Genesis 41:9-16; 25-44; St Luke 22:52-71
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Two years. That’s how long Joseph was in prison. Two years. That’s how long the chief cup bearer, having been returned to his position, had forgotten to put Joseph forward. Now he remembered because Pharaoh was once again troubled and angry. This new crisis caused him to reflect on a previous one. A young Hebrew was there in prison with us. He interpreted our dreams to us and as he interpreted to us, so it came about.
So it was with Peter as well. As our Lord Jesus had prophesied, so it came about. I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me (Lk 22:34). But like the cup bearer, Peter forgot. The Word of the Lord is expedient for a time, but is often neglected in the moments of the greatest necessity. Time and necessity, these are often our masters. And so, as Joseph is finally released from prison, our Lord Jesus Christ is taken into custody. Each one goes only according to the will of the Lord our God.
Pharaoh’s heart was suspended between hope and fear. He, nor his magicians, nor wise men, could conjecture whether the dreams portended peace or war, goodness or doom.
Perhaps you, dear Christian, are suffering the same disturbance. You cannot make sense of the information being blasted at you. You feel like you are living in a dream, some surreal circumstance unlike ever before.
In Egypt’s time of crisis our Lord raised up Joseph, this beggar, this pauper, from the dung and prison to make him sit with princes, as the Palmist sings (113:7-8). He bestows the gift of interpretation not on a nobleman in Pharaoh’s court, but to an exile, a condemned outcast. So does our Lord, who hides His ways from the wise and understanding, and reveals them to children, to babes, remind you tonight, as the disciples all flee as Jesus is taken captive: The hour is coming, indeed has come, Jesus says, when you will be scattered, each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (Jn 16:32-33).
Do not loose heart, dear Christians. Learn from Joseph. For while he was imprisoned, isolated, cut off, and neglected, he meditated on the Word of the Lord day and night. He invoked God with a fervent faith. For faith is not idle, especially when tested by trial and fire, but is exercised by the Word and by prayer (AE 7:143). This is how Joseph endured his various trials. Over twenty years of being away from his family, sold into slavery in a foreign land, falsely accused, imprisoned, raised up to high command. Through it all he did nothing without prayer to God, especially when called upon to interpret the king’s dream. It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.
So also with our Lord Jesus. His ministry is constantly punctuated with prayer. After He’s baptized (Lk 3:21). On the mountain after feeding the 5,000 (Mt 14:23). Before He preaches the Beatitudes (Lk 6:12). After healing the multitude at Peter’s mother-in-law’s house (Mk 1:35). Of course at Gethsemane. In fact, His bestowal and catechesis of the Our Father is in the context of His own prayer. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when He finished one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1). Thus does He command and teach, exhort and even give you the words to be fervent in prayer. To pray at all times and in all places. To intercede for the sick and the dying, for the government and those in authority, for the Church and her Ministers, for the needs of all. This is how you endure, dear Christians. Not panic, but prayer.
And fervently clinging to the Word of the Lord, even as Joseph did with Pharaoh’s dream. Yes, his dream was the Word of the Lord, even before Moses recorded it for us in Genesis. For God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. God announces this to him. This is prophecy. And Joseph, by God’s Spirit and grace, follows it with the interpretation which is also the Word of God, which alone is sure and certain.
Reason could not comprehend this. The magicians and wise men couldn’t figure it out. Just as today there are those who imagine that they understand Scripture when they twist and contort it, making it say something it doesn’t. Fanatics and enthusiasts who claim God has revealed new information to them. No! But after Joseph, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, by God’s grace, offers the proper interpretation - the seven good cows are seven years and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them will arise seven years of famine - then it appears to be so clear and plain that it seems that anyone could have understood it.
But both of these, the dream and its meaning, are the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit who alone illumines hearts and minds and who, in love and mercy, reveals His work and will. We will understand more of this later.
For now, though, Joseph, in setting forth the knowledge of the true God, the Maker of heaven and earth, he is raised up to be the bishop of all of Egypt. He instructed the king, the princes, the priests, the whole people. For he not only wisely interpreted the dream, in exceeding wisdom he also advised what should be done on account of it; how they should make use of the blessing the Lord is giving them so that they can be of service to their people and to their neighbors in the years of famine that are to follow. Luther boldly interprets that here “Pharaoh becomes a Christian; instructed in the Word of faith and true piety, just as other Gentiles were saved without circumcision” (AE 7:164).
Dear Christians, is it any different for us? Have we not, like Joseph, been blessed with the revelation of God’s Word and the clear and true explanation and proclamation of His will and work? Do we not have the abundance of His Gospel, the full and free forgiveness of sins in the blood of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Baptism, the Keys, prayer, and the Sacrament of the Altar? Are we not in a severe famine of the Word? When the people of God are destroyed by lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)?
