The Blessing

Sunday's text, Genesis 48: 8-22, exemplifies what is so exciting and exasperating about reading texts from the Old Testament (maybe the whole Bible). Jacob blessing Joseph's grandsons has wonderful connections to other stories -- a reminder of Jacob stealing his brother Esau's blessing; a complete restoration of Joseph in Jacob's eyes; the power of blessing in that patriarchal society; and the power of God's promise to the Israelites that lives on in each generation, to name a few.

But, the story also contains the interplay between Jacob and Joseph when Joseph notices that Jacob has crossed his hands and bestowed the blessing on the younger son. Is that foreshadowing that Ephraim will become the greater person and his family will have more prominence (this turns out to be true). Is it another example of Jacob's shenanigans? If so, what does it say that God will seems to move through deceptive acts and rascals like Jacob? Has an editor added this piece to the story later (after Ephraim has become the more powerful nation)to show that God, through Jacob, had ordained this to happen.

In addition to those fascinating questions of the text, I think it also leads to questions for ourselves: how much is at stake for us for there to be a clear link between Ephraim prospering and God having blessed Ephraim over Manasseh his older brother? What do we think about God, if God does not abide by the rules of society? Okay, that may sound a bit crazy to expect God to follow our societal patterns, but think about the implications of following a God who may choose to follow a different plan than we expect, and in fact, seems to follow no set pattern. Where do we find certainty in the God of the unexpected?

As you may guess, all these questions keep floating in my head, which is making sermon development a bit more difficult than I imagined. I have continually found in this Joseph series that I begin thinking "what a great story," and then end up discovering that the story is really so complex I'm not sure how to articulate it as a sermon.

Peace,

Richard