why does Yahweh let the faithful suffer? Why do we have to endure such suffering in this world? Is Yahweh really good? Can I trust a God who allows His people to suffer while wrong-doers go unpunished? It all just seems so unfair, so wrong, so pointless when we suffer, especially when we’re actually trying to do the right thing.”

Do those questions sound like any in your heart?

We’re talking today about suffering. Specifically, we’re talking about unjust suffering, suffering when we’ve actually done the right and faithful thing and it has blown up in our faces. We’re not talking about suffering when we’ve done wrong in the sight of God and men and experience the consequences of that sin. That is simply experiencing the consequences of our own actions. So, there is a place for examining our hearts when suffering comes and honestly asking, “Father, search me and know my heart and show me if there is anything in me that is offensive to you. Then root it out and lead me in the proper way!”

But what we’re talking about are the times in life when we have earnestly directed out faith toward God – seeking faithfulness to him – and it costs us dearly. We’re talking about the times when we have loved someone and given them time and forgiveness and they have abused it over and over again, ripping out our hearts and crushing it beneath their feet like it was no big deal. We’re talking about the times when a desire to honor God in your work cost you that bonus or promotion and instead earned you the label of “not-committed-to-the-job,” or “hard-to-work-with” or “too-proud-to-go-along-with-us” – even though it was a humble love of God that drove your actions! We’re talking about the times when your love for God has resulted in suffering for His sake, when pain is the payment for faithfulness, when wounds are the reply for love spoken. And whether is was from a culture that regards Christians as fools or from your child who wanders away from Christ, each believer suffers in this world.

It is in those times that the promises of God, though difficult to see, are powerfully at work. And in this story what comforts us is that the presence of God changes everything. Because though we suffer unjustly at times, there is a sovereign purpose behind it accomplishing great things for His people. And though we may feel that we are in the dark dungeon by ourselves, we never truly suffer alone because we have a God who has Himself suffered unjustly and considers the suffering of His people to be precious in His sight – even as His steadfast love leads them into suffering.

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The storyline returns to Joseph in v. 1 of this chapter. For a moment, Moses had turned to consider the selfish sin of Judah, but now he returns to Joseph so that his selflessness will shine brighter in contrast to Judah’s dark sin.

This has led believers at times to take this story too far and make Joseph out to be some kind of sinless, perfect man who is shown favor from Yahweh because of his perfect obedience. It comes out in statements like, “If you want the blessing of God in your life, then just be obedient like Joseph.” Don’t hear what I’m not saying, I want to live in faithful obedience to God! But when we get the order of grace and obedience confused, then we’re actually reversing the Story of Redemption.

The confusion happens when “sinlessness” is confused with “faithfulness.” Just because Moses doesn’t talk about Joseph’s sin doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any. He is a man like you and me. All we see is a snapshot, a clip from his life that is meant to illustrate Joseph’s faithfulness. Remembering Moses’ purpose to contrast Joseph with Judah will help us to see Joseph’s actions in their proper light. Yahweh isn’t with Joseph because Joseph is sinlessly obedient to Yahweh – that certainly wasn’t Yahweh’s relationship with Abraham or Isaac or Jacob! Yahweh is with Joseph, has made promises concerning Joseph, and so Joseph responds to that grace by pursuing a life of faithfulness to Yahweh. There’s a big difference between those two things. In the first, the favor of God is earned by obedience to God. But in the second, the grace of God already shown (through promises of redemption and His commitment to Joseph’s family) drives Joseph into obedience out of gratitude. In the Bible, faithful humans are always responding to the prior work of a gracious God.

As Moses returns to Joseph in v. 1, he underscores the injustice of how Joseph ended up suffering in Egypt as a slave in the first place. Whereas Judah “went down” from his brothers willingly in Ch. 38, Joseph “had been brought down” – that’s a passive verb since Joseph was helpless to prevent his departure from the Promised Land – Joseph “had been brought down to Egypt because his jealous brothers had sold him into slavery in an attempt to stop the word of God regarding Joseph from ever coming true.

And when he arrived in Egypt, Joseph was bought by Potiphar, an Egyptian who served the Pharaoh as the captain of the guard. V. 2 immediately states that no matter what his current situation might indicate to a human observer, Yahweh was with Joseph and so he was successful even in his slavery. It says, “he was in the house of his Egyptian master.” Ordinary slaves, especially new ones, would likely have worked outside of the home and had little interaction with their masters. But since Joseph enjoyed success because of the presence of Yahweh, Joseph was brought into the house.

He came into the house because the success he enjoyed wasn’t just obvious to him, but to Potiphar as well. V. 3 says that the presence and blessing of God was recognized by Potiphar, who not only brought Joseph into his house, but in v. 4 we see that Potiphar made Joseph his personal attendant and then made him an overseer of everything Potiphar owned.

