Stripped

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, friends. [00:00:01] Speaker B: Hi. [00:00:02] Speaker A: I have a question for you. Are you ready for this? [00:00:07] Speaker B: Maybe. [00:00:08] Speaker A: I don't know. I. I think I know what. I think I know what the answer is going to be. Probably free. I know because I know I'm not the only one. Probably. For you and for our listeners, my question is, what article of clothing, when you get home, are you most excited to take off? [00:00:26] Speaker B: What can I say that's going to. [00:00:28] Speaker A: Be recorded for forever? [00:00:29] Speaker B: Okay. My socks and shoes. I do not like wearing socks and shoes. I love to go barefoot, which you can't do outside. So, like, the instant I step in my house, those socks and shoes go off. And then it's always an issue. Cause we just got puppies in the house. They take the socks that I've taken off and they like, will try to bite them and they'll like run around and I'm constantly losing my socks the last couple weeks. [00:00:50] Speaker A: Well, that actually, I mean, I. I know people were probably thinking I was gonna say one thing, but actually socks was the thing that I was gonna say because I think especially like, as a mom, my kids socks are everywhere. In fact, for a little while when they were younger, like, I knew that we were good friends with another family if we were having to like return each other's kids socks because it meant the kids had played and had a lot of fun and felt comfortable stripping their socks. [00:01:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:01:18] Speaker A: What about you, Ali? [00:01:18] Speaker C: You know, I. I have to disagree with you guys on that one. I don't like to go around barefoot. [00:01:23] Speaker A: Really? [00:01:24] Speaker C: No, I don't. [00:01:25] Speaker A: So what then? What? [00:01:26] Speaker B: So you don't get like all of the crumbs from the kids lunch stuck to the bottom of your feet very often then maybe that's just sitting at my house. [00:01:32] Speaker A: Her socks. If she wears a crumble, you don't feel it. [00:01:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I just now don't notice it anymore. I reach for my stretchy pants a lot. When I get home, I want to change immediately into some leggings. So that's probably mine. [00:01:49] Speaker A: Yep. Okay. Do you want to know what thing my husband picks on me for? Because for me, the kids like strip their socks completely off. But I go around the house and my toes are cold, so I will like roll my socks down so that they're covering the half of half of my foot and all around. You're an animal. [00:02:11] Speaker B: I'm in the picture. [00:02:11] Speaker A: I want to see this. I also sleep like that. [00:02:14] Speaker B: That is so funny. [00:02:16] Speaker A: There will be like, we'll change the sheets and there will be A collection of socks on the bed, half rolled. [00:02:20] Speaker B: Up socks at the bottom of the bed. [00:02:22] Speaker A: Okay. But here's the funny thing. I was at my parents house yesterday and my mom like walks out to greet us and she's doing the same thing. Yes. I have never seen her do that before. And I wonder if it's. Cause they just got a new house and they have hardwood floors and so she feels the cold floors. And so. But I had to just. My husband was laughing at both of us that we were concerned. [00:02:47] Speaker B: You need to get like those thigh highs for just socks and your feet to cut the socks off of the little grippy thing halfway through. [00:02:52] Speaker A: Well, you know, my experience with thigh highs, that's not gonna work. Well. Welcome to the Gospel Threads podcast, where we uncover gospel themes woven through all of scripture and explore what they mean for our lives today. So I had two thoughts about what we could call this episode. Okay. The first one, like, really gives away what we're talking about today. And that's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Have you guys ever seen. Have you seen that? [00:03:38] Speaker B: I had to play music from that in high school when I was a band. [00:03:41] Speaker A: Okay. Have you actually seen it? [00:03:42] Speaker B: We had it like at the end of the school year when you just watch movies all the time. We ended up watching it at the end of a band class. [00:03:47] Speaker A: Okay, but is it good? Is it biblically accurate? [00:03:50] Speaker B: That was a while ago that I. [00:03:52] Speaker A: Was in high school. [00:03:53] Speaker B: I don't remember. [00:03:55] Speaker C: I haven't seen it. And you haven't either. [00:03:56] Speaker A: No, I thought about, like watching it. [00:03:58] Speaker B: In television, but at least appropriate. Cause like, the school played it for us in band, but