Moralism versus God's Glory in the Story of Joseph

A few weeks ago, we did a new story in our Children's Church, learning about Jacob's favoritism of Joseph and then Joseph's brothers' actions that resulted in Joseph's enslavement (Genesis 37). Our large group time always ends with wondering questions that are meant to help the children enter into and experience that week's story. The wondering questions for this week focused some on the feelings of the characters--mainly the feelings of the brothers when Jacob favored Joseph and then Joseph's feelings when he was betrayed by his brothers.

The curriculum didn't really emphasize what actions were, "right" or "wrong" in the story. It didn't come out and say that Joseph's brothers sinned by selling Joseph off to traders. Or that Jacob sinned when he treated one of his children as more important than the rest. A few weeks later I had an interesting conversation with some volunteers who had a hard time not pointing out the blatant right and wrong in the story. I get this--as parents we want to make sure our kids know that mistreating your sibling is wrong. But is that really the point of this story? Is the point really that Joseph's brothers sinned? Or even that Jacob sinned? Or is the point that we all sin and yet God uses our meager efforts for His glory?

I'm often left feeling a little uncomfortable with our need to emphasize the morals in stories like this one of Joseph and his brothers. We want there to be right and wrong in our world. We want those following the rules to prosper and those going against them to suffer. We want our kids to know that good behavior will be rewarded and bad behavior punished. But we live in a fallen world. The truth is this might not always be the case.

Joseph's brothers essentially get away with selling their brother into slavery without major consequences. Sure, eventually there's the whole irony of them having to beg him for food, but they don't have any real, blatant punishment for their actions. And maybe that's part of the point. Being a true story, it reflects how things happen in our fallen world. People don't always get what they deserve. That doesn't mean that God was ok with their actions--but I am certain that God wasn't hindered by them.

I think that often, when we get stuck in right and wrong, we emphasize the wrong point to our children. The point of Joseph's enslavement isn't that his brothers did something bad. Anyone really entering the story automatically senses that the brothers did something bad. The point of the story isn't that you should be nice to your siblings. (Though you should!)

The point of the story is God's moving and working through broken people. The point is God using Joseph's rough circumstances to save an entire geographical area from famine. The point is that God uses us, even though we're broken, sinful people. God uses our actions for good, when we mean them for harm. The point is about God and his work--why do we make it about us?