Wednesday, July 12, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
First class citizen of Egypt
I have never flown first class. Marc and I might do just that on a flight we’re taking in October, because the point difference is small. Kind of small. First class should cost more, or it doesn’t feel like first class.
On European trains, first class is reserved for the rich and famous. It has always been that way. Third class is more for the rest of us. When Margaret and Andi took trains in Scotland and Britain, they rode in every kind of train car except first class.
At Chuy’s last night George and I could have waited for 40 minutes till a table opened up. Or we could sit down immediately in the two last seats at the bar. Which was the first class experience? We met a guy named Bret who moved over a stool to make room for the two of us. He was the first class guy, even if he did say we each owed him 5 bucks. We sat smack dab in front of the All-Star game on a big screen TV.
Our food was great, the margaritas were awesome, and our seats were perfect. But the first class part of the trip was Bret’s friendliness and the joy he showed in sharing that perfect seat with us. So first class is about love, not comfort. It’s about generosity, not privilege. Tell that to the airlines. OK, maybe I will.
Joseph was a first class citizen of Egypt, who had come up through the prison and over time earned the trust of the pharaoh. Under his direction the citizens took advantage of seven years of plenty to prepare for seven years of famine.
When the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh sent all the Egyptians to Joseph.  “Do whatever he tells you,”the Pharaoh said. In fact famine had gripped the whole world, and all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain.
Years earlier Joseph’s brothers threw him under the bus (literally, into a cistern to die), and they thought they were rid of him forever. Now they were starving and had to come to Egypt.
Joseph recognized them as soon as he saw them.
Jacob’s 12 sons had four mothers (who’s counting). The last two, Joseph and Benjamin, were daughters of Rachel and were clearly Jacob’s favorites. Jacob had lost Joseph, he would not allow the brothers to take Benjamin with them to Egypt. Joseph knew his brothers did not recognize him, even if he knew them. After locking them in prison for three days, he made them an offer.
Do this, and you shall live, for I am a God-fearing man. If you have been honest, only one of your brothers need by confined any longer in prison, while the rest of you may go and take home provisions for your starving families. BUT. You must come back to me with your youngest brother. Then turning away from his brothers, who still did not know him, Joseph wept.
Tune in tomorrow …
(Genesis 41-42, Psalm 33, Mark 1, Matthew 10)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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