September 30, 2012
Joseph
Reflective Passage: Genesis 37
The story of Joseph is one of my favourites. Its full of intrigue and danger, there's family dynamics, a femme fatale, a good guy who receives his just desserts, and a happy ending. In the context of the bible, it is a pretty good tale...a little too good. A little too neat and tidy - after all, in the bible, there is rarely a happy ending. So I went digging to find out more of the back story to this beloved story of mine.
As it turns out, scholars pretty much agree that the story of Joseph is just that - a story. Some say that it was written in the 5th century BCE, during the time that Israel was occupied and exiled to Babylon. Scholars say this because all the elements of a literary composition are there and none of its facts can be proven. It provides a segue in the chain of events between Abraham's journey into Canaan and Moses' deliverance of Abraham's descendants out of Egypt. Without the story of Joseph, there is no reasonable explanation in the bible for how the Hebrew people ended up in Egypt.
If you look at the story as one that was written during the time of occupation and exile, however, you begin to see it in a completely different way. I began to see metaphors showing up that would have sent a powerful message to people whose power had been completely stripped away.
Defeated by the Babylonian army, the Hebrew people had been marched 500 miles away. Those who were left behind were left nothing. The city of Jerusalem was razed to the ground, the temple - God's residence on earth - destroyed. In exile the people hear nothing from their prophets and leaders but recrimination, condemnation and defeat.
But among the people a tale is whispered...a story about a family of twelve brothers - could they represent the 12 tribes of Israel? - twelve brothers who have been bickering amongst themselves just like the weak and selfish leaders of Jerusalem. Twelve brothers who go through trial and tribulation, famine, starvation, who lose everything they have...but not quite. There is a saviour afoot. One of the twelve is handsome, brave and principled. He survives being sold into slavery and exile. Using his ingenuity, craftiness and spunk, he turns the tables on his circumstances and comes out on top. And everything is restored to its proper order.
The story of Joseph could very well have served as a underground railroad. A tale that brought hope and pride and perseverance to the captive peoples of Israel. As a freedom story it has far more value and is much more powerful than just an interesting historical account.
Many tales in the bible are comments on the political realities of the time hidden in story. Jesus spoke in parables, partly to hide his true meaning from those who would like to kill him. In his time, freedom of speech was not even a far off dream. Speaking out had dire consequences.
Sadly, over time, not much has changed. In 1941 Pete Seeger began writing protest songs. Songs that protested working conditions for miners and spoke out against the Roosevelt's peacetime draft. He wrote things like:
Now, as I think of our great land . . . / I know it ain't perfect, but it will be someday, / Just give us a little time. // This is the reason that I want to fight, / Not 'cause everything's perfect, or everything's right. / No, it's just the opposite: I'm fightin' because / I want a better America, and better laws, / And better homes, and jobs, and schools, / And no more Jim Crow, and no more rules like / "You can't ride on this train 'cause you're a Negro," / "You can't live here 'cause you're a Jew,"/ "You can't work here 'cause you're a union man."//
He wrote If I Had a Hammer, Turn, Turn, Turn based on Ecclesiastes 3, Where Have all the Flowers Gone? and he made popular We Shall Overcome and This Land is Your Land.
In the early 1950s he was an outspoken advocate for civil rights and one of the founders of the civil rights movement.
And in 1955 he was brought before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee under McCarthy and subsequently imprisoned because he refused to give the committee the names of his friends who had been members of the communist party before the reign of Stalin. After his release he was banned from public radio and television. The only job he could get was teaching school children how to play the banjo. For all intents and purposes he was in exile in his own land.
Now Pete Seeger is never one to take things lying down. He is a very very wise man. He taught those school children how to play the banjo, but he also taught them songs in which messages about oppression and hatred were hidden. He gave them a reason to think about how we treat each other. And those school children grew up and went to college, and when the Vietnam War came along, it was those school children who marched to Washington in protest, singing his freedom songs. It was those school children who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King. It was those school children who brought an end to segregation.
In 2009 Pete Seeger sang at the inaugural concert for Barrack Obama. He sang Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land. And he sang two verses that are rarely sung - verses that criticize government policy and corporate greed. In 2010, at the age of 92, he marched in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York. He lives as an example of how myth and metaphor can stir the hearts of people to bring about God's kingdom. How music and story can bring people hope. How the human spirit cannot be silenced. From exile, he raised up a generation of people who demanded to be heard.
In a way we are in exile too. The church, once an annoyingly strident voice for human rights in national policy making circles, has been thrown down the well in the hopes that it will be silenced and forgotten. "Stick to pastoral matters" we are told. Faith-based publications have recently come under the scrutiny of the Canada Revenue Service which has boldly threatened to revoke their charitable status should they publish material that criticizes government policy or political leaders. "Stick to pastoral matters" they are told. So, pastorally I say to you: Love God. Love your neighbour as yourself. When you see someone hungry, make sure they get fed. When you see someone who is sick, make sure they are cared for. When you see someone imprisoned, visit with them - don't forget them. This is what Jesus told us to do. This is what our savior told us to do. Lets Speak loudly against poverty, Lets Speak for health care. Lets Speak for justice. There's a funny thing about speaking from the bottom of a well...your voice is magnified. Even if we whisper we can be heard. Imagine what we can do if we shout...perhaps all things will be put into their proper order.
The title of Pete Seeger's Biography is the name of his favorite hymn: How Can I Keep From Singing. It is a song about not giving up. About singing even when one is in exile. It is a freedom song.
