Joseph - favorite?

Genesis 37:1-8  New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves.But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

A little something different today.  Tonight is the opening of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at my church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Lionville, PA.  We've got an amazing group of youth in our Troupe of ACTS performers who each year put on a musical production for the congregation and the community.  This year it is "Joseph.." so to celebrate it's opening this Friday the 13th, I think it might be fun to take a look at the story of the dreamer from Genesis.

I've always been partial to this story.  Maybe because I've always loved stories about family dramas.  This is good soap opera stuff here, Jacob favoring his one son over the others.  We know from Jacob himself that complicated things happen in scripture when one son is favored over another.

And Joseph himself.  I mean, really.  Here at the beginning, who can't feel sorry for the brothers?  Joseph isn't exactly initially endearing.  Who tells all their older brothers this type of dream?

So, I wonder.  When have I favored someone over someone else? I've been blessed with one child, so I've never had to wonder about that kind of favoritism.  But I've been both the recipient of favoritism and its opposite!  

And yet, what is most interesting to me about the favoritism in this story is that we know through Peter in the New Testament that "God shows no partiality,"  and yet we also see in scripture stories of those who are presented as favorites of God: Moses, David.

One of the reasons I love this story of Joseph so much is that while it starts as the story of a favored son, it becomes much more than that.  The favoritism is a jumping off point for a story of redemption for a whole family and vehicle where we will see God's grace work in a most unlikely place - a divided family!

God of family, help me to see my place in your kin-dom and know your enduring love, no matter how I might feel like sometimes in the place in my own family.  Amen.