Vv. 4-5 tell of the outcome of that promotion. Yahweh blessed
“the Egyptian’s house” and fields for Joseph’s sake. Joseph was becoming a blessing to the nations, just as Yahweh had promised to Abraham that his family would be. And Potiphar put everything into Joseph’s care and didn’t worry about anything except feeding himself. Because Yahweh was with him, Joseph could faithfully take care of the rest.

Isn’t it strange that the one who, humanly speaking, benefited most from the presence and blessing of Yahweh wasn’t Joseph? All of Moses’ emphasis is on how Potiphar prospered and was blessed. But isn’t it also interesting that Potiphar was content to be blessed by Yahweh and yet there is no evidence that he sought after Yahweh to worship Him? Thanksgiving and worship are the proper responses when grace is shown by Yahweh. Potiphar isn’t said to do either. Be careful in the days of plenty when you do not suffer. It is easy for us to take grace for granted and think ourselves entitled to a comfortable life.

The end of v. 6 through v. 10 sets the stage for new suffering Joseph will need to endure. His handsomeness caught the eye of Potiphar’s wife and she boldly demands that he lie with her. Compare Judah to Joseph at this point. What do you think Judah might have done here?

But Joseph refused her advances. And listen to him reason in vv. 8-9. He talks about the confidence his master has set in Joseph, how trusting his master is and how much responsibility Joseph carries. Where some people feel a sense of entitlement when they bear burdens of trust and responsibility, you don’t hear anything like that from Joseph. He knows how great he is in the house of his master – they are nearly equals and the only thing separating the two of them, the only thing that distinguishes this exalted slave from his master is…her.

But listen to where he comes down in the end. Yes, to lie with her would an act of trust-breaking, a stab in the back to the man who has trusted Joseph so fully, but more than anything else it would be an act of rebellion against God. And so, he denies himself this pleasure because he would rather walk in obedience to the God who is with him than lie with her in opposition to God.

But, as v. 10 notes, she persists day after day in her pursuit of Joseph. And if she thought he was just playing “hard-to-get” at first, she found out she was wrong as each advance was met with rejection and faithfulness from Joseph. How long did Joseph suffer and endure this temptation to take in his hand the forbidden fruit freely offered to him? How many times did he suffer and remind himself of his calling to his master and to the God who was gracious enough to be with him?

And then, in v. 11, there came the day when she caught him alone. It says she caught – the same word used when someone “captures” or “seizes” a city during war – she caught Joseph by his garment and offered herself to him once again. Think about how violently he must have resisted sin against God and his master; he thought it better to leave his clothes behind than to stay there with her. The text doesn’t talk about it, but imagine how he might have suffered the mocking laughter of others all because he had been faithful to God and resisted.

But a woman scorned, when the Spirit of God is missing, is a dangerous foe. And she held in her hand the means of “revenge” – revenge according to her although no wrong was done to her. With Joseph’s clothes in her hand she could make sure that Joseph would suffer for refusing her.

So she tells her story. She twists the facts. She outright lies and Joseph suffers for it.

She called to the other servants of the house and listen to what she says. She first blames her husband, disrespecting him when all of the dishonor belongs to her. She says that it is his fault this “Hebrew” (there is a seething racism beneath her use of this word) is among them and the Hebrew has come to “laugh” at them (“laughing,” here has a double meaning – both a mocking and a sexual connotation). She lies and says that she “cried out with a loud voice,” which is what a woman in the city was expected to do when attacked by a man. But the servants heard her when she called them to tell this story. Why didn’t they hear her “loud” cry when she was attacked? Because there wasn’t one; she was just trying to paint herself in a good light and make Joseph suffer in the process.

When her husband got home, she kept Joseph’s clothes beside her to parade in front of him as a prop in her deceptive play. She again told her story, again telling her husband that this was all his fault. As soon as he hears his wife’s words, v. 19 says his anger was kindled. And whether he believes his wife or not (I think it is more likely that he did not believe her version of the story), he takes Joseph and throws him in prison – a guiltless man suffering when he had done no wrong.

It’s at this point that, if I were Joseph, I’d be asking a million variations of the question, “Why?” And if Joseph was asking the same thing, we know that that question was never answered while he sat in the dungeon. So, too, when you suffer, there is nothing wrong with asking why this is happening to you? Just know that you probably won’t get any answer. In fact, you might not ever get an answer.

But Yahweh does answer a different question, if it was on Joseph’s lips or in his heart. If he were to ask, “Has God abandoned me and become my enemy?” then the answer from Yahweh is a comforting “No.”

As soon as the text has Joseph in prison, Moses immediately tells us in v. 21 that “Yahweh was with Joseph…” as if to say, “I know what it looks like it, but Yahweh really was with Joseph and I’ll prove it to you.” Moses goes on to tell about the steadfast love of Yahweh and how it remained with this suffering man, carrying him through his imprisonment and giving him favor in the eyes of the keeper of the prison. Was Joseph suffering? Yes. But was God with him? Yes. And that makes all the difference. For Joseph, the presence of God in the midst of suffering meant that (1) he could endure this new burden and (2) he could trust that although he couldn’t see it, there was a purpose beneath his pain.

