16th March 25

Rejection is painful – Robbie Williams and Elton John – both craved their dad's attention and both didn’t receive it, and this had a disastrous effect on their lives. There are many folks like them, who have faced the harsh and cruel pain of rejection. In fact, we have all faced it to a lesser or larger degree in our lives.

Do you remember school days, when two individuals had to pick who they thought they wanted on their team; what did it feel like to be picked last – rejected. Maybe you were always first picked, but I'm sure we've all had a fair share of feeling rejected at stages of life – work, relationships, family and the list goes on.

Fischy Music produces excellent songs for young children to support their emotional development and one of them deals with rejection.

Too young, too old, too weird, too slow

Everybody's saying

Too square, too small, too posh, too tall

Everybody's saying

Who do you listen to, cos after all I'm telling you

You are a star just the way you are

Rejection is a theme that runs throughout the Bible – and today in our gospel reading we meet with Jesus being rejected. We have been considering his discourse with the religious leader over the last few weeks, this conversation comes to an end today.

Jesus made big claims; he claimed that Abraham saw him before he was born! These claims antagonised the religious authorities. Who is he?

So much so that they picked up stones to stone him to death.

This is not the first time that Jesus ran into this sort of opposition, there were earlier occasions;  one was in Galilee, when he was invited to speak in the synagogue and everyone marvelled at the eloquence of his speech, until he said to them, “Today these words have been fulfilled in your presence”; Luke 4v21 - in other words, “I am here”!

They physically took him to the top of a hill and were prepared to throw him off it. He was rejected by his own community and his own people; they could not bear to hear what he had to say; a prophet is not welcome in his home town, he told them!

At the heart of Jesus' ministry was rejection and on this Second Sunday of Lent, we see another crucial element of his Lent journey.

We all know the story of Joseph, you would have heard it in Sunday school, you may even have been entertained by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's take on  Joseph and the Coat of Many Colours.

Joseph claimed that he had a dream, that his brothers and father would one day bow down before him. He was different from the rest. He was spiritual and his brothers knew this. Yes, the father gave him a special coat, but their jealousy was even deeper than this; they saw something in Joseph that they themselves did not have, and so they decided to get rid of him, and the same happened to Jesus.

As Joseph's coat of many colours was like a red rag to a bull, to his brothers, so Jesus' claims about his divinity were like a red rag to the religious leaders.

Joseph was brought up in a dysfunctional family, his father Jacob was himself once a cheat and swindler, his brothers were from mixed marriages, and he himself was the child of the beautiful Rachel, whom his father Jacob loved; but to get Rachel he married her sister Leah for seven years before marrying Rachel. Leah must have felt rejected.

Joseph was rejected by his brothers from an early age. Different mother, different values, different outlook to life. They knew that their father Jacob loved Joseph more than them, they also craved for Jacob's attention.

The brothers called him a dreamer, and it was because of his dreams that they rejected him further. His dreams were of a future time when the brothers would all bow down to him; 11 sheafs of corn bowing down to his, which was larger than theirs; 11 stars bowing down to the moon. Yes, his dreams were of them bowing down in this world and the stars represent something even greater in the world to come.

The differences were wide and became wider when Jacob his father clothed him with a spectacular coat of many colours.

Joseph was now a target and an easy target for the brothers to hit!

He was also known to them as a grass, as he would report them to their father. So, when they see him coming, they hatch a plan to get rid of this nuisance one and for all. In those days there were pits, that were deep and dark and shaped in such a way, if someone got into them, they would never get out by themselves; so they strip Joseph of his beautiful coat, smear it in animals blood and throw him down the pit to die.

We'll leave him there, and he will die, and that will be the end of him, they thought! We'll tell our father, that we found his coat, and when he sees the blood, he will also think that he has been ravaged by a wild animal!

Rejected by Men, accepted by God!

Because the whole point of the story of Joseph, is that God is silently at work in the life of Joseph and through Joseph, God was at work in the life of Israel, God's people.

The life of Joseph teaches us that God had a plan!

His plan was not rejection but acceptance.

Joseph's story is also Jesus' story.

Like Joseph, although man had rejected him, God had not, and God had a bigger plan for both of their lives; Joseph's life was to be sacrificed for the building of God's people Israel, and Jesus's life much later was sacrificed for the building of God's Kingdom, that he had brought on earth to begin.

For those of us who know our Bibles, we’ll know that the Old Testament speaks directly into the new; the Old Testament points to Christ and Joseph is a forerunner for Christ; it points to Jesus and tells us that a Saviour is coming and a way back in this first book of the Bible, Christians can read this story and see that Joseph is a Christlike figure.

As Joseph languished in the pit, a conversation was happening about him above the pit; How did Jospeh feel in the pit? he must have known that his life was ebbing away; no chance of escape, no water, no food; Simon and Garfunkel, once sang,  “Hello darkness my old friend I have to talk with you again” and this would not be the last time that Joseph would face darkness, as he would be imprisoned in Egypt for something that he never did.

Sound familiar?

