“Oh, yeah, there was this guy in prison who can interpret
dreams.” When Pharaoh is troubled by his
dreams he calls out his magicians and wise men to interpret the dreams for him
and they are unable to do so. (In the
book of the Exodus we will see another Pharaoh call for his magicians to do
some things that they will be unable to do.)
Joseph has already said that the interpretation of dreams belongs to the
Lord, if you don’t know the Lord you won’t be able to accurately interpret
dreams. Now the cupbearer remembers
Joseph. Joseph’s life seems always to be
marked out by dreams, his own, his fellow prisoners, and now Pharaoh’s. Daniel, a man with a story similar to
Joseph’s, would follow a similar path to greatness.
Now Jesus compares Himself to David and makes Himself out to
be the Lord of the Sabbath. It is easy
to see why the religious leaders were suspicious of this man, He says the most
outrageous and possibly blasphemous things.
The problem was that He could also do the most amazing things, it was
hard to argue with Him. In the synagogue
He heals the man with a withered hand and knows before doing so that this is
going to be controversial so He uses the occasion to call them to think more deeply
about the Law. Mark tells us that Jesus
was grieved at their hardness of heart, they will not affirm that it would
ultimately not be a violation of Sabbath law to heal a man. The law is more important than the person and
this Jesus cannot abide. Ultimately He
will have to tell us that the greatest commandments are to do with love and all
else has to be interpreted then in light of that truth.
Paul says the right way to think about men like himself,
Cephas and Apollos was as servants and stewards of God’s mysteries. If a steward is found faithful he is doing no
more than what is rightfully expected of him and not due any honor (sounds like
Luke
17.7-10 doesn’t it?) We are all
stewards and faithfulness is what is expected of any of us. Jesus was found faithful in all that was
entrusted to Him and the same is expected of us. We are not responsible for outcomes we are
only responsible with what we do with what we have been given. Joseph was a man who was faithful in all
things throughout all his trials. He was
a faithful servant to all and trusted the Lord in all things. Paul says that is his only concern, to be
found faithful by the Lord. Is that your
primary concern as well?
Give ear to my prayer,
O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
But I call to You, O God,
and You, LORD will save me.
and You, LORD will save me.
I will cast mu burden
on the LORD,
and You will sustain me.
and You will sustain me.
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