It is this second truth – the purpose of his suffering – that is only revealed at the end of Joseph’s story. Remember what happens when the story turns, when the good unraveling comes? Joseph says to his brothers who sold him into slavery, “…God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.” (Genesis 45:7) Although no one knew it, a famine was coming that would have wiped out the family of Jacob, the family of Abraham through which Yahweh had promised the redemption of the whole would come. And if they perished, then all hope died with them. But God would not let that happen and so he sent Joseph down the path of suffering.

So, if you’re looking for an answer to why Joseph suffered unjustly it is this: if Joseph did not suffer, then the people of God could not be saved.

Once again we see that the redemption God works comes, as Calvin says, not through magnificent splendor, but through death and the grave and suffering. And we see in Joseph the pattern of salvation that God would follow in the fullness of time when He sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue His people once and for all. He sent Jesus down the path of suffering.

And if Jesus did not suffer, then the people of God – you – could not be saved.

If ever there was a man who endured unjust suffering it was our Savior, Jesus Christ. He was called a “drunkard” and a “friend of sinners” though he came to transform sinners into saints. He was hated for calling himself equal to God though that is exactly who he was and is. He was crucified as a thief though he only came to take that which belonged to him. He had committed no sin at all yet he suffered a shameful death on a tree and I – sinful and deserving of death as I am – I walk free because of it. Jesus, more than any man including Joseph, knows suffering intimately.

And although he suffered more unjustly than any man before or after him, Jesus did not shrink away from the suffering, but instead walked willingly toward it because he knew it was the will of his Father. And although, unlike Joseph, Jesus would be utterly forsaken by His father for an infinite moment on the cross, he knew the presence of his Father would again be his. And he knew that though this act of suffering, he would win for us the presence of the Father for all eternity.

This is not a call to enjoy suffering. God didn’t make us for that. But as we look to Jesus in the midst of our suffering and listen to his promise of his presence with us through it, it begins to make knowing the answer to the “Why?” question a little less important. When we rest in the truth that he is with us, that we enjoy the presence of Yahweh himself by His Spirit within us, then we, like Joseph, are enabled to both endure this present suffering and entrust ourselves to a purposeful God. Following the example of Joseph and the fuller example of Jesus, we walk through our suffering in the power of the Spirit and patiently endure whatever new cross God has called us to bear. And we endure the death that we feel in faith that if God was able to raise Jesus from the dead, then we who are joined to Jesus by faith will be raised to new life with him. And on that day, God himself will wipe away the tears of suffering and will replace them with a joy that is deeper than the pain ever was.

So listen to Peter [from 1 Peter 4:12-19] when he says don’t be surprised when the fiery trials come as if suffering was something strange to the people of God. When your suffering is not because of sin, but simply because you are a Christian, then you don’t need to be afraid or ashamed. When you suffer according to God’s will and purpose, you are simply called to entrust your soul to a faithful Creator and then continue doing good while you carry your cross. But we will only carry these crosses until the day of Christ’s return. Then they will be laid down and our age of suffering will be replaced by an eternal age of glory with Christ.

So, when you suffer the scorn of an entire culture (or perhaps just the scorn of a close family member) because you set your hope in a man whom you have never seen, then you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ. When you suffer as a child taking care of a parent because you believe God has called you to that, then you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ. When you suffer strong temptation day after day, often failing but sometimes enduring it, then you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ. When your career never advances because advancement depends on ignoring your family, you’re you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Whether your suffering is as a mother struggling to love your kids as Christ calls you or it is as a wife who – out of love for Jesus – is trying to honor a husband who does little to deserve it, the testimony of this passage and of the Scriptures is that such suffering is seen by our Father and is precious to him. Though his purpose may not be clearly seen in the middle of it, we who belong to God by the work of Christ can walk through the suffering in confidence and hope that he is with us in our suffering. And if he is with us, then we can endure it and trust that he will use our suffering for His glory and for the good of His Church. He is powerful enough to do just that and he said so himself. Jesus said, “…In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 ESV)

[Pray – Father, there remains in the world a great deal of injustice and we, Your people, endure much of it. Help us, Loving Father, to endure suffering with our eyes fixed on Jesus. May his death and resurrection strengthen our hearts to believe that injustice will not always stand and that You will make all things right in him. And until that Day comes, O Lord, keep us by Your Spirit and help us to do the good You have called us to do, no matter what suffering we must endure. It is for your glory, Triune God, we ask this, so that the world might see in us the suffering Christ and run to him. We ask this in the name of our once suffering Savior now exalted at your right hand. Amen.]

Benediction:

[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV)