Joseph is a great illustration of what happens in a human life when God’s hand is in it. And what a life it is, as we can attest to, but looking back at our lives and Joseph’s life – and Jesus’ human life too – what do we see?
A pattern emerges. Joseph, for instance, was loved. His father Jacob loved him “more than any of his other sons,” Genesis 37:3 – because at last, in Jacob’s old age, the wife Jacob loved most had given birth to their first son together. It’s not surprising, then, that Jacob loved Joseph and showed his love too, by giving him a special robe. As a young man of 17, then, Joseph was heading out into life knowing he was loved.
God the Father did the same for his son too. In Matthew 3:17 “a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” So Jesus was off and running knowing he was loved too.
Jesus did the same for his disciples. When he “knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father….he now showed them the full extent of his love,” John 13:1. Which he then expressed all through that chapter, and chapters 14 through 17 too. They got a full dose of his love to fill up their tanks – just like the Father did for Jesus – in readiness for the tough ministry they were about to enter as well.
Which again was like Joseph, because he too had no idea what life he was about to enter into, and how tough it would be. Imagine having brothers who hated him so much they wanted to kill him (Genesis 37:11-18). Jesus was in for the same life too, his own people wanting him dead. But he knew his Father loved him (John 3:35), and what that did for him. So he wanted his disciples to know that love too, promising in John 14:21 that he would show his love through the Spirit living with and in them (17).
He also prayed for all his future disciples, “that the love you, Father, have for me may be in them and that I myself (my love) may be in them,” John 17:26. So as we go through this life and whatever happens, we’ll know we’re loved too.
Which takes us back to Israel in the Old Testament, because the reason God chose them was simply because “the Lord loved you,” Deuteronomy 7:7-8. He promised he’d always love them too (9). Imagine knowing that as they started out, that they were loved that much. So God has Israel, Joseph, Jesus, and now us too – all knowing we’re deeply loved. Which sounds wonderful, but “Why does God love us so much?”….(next blog)