I don't. [00:04:05] Speaker A: So my other thought, because I thought that just gives away exactly what story we're talking about today. My other thought. And we'll see what gets decided what a producer decided, but was so stripped. So, yeah, we'll see what the editors decide to do with this. But in case it ends up being Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamco, I just want it on record that stripped was the other option because this story, I think, talks a lot about this. [00:04:34] Speaker C: Both are excellent choices. [00:04:35] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:04:36] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:04:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So last week we talked about the fall and the garden. There's a lot that has happened from the fall to where we're jumping in today with Joseph. Allie, would you mind sharing kind of a brief, brief summary? [00:04:48] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll do my best. [00:04:49] Speaker B: All of those chapters of the Bible. [00:04:51] Speaker C: Because that's like, what, 45 chapters or something that we're going to. Yeah. So people continue to grow and multiply. You have a lot of evil happening. And that's when God steps in and sends the flood. And we have Noah. And so it's kind of a restart. And we go from Noah all the way to Abraham. And God calls Abraham and says, I want you to be. I'm going to set you aside, you and your family, to be a special nation for me. And so he blesses Abraham, he makes a covenant with him. And so a couple generations pass and we have Joseph, who is Abraham's great grandson. And Joseph's story is pretty long, right? Where does it start in Genesis? [00:05:39] Speaker A: Like 37. [00:05:40] Speaker C: 37 all the way to 50. [00:05:43] Speaker A: Really? Yeah. [00:05:44] Speaker C: Um, so there's a lot there. A long story. Um, do you think you can summarize part of it for us, Cheyenne? Sure. [00:05:50] Speaker A: 37 to 50. That's easy. Joseph has a lot that happens with him. And it starts with him as probably like a teenager, as one of 12 sons. Um, Jacob is his dad, um, and he is the favorite. And he also has these dreams throughout his life or is a dream interpreter also when others have dreams and is able to like, really to. To sense God's, God's messages through dreams. He also is spoken of, like, really highly throughout his life of having God's favor and God's presence with him. He gets betrayed by his brother, sold into slavery. So instead of living with the family of Abraham, he ends up in Egypt and through a series of like, lots of injustice, false accusations, series of unfortunate events, series of unfortunate. I mean, there's like one thing after. Oh, that is a good one. Yeah, like one thing after another. You know, you think, oh, here's the hope. Hopeful. You know, here's. Here's. Hopefully it's getting better. And then it comes crashing down, which is kind of like. Have you ever read those books? [00:07:05] Speaker C: I have. Not all. [00:07:07] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. I had to give up on them because it is exactly like that, where you're like, oh, there's something hopeful. And then, no, never. [00:07:12] Speaker C: But the audience warns you in the. [00:07:14] Speaker A: Beginning of the book. [00:07:15] Speaker C: He's like, this isn't going to end well. So if you don't want a happy ending, don't read it. [00:07:18] Speaker A: So maybe you should. [00:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel like there's going to be a lot of parallels between that and what we're talking about today. [00:07:23] Speaker A: Yes and no. Because our, our story does have a happy ending. He gets. Ends up getting placed into Pharaoh's. Like, he's like second in line to Pharaoh. Second. Second to the throne. Well, he doesn't. [00:07:36] Speaker C: Second in command. [00:07:37] Speaker A: Second in command. That's a better way to say it. Thank you. Second in command to Pharaoh and ends up, like, making some really wise decisions that save many, many lives and then ending with his reunion with his family by God's grace and perfect plan. And so the verse that people always kind of know is what you intended for evil, the Lord intended for good, for the saving of many lives. And that's what we see in the story of Joseph. [00:08:07] Speaker B: So I think we can all think immediately of one piece of clothing in the Joseph story, right? [00:08:12] Speaker A: You mean the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? Is that what you're referring to? [00:08:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it was in Sunday school. The code of many colors, where they had, like, the flannel. The flannel graphs and you got to, like, put the. [00:08:19] Speaker