Yes, of course, Jesus who hung on a cross as a criminal for sins that were not his, but ours and the sins of the world!  As the world was plunged into darkness at his death, he cried, “Father why have you forsaken me!”

But as Joseph lay in his darkness, suddenly a ray of hope entered his pit, a rope was lowered and the brothers pulled him up; they had received an offer from slave traders heading to Egypt and they were willing to buy Jospeh for a price – 20 pieces of silver – and take him to Egypt and sell him.

Sound familiar? Of course, Judas who sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

But the wonder in this amazing story of Joseph, is that the brothers are not controlling Joseph's fate. No! there is a much larger hand in all this; God is at work, and I haven’t got time this morning to share the whole story, fabulous, as it is;. But this story is not just a nice musical – it is a story about God bringing about his purpose, his salvation to the world; despite the power of darkness and evil God is in control and through Joseph, he will save the world from famine and through Joseph he will create a nation called Israel.

Skip a few chapters further on, Joseph by now had been imprisoned for a crime that he never committed, he was released by Pharoah for interpreting his dreams, and the explanation was that a great famine was coming on the land, and it would devastate the known world, but before the famine, there would be seven years of plenty and during these years they are to gather all the corn they can so that they can survive the famine.

Pharoah appointed Joseph as the Prime Minister of Egypt to administer this, and the famine brought his brothers begging at the door of Egypt and we have the brothers and his father in Egypt bowing before Jospeh;

They think Joseph is dead but quite the contrary, he has risen to the highest height in Egypt.

Sound familiar? Of course it is.

They thought that they had murdered Jesus on the Cross. But in reality, they were only working out God's plan, for God would resurrect Jesus to be the Lord of all, sitting at his right hand in glory.

So, the brothers beg for food at the feet of the prime minister of Egypt, just like the sheafs on the field and the stars in the sky they bow down.

Joseph breaks down in tears, and reveals who he is,  now the Prince of Egypt, God's mighty man at work, saving the world from famine.

Sound familiar? Of course it is.

Joseph has developed from the young man who was a dreamer, to be a wise man, who had a heart of grace and forgiveness and he said to the brothers, chapter 47 v3:

“I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. ⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no ploughing and reaping. ⁷But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. ⁹Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. ¹⁰You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. ¹¹I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise, you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’

It’s a wonderful story, full of the gospel, pointing to our Lord Jesus.

What does it say to us this morning?

Rejection for our faith is something that we should expect as a Christian. Jesus said blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jospeh and Jesus were both rejected for righteousness, doing God's will on Earth; it was part of God's plan; now Joseph could look back and say, if it had not happened then his family would have been destroyed by the famine; if it had not happened the people of God would have been wiped out forever. If Jesus was not rejected and abandoned on a cross, there would be no salvation, it would be the end of God's attempt to bring his people back into fellowship with him.

Jesus was able to lift his eyes upon his immediate circumstances, and see the big picture and the big picture was that God is in control, and that He has a plan that’s bigger than we can comprehend.

Jesus, on his journey to the Cross,  knew that his life was short,  and he knew that this was not his eternal home, but he knew that all the challenges that he was facing would not, or could not, separate him from the love of his Father.

Now that’s faith!

Three things may help us in times of trouble and persecution.

1. Remember who you are – now! – Look in – I believe that Jospeh never lost sight of his father's love, even in the pit and the dungeon. His faith remained strong. I believe that he did not forget his dream and that dream would have sustained him. Jesus never doubted who he was, in his baptism God told him, that he was his Son. In that relationship he was secure, even death could not separate from his Father.

What about you and me! Going through challenging times, times of darkness; where you might feel like Joseth in a pit, no escape, no hope. Remember who you are, if you are in Christ, you are his child, precious beloved child of God. He has a plan for your life, to prosper you and bless you.

2. Be conscious of your journey – Look out – remember that this life is but a journey, it is not the destination, no one is promised an easy ride and the Christian will face many more challenges than others, especially rejection.

All round the world today, Christians are being rejected, persecution is rife, imprisonment, even death, and these Christians are standing firm, for they know that this world is not their permanent home, but it’s a journey to that place which one day we will call home!

3. Have faith in what awaits you – Look up – There is a great reward awaiting you. Jesus said blessed are the persecuted for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

My task has always been as your minister and will increasingly be to the day I leave, to point you to a God who is greater and more powerful than we can ever understand, and a God who is in control and a God who promises that all things work to the good to those who trust in God and are called according to his purpose..

Our journeys may be at times as dark as Joseph's pit, or as lonely as Jesus's cross, we may feel rejected as we venture into the unknown, but it is only unknown to us, God sees the end as he does the beginning, and there will be times that we feel like Joseph, rejected and abandoned, but know this and underline this, God has not rejected you and God is with you on the journey of life.

One final point, when Joseph was appointed to be the Prince of Egypt by Pharoah, he was given a new name – a new title which meant saviour of the World.

Sounds familiar?

Of course it is, that’s the title given to our Lord Jesus, Saviour of the World.

Go forward this Lent and trust in him.