In Genesis we see that Joseph is the great-grandson of Abraham, the grandson of Isaac, and the son of Jacob (aka Israel) and his beloved wife, Rachel. Quite the family tree!
While I’ve read the story of this favored son and his multi-colored coat dozens of times, my reading this week took a different turn. As I reread the unfolding story, I was in tears all along the way. The heartache of being betrayed. His life being spared. The pain of being accused while innocent. Feeling like God was not intervening. Building a life in a place that was not home. A broken storyline restored. All those things in some form have happened to me as well.
In their book Hearing God through the Year, Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson explain that the characters in the Bible were real people who hurt, laughed, and cried just as we do. Until that reality comes home to us, the experiences recorded in the Bible will remain unreal to us. We must pray for the faith that will enable us to believe that such things could indeed happen to us. Only then will we be able to recognize, accept, and dwell in them when these times occur in our own lives.
Perhaps during your next reading of scripture, read it again “once more with feeling.” Underline the words of emotion of these Biblical people. Sit with them in the beauty and brokenness of their story and connect it with your own. And grab a Kleenex and talk to God about it.