A: Cool. [00:08:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:20] Speaker A: Yes. [00:08:21] Speaker B: So, okay, so we know that that piece of clothing. But actually there's probably a lot of clothing that is in there that we have not really picked up on. [00:08:28] Speaker A: There is a lot of clothing. So there's the coat, of course, but then there's even like multiple times, like three different times throughout the story of Joseph, which is, you know, chapter 37 through 50, people are tearing their clothes. And that was like a cultural thing to express grief and loss and just like kind of hopelessness, too. And so we see Reuben tears his clothes when his, like, plan to seem like he's rescuing Joseph doesn't work. He's like, oh, no, my father's gonna hate me. And so he tears his clothes. Jacob, who's Joseph's dad, tears his clothes when he sees the coat of many colors that looks like it's covered in blood. And it looks like probably Joseph was devoured by an animal. And then I have a pop quiz. [00:09:19] Speaker C: For you really quick. [00:09:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:20] Speaker C: Do you guys know the first time in the Bible where someone tears their clothes? Do you know what the first instance is of that? [00:09:27] Speaker A: No. So it must not be this, then. It must be someone right here. [00:09:30] Speaker B: I would say when they had to take the fig leaves off, they would have possibly torn that. But that's not. That would have been pretty easy to do. [00:09:37] Speaker A: What is it? I don't know. [00:09:38] Speaker C: No, it is the story. It's Ruben. [00:09:39] Speaker A: Oh, it is the story. It's ruined. Yeah. I was just wondering if you knew that. Oh, no, I did not know that. [00:09:43] Speaker C: I just learned that, so I wanted to. [00:09:44] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:09:45] Speaker C: I thought that was fun. [00:09:45] Speaker B: I failed. [00:09:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:46] Speaker C: Yeah. So, yeah, it's like two back to back times. Right. Like, Ruben does it and then. [00:09:51] Speaker A: Yeah, interesting. JK does it. [00:09:52] Speaker B: If you've ever seen something with great injustice being done or sin that's been committed. [00:09:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And then the brothers do it too, when they. It's kind of a complicated story to try to explain, even though I know people, it's a fairly familiar story. But when the brothers come to Egypt and they think that Joseph is going to be, like, real ticked off at them, they end up tearing their clothes then, too. So very expressive culture. Very expressive. Yeah. So you have that, but you also have clothing showing up. Like, when Joseph goes to Egypt, he ends up working for a man named Potiphar. So he's like. He ends up kind of like in Egypt, he ends up being like, second in command for Potiphar as one of Potiphar's servants. And it says. It uses the word garment a whole bunch of times. And it says that Potiphar's wife, while nobody's home, she's trying to seduce him and she grabs his garment and Joseph is like, so set on holiness and on. On choosing the right. What's right, that he, like, he, like, ducks out of his garment and she. He runs off, and so she's left, like, holding his garment. [00:11:01] Speaker C: And. [00:11:01] Speaker A: And so it's like both this symbol of his holiness, like, that he would not give in to sin, and also this. It becomes like a symbol of a way for her to unjustly accuse him because now she thinks she has evidence to point to. [00:11:21] Speaker B: He's got his clothes that he left behind. [00:11:23] Speaker C: Yes. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. And so it's kind of like this double. I don't know, dual. Dual thing where it's great, it's something to admire about Joseph. And then it's also this, like, really sad thing of, like. Oh, but it. It cost him, like, his. His commitment to holiness cost him something. [00:11:46] Speaker B: Right. Because he ends up being thrown in prison. [00:11:48] Speaker A: Yes. [00:11:49] Speaker B: Unjustly, because she has this garment that she now can say, well, look at his clothes. He tried to come after me. [00:11:56] Speaker A: And isn't that interesting? Because sometimes that's the case for us too, is like, sometimes we can be doing everything we can to be making those right decisions, to be taking the harder route and. And choosing holiness when we could. When we could easily choose sin. And sometimes it does cost us, like it did for Joseph. [00:12:18] Speaker C: But thankfully, the Bible says that during his time in prison, the Lord was with him. [00:12:22] Speaker A: Yes. [00:12:23] Speaker C: And he doesn't. His story doesn't end there. [00:12:25] Speaker