That's not the End of the Story. August 13, 2023. The Reverend Kathleen M. Sturges

 

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28, Matthew 14:22-33

Oftentimes, before I go to sleep, I read. My goal is to settle my brain so I typically seek books that are mildly entertaining, low stress, and pretty much forgettable. Why then The Kite Runner ended up on my nightstand years ago I really can’t explain. It’s an excellent book, but it’s in no way a light read which I didn’t quite realize until one night I came upon a scene that caused me to slam the book shut in anger. I was mad - for two reasons. One, I had just read something that was very violent and disturbing. And, two, now I was stuck. It was clear to me that this book was not my typical bedtime reading, nonetheless, I couldn't stop reading it now. If I did, the horrific scene would linger. It would always be the end of the story, at least for me. But given that there were a couple hundred pages to go it was obvious that this was not the end of the story for the character. I resented the fact that the only hope I had of finding some sort of healing or redemption was to keep on reading and follow the tale wherever it might lead until I reached its true end.

The way Joseph’s story ends for us in our reading from Genesis reminded me of that experience. The passage begins innocently enough. We are told that this is a story about the family of Jacob who was the son of Issac, the grandson of Abraham. But guess what? This family of Jacob is off the charts when it comes to dysfunctional! Even before Joseph, who quickly becomes the main character here, is born, Jacob fathers ten sons between his first wife, Leah, and two of his enslaved women, Bilhah and Zilpah. Eventually, Jacob’s second and most beloved wife, Rachel, becomes pregnant and gives birth to Joseph whom Jacob has no qualm in letting everyone know is his absolute favorite child. Clearly, this is a recipe for disaster. A disaster which we hear about when one day spoiled, tattletale, full-of-himself, seventeen year old Joseph goes to check on his older brothers who are off taking care of the family flock. No surprise, the brothers hate Joseph - so much so that as they watch him approach from a distance they seriously discuss killing him until one brother intervenes by suggesting that throwing him into an empty pit might be a better option. And so that is what the brothers do, for a time, at least, until they encounter a caravan of traders to whom they sell their brother. Now granted, Joseph may not be dead, but for all intents and purposes his life is over as we see him captured, enslaved, and carted away to the foreign and hostile land of Egypt. The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God…? I have to put a question mark there because we’ve got to wonder what we are thanking God for? And we also may wonder, or at least I’ve been wondering, why it is that Joseph’s story ends for us here, when all seems lost? Well, the answer I’ve settled on is that I think the story is trying to show us something profound. That is that no matter who you are or how charmed your life may be there eventually comes a time when you find yourself in a pit, where all seems lost, and the story of your life feels as if it’s over. You lose a loved one, family relations get complicated, things change at work, financial problems develop, an unexpected loss occurs, something happens. And when it does it’s so easy, natural even, to feel like the pit, the struggle, the bad news is the end of the story.

That’s probably how Joseph was feeling as he was tied to the back of a camel and being led down to Egypt. And who could blame him? Because he, like us, can only experience life in a linear fashion. From his perspective he has no future. His life is essentially over. There’s no way for him to know that this is not the end of the story. He can’t see the twists and turns that his future life will take and how, in time, things will actually turn out alright. For those familiar with Joseph’s story, we know that he will eventually get in the good graces of Pharaoh, rise to become the #2 man in Egypt, use his skills to save countless lives, and even reconcile with his family. With that perspective, being able to look back on his life and see the fullness of his story, Joseph will amazingly declare to his brothers, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good.” (Genesis 50:20)

Now that is not to say that all of our stories end on such a high note. Some do, but others sadly don’t. Yet, one of our God’s specialties is the ability to redeem. And what I mean by that is that God can make meaning and good from actions that are rooted in sin and tragedy. That doesn’t mean that God swoops into our lives and fixes everything, but that God is present with us through it all and has the power to take any situation that we experience and bring forth from it meaning and good. So no life is ultimately lost. No story is ultimately tragic. No matter how bad things get, that is not the end of the story. I know this to be true because all of our lives, all of our stories are wrapped up in God’s greater story. The true story, that we are created in love, that our lives are held in love, and that one day we will return to the fullness of God’s love and everything will be redeemed. That is the true end to each one of our stories.

And speaking of stories, there’s one out there about an old mariner’s chart that is on display in the British Museum in London. Supposedly it is a map outlining the North American coastline and its adjacent waters. But because it was drawn from a Western European point of view around the year 1525 much of the region was unknown. So, to fill in the gaps, the map maker added some particularly interesting notations. In the empty spaces he wrote, “Here be giants,” “Here be fiery scorpions,” and “Here be dragons.” Roughly 300 years later, the map came into the possession of the British explorer, Sir John Franklin. After looking over the fearful inscriptions, Franklin decided to scratch them out and wrote these words across the map: “Here be God.’”

Like Joseph in the pit, we do not know what the future holds. But like Joseph, we do know the One who holds the future. We know that in whatever future we move into God is there. So no matter where you are or what you’re facing, the story is in no way over. You’re just in the middle of it - and it will get better. You may look into the unknown future and feel like, “there be giants,” “there be dragons,” or “there be pits,” but by trusting the One who holds that future, the One wraps your story up in the greater story of  Love, you can look straight into the unknown and with faith declare, “There be God.”