Jealousy That Both Condemns and Saves

Genesis 37

So I'll focus on the jealousy of the brothers towards Joseph and how that translates to us:
1. Why do we get jealous? Or rather why was Jacob's brothers jealous of him? They were jealous because of Jacob's dream. Initially, their hatred stemmed from their inability to perform work correctly and dutifully (verse 2). But the source of their hatred came from verse 5-8, where they were described as "bowing down". In other words, they were humbled by Jacob's blamelessness in the eyes of both Jacob and God, and they were not willing to admit it because they know in their hearts they were not blameless.

This principle holds true for us as well, that we get jealous because in our minds we get ourselves to believe that because someone else has something we don't have or someone is capable of doing something we can't do we are inadequate. In fact, we don't even focus on the real reason why we're inadequate (in the story, it's the failure to perform duties correctly that was what made the brothers inadequate). We come up with every reason to avoid our own faults and blame them on whoever it was that made us inadequate which was God.

2. And so how do the brothers respond? First to support the first point, the brothers called Joseph "dreamer" in both the NIV and ESV. They were probably referring to Joseph's dreams, emphasizing the fantasy wish-dream Joseph was probably perpetrating. They want to crush any possibility of ever having to humble themselves before Joseph. And so their response to that jealousy is to remove the sign that Joseph is favored by destroying his robe, humiliating him by throwing him in the cistern, and selling him to foreigners. In other words, they looked to bring Joseph down to their level, or even below theirs to the status of a slave. It's interesting to note that at Joseph's "funeral" Jacob seems to be the only one devastated.

3. How does this apply to us? Look at the cross and realize exactly what was done to Jesus. The pharisees had one solid accusation against Jesus: that he claimed Himself to be the Son of God. Jealousy for God's favor is what might have moved the pharisees to eliminate Jesus, regardless of the fulfillment of Scripture and the signs Jesus performed. And to think that it was also our sins, our own hatred for such righteousness that pinned him on the cross, the same acts that we don't think is fair for God to judge against us that stripped Jesus of his garments, that humiliated Him through a prisoner's punishment, and ultimately brought him to a prisoner's death.

And if we look at all of this, we realize that it is through this God works. In Joseph's humiliation and slavery, God uses Joseph to save Egypt and the family of Israel. And if you go down a few more generations, by saving Israel God was able to fulfill the promise of a risen savior through Judah. Why should we be jealous? Jesus was so righteous that He took the punishment that we deserved while we benefited with His kingdom.

Note: I think in terms of mini-sermons and I like to pull out the consistency of Scripture from Genesis to the Gospels. ^____^"