December 8, 2024 Every Knee Shall Bow | Genesis 37:1-11; Matthew 2:9-12; Philippians 2:6-11

Today we will reflect on Genesis 37:1-11; Matthew 2:9-12; and Philippians 2:6-11, Every Knew Shall Bow. Joseph has 2 dreams where his brothers will bow down to him. This is not received well by his brothers or his father. Joseph ends up in a pit, then a prison, but is exalted to a throne in Egypt where he is able to save his family. Joseph foreshadows Jesus, and we will explore the lordship of Jesus.

Transcript

Every Knee Shall Bow
Genesis 37:1-11; Matthew 2:9-12; Philippians 2:6-11
Joseph is Jacob’s favourite child, and it’s made very clear to his brothers. Jacob gives Joseph a special gift, an ornate robe. The Hebrew word used here points to a long robe that, when you wore it, you would find it very difficult to any kind of physical work, meaning that Joseph couldn’t do the physical, dirty jobs that youngest brothers normally had to do like herding sheep or spending time in the fields away from home. Jacob’s clearly showing everyone that he was grooming Joseph to take over the family business. This doesn’t go over well with the older brothers, especially Reuben the oldest who’s supposed to receive the family blessing. Then Joseph goes and brings his dad a bad report about his brothers, and doesn’t seem to realize how this turns them against him even more. 
This is the context in which Joseph has his two dreams, both of them building on each other, pointing to Joseph gaining power over his brother leading to them bowing down to him. The brothers easily interpret the dreams when Joseph shares his dreams with them. Joseph is young and foolish in sharing these dreams with them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” It’s not very surprising that they react with, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.” The sheaves are all equal, and then suddenly Joseph’s is made more important.
You’d think Joseph would sense the tension with their response, but then he has another dream and goes to them again, “Listen, I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” Joseph tells his father his dreams and even Jacob rebukes him, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers are more than angry now, but Jacob’s experience and wisdom makes him keep Joseph’s dreams in mind, waiting to see if these dreams are from God, or just the dreams of a young man who desires importance and power.
These dreams do fit in with Jacob’s desire for Joseph, to become the leader of the family, the one through whom God’s blessings would flow, even though Joseph’s not the eldest son. This is a story about power and humility. Joseph, as the younger son, has no power in his own right, but his dreams point to him being raised up into a place of power. His brothers refuse to accept that they will have to kneel before him. We’re living in a culture where kneeling before someone else is hard, it takes humility to acknowledge that someone else has power that we are called to put ourselves under. Kneeling puts us in a position of vulnerability where our head is bowed, our eyes are on the ground and we cannot defend ourselves, having to trust in the goodness of the person we’re kneeling to. We’re also a proud culture, believing we know better, we are better than others, even as we are told we’re all equal. But most of us don’t really believe that, so kneeling, bowing to someone grates against our sense of who we are. 
Jacob’s dream and history call us to listen carefully to Jospeh’s dreams; it looks like God is doing something behind the scenes to move the story of his relationship with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forward to be a blessing to the nations. Jacob’s spoiling of Joseph leads to Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph’s story then leads through a long and complicated journey into a place of importance in a household, but he ends up in prison because of a false charge by his master’s wife. In prison, Joseph again rises in importance and then becomes a dream interpreter for two other prisoners. His interpretation of their dreams later leads to him interpreting the dreams of Pharoah, who then raises Joseph to second-in-command to save the Egyptians, and then people from all over the world, from a devastating famine. This leads to Joseph saving his own family, including his brothers, and helps them settle into a place where they can grow in numbers and strength in safety and plenty. Because of the dreams of others, including Pharoah’s dreams, all from God, Joseph is raised up to a place of power and authority, fulfilling his own dreams. 
Through everything, Joseph trusts God and who God calls him to be as his follower, even when faced with temptation and persecution. When Joseph is raised up to a throne, Joseph uses his power to save, not only the Egyptians, but people from all nations who came seeking food during the long famine foretold in Pharoah’s dreams. When his brothers find themselves before Joseph, bowing before him, just like his dreams said would happen, rather than take revenge, Joseph offers forgiveness. Genesis 45:5 and 7, "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.... God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” 
Joseph points ahead to Jesus and how everything on earth and in heaven, everyone in heaven and on earth will bow down to Jesus. The Lord, through Joseph, saves his people and brings them to a place of flourishing in Goshen. Likewise, Jesus comes as Lord of all to save his people, offering us forgiveness and life. The wise men are led by a heavenly sign to bow down to Jesus, pointing to the nations of the world coming to bow down to Jesus at Jesus’ return to establish the kingdom of heaven over all creation. The wisemen not only kneel before this young king, they worship him. They acknowledge that Jesus has been sent by God, they think in terms of gods, but they recognize his authority is divine and greater than a simple earthly king. 
Bowing the knee to Jesus and acknowledging his lordship and authority over our lives doesn’t always bring a comfortable life. Jesus himself made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness, born to Mary in a stable. Joseph’s faithfulness to God through the troubles of his life points to the faithfulness of Jesus to his Father’s will which leads him to the cross where he takes our sin and punishment on himself in order to save us from Satan and death. “God exalts Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that us above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christi is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
We’re saved to play a role in God’s plan of redemption, to be a blessing by embodying God’s values and image in our world. This means bowing our knee to Jesus as our Lord and taking seriously his commands on how we shall live and who we should be. This means finding our identity in Jesus our Lord rather than how our culture identifies us, whether it’s through our sexuality, our wealth, or power, or from our gifts, or work. Jesus is divine, this calls for a whole new level of commitment and trust to live in obedience to Jesus’ commands. 
There will be many times when our culture and society will turn against us, as Joseph and Jesus both experienced. When we bow our knee to Jesus, we learn right from wrong, we turn from selfishness and pride to humility and obedience, we obey the call to be a blessing by bringing the good news of Jesus to all people calling them to repentance and life change, but it will be difficult at times. 
In Philippians 2, Paul calls us to obedience and to be shaped by God, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”  Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.” 
By bending the knee to Jesus and working out our salvation through responding to the call of Jesus, showing our salvation through making Jesus first in our lives, doing his will and acting according to his purposes over our own, trusting in Jesus’ will for our lives.