To truly understand and believe this we must learn that the goodness, mercy, and power of God cannot be grasped by speculation, but can only be taught by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience. God hides Himself under the form of the worst devil. See how He dealt with Joseph those many years. See how He deals with His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. At that evil hour, under the power of darkness, He is seized and led away to a mock trial. His dearest followers deny and reject Him. He is beaten, blasphemed, tortured and crucified.
But the Father raised Him up. Not after two years, but after three days, for He could not forget His Son. Now, in Jesus Christ, a balm and healing in His holy wounds you find, every hour that you are feeling pains of body and of mind. Should some evil thought within tempt your treacherous heart to sin, He shows the peril and from sining keeps you from its first beginning (LSB 421:1).
Just endure and wait for the Lord, beloved. Hold fast. Be content with His Word, just as Joseph was. Isolated, alone, cut off, businesses closing, companies shutting down, schools locking up, you have the one thing that remains: the Word of the Lord endures forever.
“But how shall I be steadfast when there is so much trouble? What if I get sick? What if my family gets sick?” Cling to the Word and rejoice this way, “I am baptized. I believe in Christ, the Son of God. Come devil and death it does not matter. There will be no danger from plague, death, or hell, for the Lord sustains me with His hand as long as I have His Word. This is how I learn what the good and acceptable and perfect will of God is (Rom 12:2)” (AE 7:177) as St Paul writes to the Romans.
But what does he say immediately before? Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed, by the renewal of your mind (Rm 12:2). And how are you transformed and renewed in your mind? By daily drowning the old Adam with its sins and evil desires and daily arising and emerging in the new man to live before God in righteousness and purity. That is, through confession and mortification of your flesh. This is how it was for Joseph. First he was in prison before God liberated and exalted him.
So for you. It is as you sang in the first hymn, “Lord, to You I make confession; I have sinned and gone astray” (LSB 608:1). And as you prayed in the Introit psalm: How long, O Lord? Consider and answer me. Trust in His steadfast love. Rejoice with your whole heart in His salvation. For He deals bountifully with you. Come, bow the knee and receive the food of plenty. Not seven years, but the Food of Eternity, the Medicine of Immortality, the Eucharist of Christ’s own Body and Blood. Here is sustenance for your journey. Here is nourishment for your soul and body.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Two years. That’s how long Joseph was in prison. Two years. That’s how long the chief cup bearer, having been returned to his position, had forgotten to put Joseph forward. Now he remembered because Pharaoh was once again troubled and angry. This new crisis caused him to reflect on a previous one. A young Hebrew was there in prison with us. He interpreted our dreams to us and as he interpreted to us, so it came about.
So it was with Peter as well. As our Lord Jesus had prophesied, so it came about. I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me (Lk 22:34). But like the cup bearer, Peter forgot. The Word of the Lord is expedient for a time, but is often neglected in the moments of the greatest necessity. Time and necessity, these are often our masters. And so, as Joseph is finally released from prison, our Lord Jesus Christ is taken into custody. Each one goes only according to the will of the Lord our God.
Pharaoh’s heart was suspended between hope and fear. He, nor his magicians, nor wise men, could conjecture whether the dreams portended peace or war, goodness or doom.
Perhaps you, dear Christian, are suffering the same disturbance. You cannot make sense of the information being blasted at you. You feel like you are living in a dream, some surreal circumstance unlike ever before.
In Egypt’s time of crisis our Lord raised up Joseph, this beggar, this pauper, from the dung and prison to make him sit with princes, as the Palmist sings (113:7-8). He bestows the gift of interpretation not on a nobleman in Pharaoh’s court, but to an exile, a condemned outcast. So does our Lord, who hides His ways from the wise and understanding, and reveals them to children, to babes, remind you tonight, as the disciples all flee as Jesus is taken captive: The hour is coming, indeed has come, Jesus says, when you will be scattered, each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (Jn 16:32-33).
Do not loose heart, dear Christians. Learn from Joseph. For while he was imprisoned, isolated, cut off, and neglected, he meditated on the Word of the Lord day and night. He invoked God with a fervent faith. For faith is not idle, especially when tested by trial and fire, but is exercised by the Word and by prayer (AE 7:143). This is how Joseph endured his various trials. Over twenty years of being away from his family, sold into slavery in a foreign land, falsely accused, imprisoned, raised up to high command. Through it all he did nothing without prayer to God, especially when called upon to interpret the king’s dream. It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.
