PARENTAL WARNING: If
this were a movie, it would probably be rated PG. If you do have younger kids
reading this, please read it first for yourself and decide if your child can
handle it.
It finally came! After months of begging her parents for it,
Maya finally held in her hands what she’d been waiting for for what felt like
forever. She held it out proudly in front of her and gave it a spin! And as the
world flickered in-between her new Fidget-Spinner’s bright red arms, all she
could think was, Finally!
Sure, Fidget Spinners have been out for a while, but Maya
finally had one of her own. It might not make her the coolest kid at camp, but
at least she could spin along with all her other friends. They’d probably even
congratulate her for having one now too!
Maya jumped off the bus and ran over to her friends. Her
hand was already in her pocket, ready to show off her new prize, when she
noticed everybody was crowded around Meghan. Maya came closer, giddy with excitement,
but her faced dropped when she saw what Meghan was holding.
Meghan’s new Fidget-Spinner was the coolest thing Maya had
ever seen. It had this super cool paint splatter pattern that made all the
colours merge together in an amazing rainbow of awesome as it spun. Everybody
was “ooohh-ing” and “awe-ing.”
Maya knew she couldn’t compete, even though Meghan already
had five Fidget-Spinners. Maya’s was boring compared to Meghan’s. Nobody would
care that Maya had been waiting for this for months. So all day long, Maya kept
shooting Meghan dirty looks and sticking her tongue out at Meghan when she
wasn’t looking.
But at lunch time that day, Maya found the perfect moment of
revenge. Meghan and her friends had gone up to put away their trays, and Maya
saw that Meghan had left her paint splatter Fidget-Spinner on the table. Nobody
was there, and nobody was watching. Without thinking, she walked past the table
and grabbed Meghan’s Fidget-Spinner. Serves
her right for stealing all my attention, Maya though. The only time she looked back was when she heard Meghan start
freaking out that she’d lost something. Maya simply smiled and kept walking.
________________________
Jealousy. Jealousy’s not a pretty thing. It was jealousy
that made Maya angry that Meghan was getting all the attention instead of her,
and it was jealousy that made Maya steal Meghan’s Fidget-Spinner when Meghan
wasn’t looking.
Jealousy is that mean and kind of angry feeling we get when
we want something that someone else has or when we think they’ve taken
something from us that we deserve. But this doesn’t just have to be about
stuff. We can be jealous that someone got a better mark than us on a test. Or,
like in today’s Bible story, we can be jealous when one person gets all the
attention instead of us. That was what Joseph’s brothers were so jealous about.
They couldn’t stand it that their dad loved Joseph more, paid more attention to
Joseph, and gave Joseph all kinds of special gifts.
And like Maya, they decided to do something about it. And
this something was something that God was not too happy about. But I think it’s
best we hear the story from one of the brother’s perspectives. So let’s listen
in to hear what Judah has to say about the day he and his brothers let jealousy
get the best of them. But let me warn you – this story can get pretty intense.
________________________
Joseph… Even now, I still can’t stand hearing his name. For
years I’d seen our dad treat Joseph like he was this king, this champion, like
Joseph was the greatest son that ever lived. Do you know how awful that felt? All
we wanted was some attention! And, let me tell you, we got our dad’s attention
alright.
We were out taking care of our dad’s sheep. They had eaten
up all the good grass at Shechem, so we moved the flock over to some fields
near Dothan. We were enjoying a pleasant day with the sheep, no annoying little
brothers around to ruin our fun, when all of a sudden Levi says he sees someone
walking towards us.
Simeon sat up on a rock and squinted, looking off in the
distance at the stranger. “Oh no!” he said.
“What?” Zebulun asked.
“That guy over there…” Simeon replied, “Guess what he’s
wearing?”
“You’re kidding me!” I said, sitting up to get a good look.
“That’s right!” Simeon said, standing up and starting to
sway around like a fancy man. “It’s the king of the world! Mr. Coat of Many
Colours Himself. We better get ready to bow down because dad’s sent that
dreamer brother of ours to check in on us!
Issachar spat on the ground. “Can’t we go one day without
having to be reminded about Mr. Perfect?”
“Are you kidding?” Zebulun said, “Dad would never allow
that! He’s gotta rub it in our faces that he likes Joseph better than us.”
“What I wouldn’t give if Joseph wasn’t home tonight,” Dan
said. “Even if just for one lousy night!”
“Forget one night…” Simeon said quietly. “What if Joseph
never came back at all?”
“Yeah, if only,” I laughed. A few of my brothers laughed too.
But Simeon wasn’t laughing. He looked deadly
serious.
“There’s an empty well not too far from here,” Simeon
continued. “We could throw him in! Tell dad that some wild animals ate his
precious son.”
“Yeah!” Dan said, starting to smile. “Then we’ll see whether
his dreams will come true!” (Genesis 37:20, NIrV).
I could tell Reuben wasn’t too comfortable with this. And
honestly, I wasn’t 100% sure I was either. Wanting to have a break from Joseph
was one thing, but killing him? But I was still trying to make up my mind when
Reuben said:
“Slow down there, guys… This is our brother we’re talking about.
Don’t get me wrong, Joseph drives me just as crazy as he drives all of you. I’m
all for throwing him into the well for a few hours to teach him a lesson, but
let’s not actually harm him!”
A few of the guys nodded, and eventually, we all agreed. We
wouldn’t kill him. Yet.
We moved the flock closer to the empty well. Joseph came
over. He was pretty tired, and he looked a little surprised when none of us
offered him any water, but he didn’t say anything. After a minute or so, we
told him to go get a drink from the well before he passed out from all the
heat. Joseph smiled at that. Little guy didn’t even know what was coming.
