The Sign of Jonah: When Life is the Pits

So the question came up, “Why did you spend so much time last week talking about Star Wars?” The answer is four-fold:

● I thought it would be fun,


● by learning the form of the hero’s journey, you will learn a common pattern of how God operates in the Bible,


● by seeing other places where the hero’s journey appears, you will learn to see it in other stories, like Star Wars (You may come to decide that the hero’s journey is one of the things that makes a great story great.), and


● as a related matter, hopefully the next time you watch Star Wars, you will think of Jonah (and that’s not such a bad thing).


Read Genesis 37


You know the story: the hero receives a message, but when he shares the message with others, he is shunned. Others fear him; ultimately, they conspire to get rid of him. The conspirators put him away. If they have their way, nobody will ever see him again; certainly the person who loves the hero the most will never see him again, and maybe that love will go to somebody else. However, while in the pit, while in the dungeon, while contemplating his own death, the hero finds unexpected companions in unexpected places. Some of the companions seem heaven-sent; others seem a bit odd; all of them (in spite of themselves sometimes) work together to bring the hero out of the pit. The hero will begin to work his way up—but that is next week’s sermon.


I’m talking about The Count of Monte Cristo, of course. The Frenchman Edmond Dantès is given a message to deliver to a stranger. The letter is part of a political conspiracy involving Napoleon Bonaparte that implicates powerful people. It is far better for one man—Dantès—to disappear, they reason, than for those in power to be brought down. An admirer of Dantès’ fiancée forges a letter implicating Dantès. Dantès is arrested and ends up in the prison Chateau d’If, while the forger ends up with Dantès’ fiancée. Likewise, Joseph’s message—the dreams of brothers bowing to him—is an offense to his brothers. Joseph is the favorite of his father, Jacob; he has the fancy robe; apparently he does not have to tend the sheep as his brothers do. Jacob sends Joseph out to check on his brothers (bad idea—do his brothers need more reasons to hate him?) and they toss him in the pit. Perhaps they reason their father will love them more if Joseph is out of the picture. Usually the oldest has a special place in a father’s heart; however, Reuben had slept with his father’s concubine (Genesis 35:22). