The Storyteller's Power
Of all the stories in The Bible, my favorite just might be the story of Joseph in Genesis.
We have been following the story each week in Bible Study, so when I came upon this summary in today's reading from Acts, it caught my eye.
And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. "The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan, and great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit. On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five in all; so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself died there as well as our ancestors, and their bodies were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. - Acts 7:8-16
Here it is in a nutshell, as spoken by Stephen to the high priest as part of his history of the Jews.
While much is lost in this synopsis, it would not have been lost to the high priest who knew the story very well, as did all of the educated Jews of the time. Their lives were devoted to the study of their story contained in the first five books of The Bible, and they would have known it by heart or at least well enough to quote it and tell it to others.
But for us, the story of Joseph is not one we may have heard often when we were growing up. Our bedtime stories may have been different.
One of the things we miss out on is the value of the repeating themes of human emotions driving us to the wrong decisions. Without knowing these stories, we fail to see the humor, the payback and retributions that may come late in life, as in Jacob's case when he pined over the loss of his son, Joseph only to discover his son alive and prosperous.
I can't help but draw comparisons between these stories and the parables of Jesus, like the Prodigal Son, who was lost and then returned to his father.
Stephen, like Jesus, knew his audience and he knew they would be able to read between the lines and see themselves in the story.
Like Joseph who teased his brothers and made them fear what would happen to them, these storytellers had power through words, power to drive people to action or to get inside their heads and cause them to think.
When you have time to read the story of Joseph in Genesis, try to draw a comparison between Joseph and his father. In some ways they are similar. They are clever and know how to use that cleverness to gain what they want. They both deceive their brothers, but in completely different ways. It is as if Joseph brings about the forgiveness of the sins of the father and the brothers through his own sacrifice. Yet instead of being killed, he is raised up and made like a king.
It is no wonder the apostles expected the same of Jesus.
What went wrong?
More to come...
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