Down Before Up (Part Two - A Personal Perspective)

Many Bible students see Joseph as a type of Christ, because there are so many parallels in their lives. A significant one being how they both experienced humiliation before exaltation. They both were rejected by their brothers and suffered at the hands of unrighteous men before God exalted them. The Old Testament prophets also saw this connection. (1 Peter 1:10-12). On the road to Emmaus, Jesus began with the first book of Moses -Genesis, where Joseph’s story takes up the most space- to show the disciples how all of scripture pointed to him, particularly how suffering comes before glory. (Luke 24:26,27). 

Down before up. 

There was a time in my past when the story of Joseph took on personal meaning. In Psalm 107:17, the Psalmist states that God sent Joseph to Egypt even though it was through the betrayal of his brothers. I have heard this specific sovereign act of God described this way: “The brother’s sinning was God’s sending.”  At a difficult point in our lives, we held on to the sovereignty of God believing that a rejection we experienced was really only God’s redirection. In that redirection we found, as Joseph did, that God helped us forget all our hardships and made us fruitful in the land of our affliction. (Gen. 41:51,52). 

Having been showered with God’s steadfast love, Joseph was able to forgive his brothers. Though he eventually had at his disposal the second fastest chariot of Egypt, Joseph did not go back to Canaan. He stayed where God had placed him faithfully performing the task God had given him and trusting God to work in the lives of his family. Twenty years after the fact, he was reconciled to his repentant brothers and able to share with them all the good that God had provided for them. 

Because of the story of Joseph, I carry with me a hope of reconciliation. 

But I am not as young as Joseph was when his brothers showed up in Egypt. And age is not the only circumstance that is different and makes the possibility of reconciliation less likely. In this fall’s study in the book of Philippians, I realized that the hope of reconciliation is something that I needed to forget about in my “straining forward to what lies ahead.” (Phil. 3:13). Because somewhere in the hope of reconciliation there also grew a desire to have a reputation restored. To have everything set straight. To be understood. To be vindicated. To be exalted. Do you see how unsuspectingly a good desire became a prideful one? 

And that is not the pattern of Jesus nor the mindset that Paul calls us to. We are called to look out for the interests of others. (2:3,4) To do what is more necessary on other’s accounts. (1:24,25). To be genuinely concerned for the welfare of others (2:20). To even risk our lives to serve others (2:30). 

God was asking me to take another step down. 

Paul said that there is nothing worth more than knowing Jesus. (3:8). Nothing. Not a reputation. Not reconciliation. And one of the ways we come to know him more is by sharing in his sufferings, “becoming like him in his death.” (3:10,11).

Did Jesus know what it was like to be misunderstood? Check.

Did Jesus know what it was like to be falsely accused? Check.

Did Jesus have close friends who continued to get it wrong? Check.

Jesus even left this earth without the full truth coming out!  He died. He was raised. The disciples believed he was both Lord and God. But still at his accession, they asked, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) The men Jesus loved till the end did not even get it at the end. 

But he knew they would. And for the joy set before him, he endured even this last humiliation. Leaving them without their having arrived at a complete understanding. 

Can I, will I, be willing to stop grasping at a selfish ambition (Phil. 2:3,8), forget what lies behind and cast my hope on what lies ahead?

Do I, as a citizen of heaven, treasure Christ above all else -including a hoped for reconciliation- and will I joyfully set my mind on imitating his example in a pursuit of humble service to others and a peaceful acceptance of suffering in the path of obedience, waiting for the day I will be raised like him into glory? 

Jesus is worth it. 

Give me grace, Lord. Complete what you have begun in me. May my love abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that I may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (1:6, 9-11).