A: No. What happens next? No. So he. He ends up in prison and he ends up becoming, like, second in command as a prison guard. Almost like he's. Yeah, he's a prisoner, but like leadership. [00:12:36] Speaker B: Skills really ingrained in him. [00:12:37] Speaker A: Absolutely. Like he just continues to gain favor is. Is the word that it talks about. And so he gains favor in the prison. He ends up meeting these two guys who were servants to Pharaoh. One who's the cup bearer and one who's the baker. And they both have dreams about their. About their future. And Joseph interprets their dreams for them. And one of them ends up being executed, but the other one ends up being returned to Pharaoh's. To Pharaoh's court and being able to serve Pharaoh. And Joseph says, hey, well, when. Because he knows. He knows the truth of the dream. When you return to Pharaoh's court, just remember. Just remember me. And he doesn't for a while. And then when he does remember Joseph, because Pharaoh has a dream, Pharaoh sends for Joseph to interpret his dream. Joseph interprets the dream. [00:13:29] Speaker B: And I think what's really interesting is I was reading the story through at that part and it specifically says that he was bathed and clothed before he's brought before Pharaoh. There's another clothing reference of something's going to happen. Here's a clothing change to help you be clean before you come and interpret this dream for Pharaoh. [00:13:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes. And it, and it is a change. Yeah, it does. It produces the final, kind of the final upswing to the story where we see Joseph being able to save many lives because of the famine that the Pharaoh's dream was foretelling. And that is actually what brings Joseph's family. It's the very thing that brings Joseph's family down to Egypt to seek food from Egypt. That Joseph had been the one to say, let's stir this up. So it's a, it's a beautiful story. [00:14:23] Speaker B: That'S so interesting as you're talking. This clothing that's being referenced is signifying different things. Right. Like at the beginning, it's signifying this great injustice done to Joseph. Of his coat of many colors is taken. It's dipped in blood. It's given to their father saying we killed him, but they didn't sold into slavery. And then you see this progression again of like, then the clothing that he has is righteousness, like what you were talking about. And then it's signifying that he, he's being brought up. Like it's, it's so interesting to see how God is using clothing to further the storyline. But also I wonder if it's a really tangible way for Joseph that he's going to remember look at what all God has done. Because I don't know about you guys, but I sometimes will, like, keep a journal of. These are things that God has done in my life that I want to remember. And I wonder if clothing like that is going to stick with Joseph and be like this tangible reminder of whenever he sees clothing or is brought back to this thing with even a texture or a feeling, if that's a way that he remember kind of what God has done for him. [00:15:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I wonder too, because when his brothers came to Egypt, like, sure, he had gone from being like a teenager to a man, but it wasn't. It wasn't just that reason that they didn't recognize him. They didn't recognize him because he was dressed like an Egyptian. You know, he would have probably been, like, shaved like an Egyptian. He would have had, I mean, just completely different clothing than what his brothers were wearing. And so they. It kind of. It concealed his identity for long enough that he could really seek the Lord for wisdom, for how to. How to reveal himself to his. To reveal his identity to his brothers in a way that was going to show them grace and show them love and also, you know, hold them a little bit accountable for their sin because they do realize that, like, hey, we are. We're in a mess. And it's because of what we did to our brother Joseph. [00:16:12] Speaker C: Yeah. And I love that that is what he ends up doing. He ends up showing them grace. When he finally reveals who he is to them, he sends them home to go get Jacob their dad, because he finally will get to see him again. And he sends clothes with them for their journey. He gives them all new clothes for his journey. And he just like these brothers who completely betrayed him and just put him through years of torment. He looked at them and he said, like, I'll provide for you. Just come back. Here are some clothes. And when you come back, I'm going to continue providing for you. [00:16:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:46] Speaker C: Just such a beautiful picture of the gospel. [00:16:51] Speaker B: Makes