Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form [. . .]
(Philippians 2:7)
He called for a famine on the land of Canaan,cutting off its food supply.Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them—Joseph, who was sold as a slave.They bruised his feet with fettersand placed his neck in an iron collar.Until the time came to fulfill his dreams,the LORD tested Joseph’s character.Then Pharaoh sent for him and set him free;the ruler of the nation opened his prison door.Joseph was put in charge of all the king’s household;he became ruler over all the king’s possessions.He could instruct the king’s aides as he pleasedand teach the king’s advisers. (Psalm 105:16–22 NLT)
The story of Joseph is familiar to most Christians – as well to musical theater fans due to the popularity of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (but that’s beside the point). For those who aren’t familiar, today’s lectionary passage from the book of Psalms provides an excellent summation.
The story of Joseph is an amazing, God-ordained tale of a person living at the top of the world, falling to its depths, then rising again, higher than before.
For the first section of Joseph’s life, he was the favored son, a particularly poignant label given the sheer number of brothers he had, and the fact he wasn’t the firstborn by a longshot – a role generally considered the favored one during that period. After he was sold into slavery by his brothers, he found a little bit of favor before falling even lower by being jailed for a crime he didn’t commit. Yet, God ordained that he should be rescued from the pit his life had fallen into and made second in command over all Egypt.
Similarly, the story of Jesus is an amazing, God-ordained tale of a person living at the top of the world (above it entirely, even), falling to its depths, then rising again, higher than before.
Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, existed before the creation of the world in perfect unity with the other two persons within the Trinity: the Father and the Spirit. When he took on the flesh and blood of humanity and lived among us, he “gave up his divine privileges” and “took the humble position of a slave,” the end point of which was his death on a cross next to criminals. Except, it wasn’t the end point, as three days later he rose from the dead and has been exalted to the highest place and given the name above all others.
When we read in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin,” we can be confident that he understands the pain points in our stories, the struggles we’ve experienced in our personal histories. After all, we see in Joseph an antecedental mirror to Jesus’s narrative; though Joseph came centuries before Jesus, his story points toward the Christ and the cross and this central spoke around which all of history turns.
In the same way Joseph’s story points ahead to Christ, our stories can point back toward him, but for that to be true, we must be willing to submit ourselves to the path God sets before us, regardless of the difficulties that arise. God willing, we won’t experience the same level of extremes in our stories that Joseph did, but our call to follow in the steps of Jesus through humility and love of others is still just as powerful a testimony.
Michael Benson is the communications director for the North American Baptist Conference.