Bible Stories are funny! I would have loved to have been there to watch as they actually happened.
I think the story of Zacchaeus is humorous, a dignified man hanging onto a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus. How about Jonah being vomited out of a large fish? (It doesn’t say whale in the Bible.) That would have been a great time to be hanging around the beach. What is proper first aid to a vomit victim? The one I really enjoy is Balaam’s talking donkey. Not only does the donkey talk, his argument and logic were better than Balaam’s. That story is not only funny, but it provides hope to all of us who purport to speak on God’s behalf. Even a donkey can be used!
Yet Bible stories are more than just stories. I’m afraid that years of Sunday School lessons have inoculated us from the reality that these were real people. They had hopes and dreams, fears and loved ones. These are not fairy tales but real accounts of God working in people’s lives and how they responded to Him.
The account of Joseph is one of the more compelling in scripture. It is a rags-to-riches, root for the underdog, the good guy wins in the end epic. There is high drama, danger, sex, revenge, violence and most of the other stuff we see on our TV screens each evening. Joseph has long been a hero because he stayed faithful to God in spite of all he went through. He is exalted in the end and in some ways is a type of Jesus the Messiah. Yet Joseph was clueless about what God was doing.
Joseph was faithful not so he could be number two in Egypt. He knew nothing of that. He was faithful because that is what God required and expected. Because he was faithful, God could bless him and promote him.
It is easy to miss the point for our lives. God wants us to be faithful. You won’t rule Egypt, probably not even your neighborhood organization, but you will be exalted in God’s eyes. As in Joseph’s story, there will be a time for each of us when everything is made known.
I bet Joseph’s brothers’ eyes bulged when they realized who he was. They probably strained to see, could it be him. They were happy, sad, afraid and relieved all at the same time. What they meant for harm, God used for good.
I would have loved to have seen that!