me think what we talked about in the garden, too. God did that with Adam and Eve. They had sinned. They knew that they had done wrong, and he still clothed them. [00:16:59] Speaker C: Yeah. What other ways do you guys see the gospel in this passage? [00:17:03] Speaker A: Well, I. Okay, can I. Can I take it a little bit? It's still Gospel. Gospel related, of course, but just something else that I do see. See in this passage with clothing is actually related to Jacob. So Jacob is. It says in 37, verse three through four, it says, now Israel, who is Jacob, loved Joseph more than any Other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age and he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brother saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. And so there's this element to this story that we just think of, like, Joseph and the robe, but it signifies favoritism. Not just favor, but favoritism. And so when Jacob receives his favorite son's robe back, I think that it is a way of God also stripping Jacob of this sin that he has committed of favoritism and taking. You know, sometimes when God is pruning our lives, he does. He strips away something that's really good for a time so that we can have. Have time to be pruned and to come to understand the consequences of that sin for his other sons and to be, like, corrected as well. So. [00:18:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I never thought about that before. I'm so glad you said that, because I always think. And now as a parent, I go, how can you have a favorite kid? [00:18:31] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:18:31] Speaker B: And so to think about the. That being returned to him bloodied and stripped and just shredded. Yeah, that would have been really hard for his dad. [00:18:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think Jacob, if you read. If you, like, read straight through the story, I mean, Jacob's feeling sorry for himself the entire time, which I don't blame him for. I don't know that he really. I think he was actually kind of despondent afterwards for quite a while, even up until he met Joseph again. But I think if you go all the way back to. I think it's 49, where Jacob, finally, he's reunited with Joseph. His whole family is together in. In Egypt, and he pronounces blessing on each one of his sons. And it just is like a. To see this. The beginning of Joseph's story with the favoritism and the end of Joseph's story, where actually he's pronouncing a blessing over Judah in a way that he doesn't pronounce it over anyone else. It's God changing his heart and stripping him of this favoritism so that he can have the right heart towards all of his children. [00:19:31] Speaker B: Man. It's so interesting with you saying that too, because I think initially we all want Jesus to come from the line of Joseph. Yeah, right. And he does it. He comes from Judah. And so to think about the favoritism of his father starting out with Joseph and then God, the heavenly father, saying, I love all my children, but there's a Special line here. And yeah, Jacob, it's not your favorite. It's somebody else. It's one of your other sons. That's so interesting, too. [00:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But I think, I think also, you know, Ali, you had asked about where else. Where do we see the gospel? And I think we see the Gospel in Joseph's story because Joseph isn't really, like, he's not pinpointed for any sin, and it doesn't mean that he's sinless at all, but he really is upheld as this, like, really high moral, moral man of God, even in spite of injustice. And that's what we see with Christ is this righteousness, this. This perfection. Even more than Joseph, of course, like holiness. And even though he. He empties this in Philippians 2, it talks about how Jesus emptied himself, like he took on the form of a servant to become like us. And so he put on regular clothing instead of his glorious robes of heaven so that he could walk this path of righteousness, denying it, even like Joseph did of like you can. The devil couldn't tempt him in any way to. To go away from the path of following what's true and what's. What's right. And yet knowing that that was what would eventually cause him to experience so much injustice and suffering on our behalf for the saving of many lives. Right. [00:21:20] Speaker B: And I think it's so interesting to even think about, like, the clothing parallels between Joseph and Jesus because Joseph was stripped of his garment and then it was bloodied and, you know, brought to their father saying, he's dead. Well, Jesus years later was stripped, died naked on the cross, was bloodied and buried. And so even that parallel of having clothes taken from them because Jesus's clothes were gambled away