He leaned over the well to get some of the water. But before
he could say anything, Naphtali and Simeon ran over, picked him up, and tossed
him in. The well wasn’t too deep, so the fall didn’t hurt him too much, but it
was deep enough that Joseph couldn’t get out on his own.
Joseph wasn’t happy. He yelled at us quite a bit for the
first few minutes. We ignored him. I think I heard him crying for a little bit.
Reuben went off to check on some of the farther off sheep, and we had just sat
down to eat when Joseph started calling out to us again.
“Come on, guys! This isn’t funny anymore! (Not that it ever
was…). Help me out of here!”
“Can’t do that Joseph!” Simeon called back, snickering. “No
rope! Guess you’ll have to stay in there for the night until we can get you out
tomorrow!”
“What!?!” Joseph cried, his voice squeaking! “You can’t do
that! I could die out here!”
“A chance we’ll have to take,” Zebulun said, rolling his
eyes.
“But what’ll dad think if I don’t come back with you?”
Joseph asked, starting to sound desperate. “He’ll be worried sick! I can’t
imagine what’ll happen to dad if I don’t come back!”
With that, I lost it. “No, of course not!” I screamed, as I
walked over to the edge of the well. “How could dad ever survive if his
precious Joseph doesn’t come back to him? Any of us gets lost and dad wouldn’t
care too much, but if Joseph doesn’t
come back…”
“Th-That’s not what I meant,” Joseph’s said, swallowing.
“But that’s just it, Joe. It doesn’t really matter what you
meant. None of us will ever measure up in dad’s eyes as long as you’re around…”
That’s when I saw the wagons in the distance. “Might just have to fix that,” I
said quietly.
I’m pretty sure Joseph started yelling a bunch of stuff
after that, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I had had it with Joseph. I
didn’t want to kill him, but I didn’t want him coming home with us either. Not
tonight and not ever.
“I’ve been thinking, guys,” I said as I walked over to my
brothers. “Reuben’s right. What will we gain if we kill our brother and try to
cover up what we’ve done? Come. Let’s sell him to these traders. Let’s not harm
him ourselves. After all, he is our
brother. He’s our own flesh and blood” (Genesis 37:26-27).
Most of them cracked a smile at this one. We all agreed, so
Simeon, Zebulun and I went over to the wagons. They were led by some Ishmaelite
traders from a few regions over. They were on a trip down to Egypt to deliver
some goods.
The whole exchange didn’t take long. They gave us some
silver, and we told them they could fish our brother out of the well. I’ll
never forget the look on his face when he got out of there. He looked at us
angrily, thinking all we’d done was play a practical joke, but that anger turned
to terror as he realized what was really happening. He was never going home
again.
“Oh, one last thing,” I said, just before the traders loaded
Joseph onto the wagon. “We keep the coat!” I heard one of the traders grumble,
but I just laughed as I threw Joseph’s coat over my own.
The wagons were long out of sight when Reuben came back. He
looked confused, probably surprised that Joseph wasn’t yelling anymore. But
when he looked over the edge and saw that the well was totally empty, Reuben
lost it. He tore his clothes, showing just how angry he was, and yelled at us,
“He’s gone!?! Now what?”
We stuck with the rest of our plan. We found an old goat,
killed it, and dipped Joseph’s fancy coat in the blood. Then we brought it
home. It’s funny – I figured we’d be laughing the whole way home, celebrating
that Joseph was gone for good. But we didn’t talk much. And nobody really
wanted to look anyone in the eye. I’m not sure if we were all embarrassed,
ashamed, or something else.
We got home and showed dad the coat. We told him we found it
on our way home and that Joseph had been eaten by an animal. Dad… didn’t take
it well. We knew dad would be upset, but I don’t think any of us expected this.
Dad was miserable, and he hasn’t really recovered since.
I said at the beginning I couldn’t stand hearing Joseph’s
name. You probably thought it was because I was angry. That’s not it… I hate
hearing Joseph’s name because it reminds me of what we did. Of what our
jealousy did. No, dad wasn’t right to favour Joseph over us, but we had no
right to throw our brother in a pit and sell him like a slave.
I don’t know if I’ll ever see Joseph again. I don’t even
know if he’s still alive. But I’ll tell you this much: I regret that decision
every day. And honestly, I don’t know what to do about it…
________________________
Jealousy can be a terrible thing. When we’re jealous, we
might not react as extremely as Joseph’s brothers did, but we can sometimes be
a little like Maya, can’t we? We’re angry that someone else is getting all the
attention or has something we want, and it makes us want to try to take that
away. And we might even be willing to break God’s rules and hurt someone to do
it.
And really, that’s what our focus is for today: We don’t live God’s way when we are
jealous. God’s way never involves stealing or killing or being mean to
people. God wants us to be kind to others and to forgive others, even when it
seems impossible. You know why? Because even though we’ve ignored God and have
broken all kinds of rules, God still wants to forgive us – to wipe away all those bad things we’ve ever done and have a
relationship with Him again. Because that’s what jealousy stops, guys – it
stops us from having a strong and happy relationship with people.
So don’t end up like Maya or Joseph’s brothers. Don’t let
jealousy keep you from living God’s way. Instead, look to God for help when
you’re frustrated with someone or jealous of them. Having God in our lives is
better than anything else out there. He can calm that jealousy and help us love
others, even when it seems impossible.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, this story will eventually
have a happy ending. Things are going to get worse for Joseph before they get
better, but we’ll see over the next few weeks that things really do get better
between Joseph and his brothers. But you’ll have to wait a couple weeks yet
before we start to see that.
~Brentagious
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