JOSEPH & THE COVENANT 2

At Luke 12:13-21, Jesus is asked to be an arbitrator between two brothers fighting over their inheritance. Jesus responds by telling them the Parable of the Rich Fool. A farmer, who Jesus points out is already rich, comes into an unexpected abundance of wealth. Instead of using this wealth to bless others, he chooses to store up his surplus for his own personal use. He decides that his wealth is enough for him to be able to live excessively for the rest of his life, so he stops laboring and begins to enjoy the abundant fruit of his labor. It is possible that this man thought that if he stored goods away, their value would appreciate over time and he would make a great deal of money down the road. If this story stops here, the man is simply proven to be self-centered and uncompassionate. However, Jesus introduces an ironic twist. He continues the story by revealing that God would require his soul that very night. Because of this, the man was also proven to be a fool because he was not a good steward of what God had blessed him with. He did not make provisions for his wealth to be passed on to anyone. After the man passed away, all that he had was of no use. He made all these plans for no reason at all. Jesus tells this parable in the middle of a bigger teaching. He is in the middle of an enormous crowd. Luke tells us that this crowd was so dense that people were stepping on one another. However, instead of turning to the crowd and teaching everyone, he turns to his disciples and simply teaches them a lesson on leadership and responsibility. He begins by telling them that to be effective leaders, they cannot get caught up in hypocrisy. They needed to practice what they preached. His second point is that leaders are accountable to God and God alone. Whenever a leader makes themselves accountable to other people, he will not stand firm in what he knows to be right and true. Paul was an extraordinary example of this (Gal 1:10). He did not allow his message to be corrupted by the influence of men. He did not care about making people happy, he only cared about pleasing the Father. Christs third point to his disciples is that an effective leader completely relies on God for provision and protection. After these points, a man yells out for Christ to be an arbiter between two brothers over an inheritance dispute. It is apparent that the only reason that this man came to Jesus was to try to get him to fix his problem. Luke does not bother revealing this mans entire situation, so we are left to speculate. It is possible that this man lost his job and was relying on his portion of the inheritance to sustain him until he was able to get another job. It is possible that he had a legitimate claim to his familys inheritance. It is also possible that he did not have a legitimate claim to it, since he was appealing to Christ, presumably after appealing through other more official channels. Whatever the case, Jesus uses this mans request as a teaching moment for his disciples. He uses it to reveal to his disciples that they were going to be put into a position of leadership and it was their responsibility to be a good steward of what they had been given. He was trying to tell his disciples that they were the rich farmer, who had unexpectedly received a great deal of wealth. Their abundant wealth was a wealth of knowledge about the Kingdom of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their responsibility would be to pass it on to others and bless others with it. It would be foolish of them to hold onto the teaching of Christ and not to pass it on. Jesus instructs them to not be greedy with their resources, to not hoard things for themselves, but to bless others with their abundance. Likewise, Joseph was put in a position of leadership and given an abundance of resources. He could have chosen to store up the abundant surplus that he gathered over the course of seven years and use it only for Egypt. But instead, he used what God had blessed him with to bless others. In fact, he was able to use his responsibility to bless an entire nation. The people of Israel were able to live in the fertile land of Egypt and live in that blessing for many years. The responsibility that God gives to his disciples is a responsibility to bless others. God can easily bless

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anyone he chooses to, but he makes the decision to use his disciples to carry out his blessings. For Joseph, his responsibility was to bless the world with his abundance of food. For Christs disciples, their responsibility was to bless the world with the gospel. In both situations, the fulfillment of the responsibility was a direct result of the fulfillment of the covenant relationship.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

Whether a business CEO, mother, pastor, or friend, we are all placed in some sort of leadership position. What type of leadership position has God placed you in? What responsibility has God given you in this leadership position? How was Joseph a good steward of his leadership? How have you been a good steward of the leadership that God has given you? How have you not been a good steward? How has your relationship affected your ability to fulfill your responsibility? How can you learn from the example of Josephs leadership?

WEEKLY READING GUIDE

Day Day Day Day Day 1 Gen 46 2 Gen 47 3 Gen 48 4 Gen 49 5 Gen 50

NOTES

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DEEPER STUDY SIX