while he was dying on the cross. I just think that's such an interesting parallel between Joseph and Jesus too. [00:21:49] Speaker A: It is. [00:21:50] Speaker C: And both of them, that's not where their story ends. Right, Right. Jesus rising from the dead, and now he's clothed in his heavenly garments. Joseph is clothed as a ruler of Egypt and fine linens and in gold jewelry. It's just, I love Joseph. I love his story. Not in the way that Potiphar's wife loved Joseph, but I just. I know all of these Old Testament characters are supposed to show us how Jesus is better. Right. We see all of these, we call them the heroes of the Bible, and we see all these great things that God used them for, but they all have sin, they all have shortcomings. And it's supposed to show us, like, we have Somebody coming who's better than that. He's gonna be this and more. And Joseph is just, to me, one of the clearest representations of Jesus before he comes. And like you said, he still has sin. He is not as great as Jesus, but we can look at him and we can see so many similarities to Jesus. And it's just. It's so beautiful to see those connections. [00:22:58] Speaker A: Mm. [00:23:00] Speaker B: And I think, too, thinking about how Joseph gave clothes to his brothers who betrayed him. Well, our Heavenly Father talks about in Isaiah 61:10, that he's going to clothe us as his, you know, believers with garments of salvation. So we haven't deserved that, just like Joseph's brothers didn't deserve that. And yet God, in his goodness and mercy, clothed us just like Joseph didn't have to. But yet, you know, listen to God's prompting. Forgave his brothers and clothed his brothers too. [00:23:28] Speaker A: You know, we talk about information and transformation, and information is important. Like, I think it teaches us a lot about what Jesus is like and about injustice and stuff. But I think when it comes to then, like, what do we do with this? So the trans. Transformation. I think one of the strongest things that clothing, especially in this story, teaches us about is about stripping away sin and being willing to let God strip away our sin. And even thinking about, like, okay, maybe what things in my life are leading way to sin that need to be stripped out. Because I think, you know, bringing back the story with Jacob, like Jacob's version of this story is that he. He was stripped of his son for a time. And so being willing to address those things in our lives that we are worshiping, we're putting before God and to throw them off. [00:24:28] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:24:28] Speaker A: What about you guys? Is there anything. Anything else that you would add to it? [00:24:36] Speaker B: I think it's so interesting with you talking about what else do you put on? But it's also, you take off, but then what do you put on? And I think so often, like, for me, I just think about, you know, what sins do I need to get rid of? But I don't really ask the question, how can I add holiness into my heart, into my life? And so I guess I'm just really challenged by that of like the takeoff, but also the put on and to just really start praying, you know, God, take this sin away from me. Help me to then not crave the sin, but to turn my heart towards what you desire, to help me crave righteousness, not just to hate sin. And for me, I need to focus on that second half. Cause I Don't know about you guys, but even like our kids, we talk about, like, please forgive me of this sin, but I'm feeling convicted that we don't replace that then. And help me live a life of righteousness. [00:25:23] Speaker A: That goes so well too, with Joseph's story. Because, you know, not only did he put off sin and avoid sin, like, he could have just been ambivalent about his brother's coming. He could have just sent them away and not leaned in and like, invited back pain, honestly. Right. And sought reconciliation and grace with them. And so that's a great. That's a great tie in there, too. Ali, what about you? Do you have a takeaway? [00:25:50] Speaker C: Yeah, and it's a verse that you mentioned earlier. It's one of the most famous verses. Genesis 50:20, I think. And what. What you intended for evil, the Lord meant for good, that many people should be kept alive. And Joseph says this because Jacob has died, his dad has died, and his brothers are like, oh, no, Dad's not here to protect us anymore. What if Joseph gets mad at us. [00:26:15] Speaker A: For everything we did and wants to. [00:26:17] Speaker C: Get rid of us? And Joseph is like, no, no, I really want you here. I'm going to protect you and provide for you. And he's like, look at all the good that has come out of this thing that's happened to me. Like, yeah, I suffered for a long time. And yeah, things weren't always just