11 July 2013 - out of egypt

11 July 2013 - out of egypt

But now do not be distressed,
and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here.
It was really for the sake of saving lives
that God sent me here ahead of you.”

The LORD is able to work through us in spite of our mistakes.  That is why "all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose" (cf. Rom. 8:28).  There are some ways in which Joseph prefigures Jesus which are worth mentioning.  Jesus, though in the form of God, takes the form of a slave (cf. Phil. 2:7) making him similar to Joseph who is sold into slavery and similar to all of Israel which is eventually enslaved in Egypt.  We too have pasts marred by slavery to sin.

Looking at it another way, it is as though Joseph dies when his brothers throw him in the pit but is raised in Egypt to pour out blessings on the very brothers who betrayed him.    The cross is the ultimate example of evil, sin, and apparent failure and yet it used by God as the very remedy to sin and death.  God wants us to see that apparent evil, slavery, death, and anything else can be the source of the grace of the resurrection.

Before Jesus we see a pattern of slavery and freedom in the history of Israel.  But with Jesus, freedom definitively arrives.  He comes to set us free not so that we will be enslaved again but so that we will be free indeed (cf. John 8:36).  Paul reminds that for freedom Jesus sets us free.  He reminds us not to fall back again into slavery.  Because of Jesus this is finally possible.

Freedom and resurrection are intimately tied together.  When the kingdom is proclaimed bondage is broken, both physical and spiritual.

‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.

Joseph's exultation in Egypt prefigures the LORD's plan for all of us.  He does not set us free to live marginalized and trivialized lives.  He sets us free to reign with him (cf. 2 Tim 2:12).

The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.

We are given this freedom not just for ourselves but to share it with everyone.  This is why Jesus insists that if people won't receive it that we " shake the dust from [our] feet."  We can't risk letting our own freedom be smothered and suffocated because it isn't just for us.

Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

May the liberation that the LORD works for his people inspire us to stand fast in this freedom.  Let us share it freely since we have received "without cost[.]"