So also with our Lord Jesus. His ministry is constantly punctuated with prayer. After He’s baptized (Lk 3:21). On the mountain after feeding the 5,000 (Mt 14:23). Before He preaches the Beatitudes (Lk 6:12). After healing the multitude at Peter’s mother-in-law’s house (Mk 1:35). Of course at Gethsemane. In fact, His bestowal and catechesis of the Our Father is in the context of His own prayer. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when He finished one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1). Thus does He command and teach, exhort and even give you the words to be fervent in prayer. To pray at all times and in all places. To intercede for the sick and the dying, for the government and those in authority, for the Church and her Ministers, for the needs of all. This is how you endure, dear Christians. Not panic, but prayer.
And fervently clinging to the Word of the Lord, even as Joseph did with Pharaoh’s dream. Yes, his dream was the Word of the Lord, even before Moses recorded it for us in Genesis. For God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. God announces this to him. This is prophecy. And Joseph, by God’s Spirit and grace, follows it with the interpretation which is also the Word of God, which alone is sure and certain.
Reason could not comprehend this. The magicians and wise men couldn’t figure it out. Just as today there are those who imagine that they understand Scripture when they twist and contort it, making it say something it doesn’t. Fanatics and enthusiasts who claim God has revealed new information to them. No! But after Joseph, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, by God’s grace, offers the proper interpretation - the seven good cows are seven years and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them will arise seven years of famine - then it appears to be so clear and plain that it seems that anyone could have understood it.
But both of these, the dream and its meaning, are the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit who alone illumines hearts and minds and who, in love and mercy, reveals His work and will. We will understand more of this later.
For now, though, Joseph, in setting forth the knowledge of the true God, the Maker of heaven and earth, he is raised up to be the bishop of all of Egypt. He instructed the king, the princes, the priests, the whole people. For he not only wisely interpreted the dream, in exceeding wisdom he also advised what should be done on account of it; how they should make use of the blessing the Lord is giving them so that they can be of service to their people and to their neighbors in the years of famine that are to follow. Luther boldly interprets that here “Pharaoh becomes a Christian; instructed in the Word of faith and true piety, just as other Gentiles were saved without circumcision” (AE 7:164).
Dear Christians, is it any different for us? Have we not, like Joseph, been blessed with the revelation of God’s Word and the clear and true explanation and proclamation of His will and work? Do we not have the abundance of His Gospel, the full and free forgiveness of sins in the blood of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Baptism, the Keys, prayer, and the Sacrament of the Altar? Are we not in a severe famine of the Word? When the people of God are destroyed by lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)?
To truly understand and believe this we must learn that the goodness, mercy, and power of God cannot be grasped by speculation, but can only be taught by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience. God hides Himself under the form of the worst devil. See how He dealt with Joseph those many years. See how He deals with His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. At that evil hour, under the power of darkness, He is seized and led away to a mock trial. His dearest followers deny and reject Him. He is beaten, blasphemed, tortured and crucified.
But the Father raised Him up. Not after two years, but after three days, for He could not forget His Son. Now, in Jesus Christ, a balm and healing in His holy wounds you find, every hour that you are feeling pains of body and of mind. Should some evil thought within tempt your treacherous heart to sin, He shows the peril and from sining keeps you from its first beginning (LSB 421:1).
Just endure and wait for the Lord, beloved. Hold fast. Be content with His Word, just as Joseph was. Isolated, alone, cut off, businesses closing, companies shutting down, schools locking up, you have the one thing that remains: the Word of the Lord endures forever.
“But how shall I be steadfast when there is so much trouble? What if I get sick? What if my family gets sick?” Cling to the Word and rejoice this way, “I am baptized. I believe in Christ, the Son of God. Come devil and death it does not matter. There will be no danger from plague, death, or hell, for the Lord sustains me with His hand as long as I have His Word. This is how I learn what the good and acceptable and perfect will of God is (Rom 12:2)” (AE 7:177) as St Paul writes to the Romans.
But what does he say immediately before? Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed, by the renewal of your mind (Rm 12:2). And how are you transformed and renewed in your mind? By daily drowning the old Adam with its sins and evil desires and daily arising and emerging in the new man to live before God in righteousness and purity. That is, through confession and mortification of your flesh. This is how it was for Joseph. First he was in prison before God liberated and exalted him.
So for you. It is as you sang in the first hymn, “Lord, to You I make confession; I have sinned and gone astray” (LSB 608:1). And as you prayed in the Introit psalm: How long, O Lord? Consider and answer me. Trust in His steadfast love. Rejoice with your whole heart in His salvation. For He deals bountifully with you. Come, bow the knee and receive the food of plenty. Not seven years, but the Food of Eternity, the Medicine of Immortality, the Eucharist of Christ’s own Body and Blood. Here is sustenance for your journey. Here is nourishment for your soul and body.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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