to me. There was a lot of injustice. You mentioned that, too. But God has used it for something so good. And so for me, when I look at this story, it just reminds me to trust God's plan. We can only see the small piece. The small piece of it that we're in right now. We don't get the bigger picture of what God is doing in our lives and through our lives. And we don't even always get to see how God is using different situations in our lives for good. But we can trust that he does have a sovereign plan, even when things seem unfair. So for me, this story just is something I can keep looking back at when I don't understand why I'm going through whatever it is that I'm going through. I can trust in God's plan and know that he's going to provide for me the same way that Joseph provided for his brothers. [00:27:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's interesting because you can look at the story through different lens of the different characters. Right. And I think so often I'm tempted to align myself with Joseph. And there are certainly seasons in my life where I am sinned against. But there's also a lot, a lot of seasons where I'm the brothers that have sinned against somebody else. And so to sit and hear the words from Joseph of what you meant for evil, God planned for good. And then Joseph giving his brothers the forgiveness, like, I too, when I've sinned against somebody, I can go to them and apologize and then go to my heavenly Father and say, I have done this and be confident that there is forgiveness for me. That that sin that I've done has been covered and paid for by Jesus on the cross. And so I'm not sitting under that condemnation or just the penalty of that sin, but just the freeing this, the freeing that it gives me of knowing that it's been paid for and that I have forgiveness. So no matter who I am in this story, in any given moment, because I'm multiple people, I think there's always a place where we can come back to Jesus and just thank God for the goodness that he's given us. [00:28:30] Speaker A: I, I love that stuff. And just, you know, that's, that's like a Bible reading skill to have to not always align ourselves with the hero. [00:28:40] Speaker B: Which is so much more fun. [00:28:42] Speaker A: I know, I know. But to align ourselves with the villain in the story and. But like, how beautiful to see what happens to the villains in the story and to see it as a, I mean, like a parable foreshadowing of what Jesus, how Jesus treats us, who were his enemies at the time when he even died for us. [00:29:05] Speaker C: We're the ones that betrayed him. [00:29:07] Speaker B: And even Jesus is lying. Right. Like we said earlier, we want it to come through Joseph, but it doesn't. It comes through one of the sinful brothers. [00:29:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:13] Speaker B: And just God's goodness in that too. [00:29:15] Speaker A: Yeah. But that, like knowing. Knowing that we also can boldly approach the throne of grace to find help in time of need, help in time of our need of, like, injustice that we've suffered, but also help in time of need for overcoming our sin. And so I. Yeah, it's a, it's a beautiful story, start to finish, and teaches us so much about the main story, which is the story of the Gospel and of Jesus, but also just reminds us of, of where our stories fit into that too. [00:29:47] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:29:48] Speaker A: Allie, do you have. [00:29:49] Speaker C: I was just going to ask before we leave today, do you have. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Yes, I do. Thank you. Yes, thanks for setting me up there. I do have homework. Like, I would, I would just encourage listeners to spend some time in the quiet. I think that, that Joseph probably had a lot of quiet in his time in prison and in a lot of the in between times that maybe aren't even recorded in Scripture. But to spend some time in quiet just thinking about what they can put off, what they should put off, asking the Lord to reveal to them, like what is where. Am I showing favoritism? Am I putting something above God? What sin do I need to put off? And then also asking him, what do I need to put on? What ways do I need to not just avoid sin, but to walk in holiness and mimic some of these things that Joseph demonstrates for us of reconciliation, grace, forgiveness. I mean, two extremes that most of us aren't unwilling, are. Are unwilling to even consider. And then I'd love to leave people with a verse. [00:31:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:07] Speaker A: Are you ready for that? Yeah. Okay. So this verse comes from Hebrews 12:1 through 2. And it goes along with this stripped idea. So it says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.