Go, go, go Joseph

The story of Joseph is well-known, now to popular culture as well as Sunday School attendees, thanks to Donny Osmond. Poor Joe, the hard-working head servant, gets the shaft for falling afoul of the lady of the house. She of weak morals and strong will gets her hands on his toga - with a mind to more - and he flees in his skivvies. She's so insulted that she gets her jealous husband to dump him in the slammer.

Now, we generally jump ahead to the dream stuff, which is pretty cool. And it feels to us who know the story like this is how it's supposed to go. It's part of the plot - tragic, dramatic, unfair. An actor with some soul can even get the audience to shed tears with the chords of "Close Every Door To Me". But even as an actor in "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", I never stopped to think how the real Joseph must have felt. I mean, after the initial shock of his unceremonious imprisonment (which was about as much fun as a root canal), what was going through his mind...

"Um, God. Yeah, you there? I was beginning to wonder. So you're in control right? Because this is looking kinda sketchy. I thought you had this thing with rewarding man according to his deeds? I could have slept with the ho, even if she did have that gawdawful Sphinx eyeshadow all over her face. If I had, I'd still be the #1 servant, and I'd be getting favors from the missus to boot. This isn't exactly an incentive to be righteous, you know?

"I mean, isn't being sold into slavery enough - I learned my lesson! I've been humble and hardworking, and pure - to a fault, apparently. And don't try and tell me this is another object lesson, because I sure don't see anyone around me getting object lessons in slavery and life imprisonment! For real, God, you've gotta come up with a better benefits package, or I'm going start comparison shopping pretty soon. There's enough gods in Egypt to go around, and you aren't keeping up your end of this patronage racket very well! And I really hope you don't think family loyalty is gonna keep me coming back after what you let them do to me. There's only one word for this, God, and that's unjust. This is a travesty of heavenly justice. This is no good deed going unpunished. This is the righteous suffering while the wicked flourish!"

Eventually he came around to trust God; I don't know how long it took, but I'd be willing to bet it wasn't as quick or trite as Sunday School would have us believe. Eventually God as well brought things around, showing Joseph and history why he'd been sold into slavery and unjustly imprisoned. As Joe says to his brothers, "what you intended for evil, God used for good".

Would that I had that kind of faith and attitude.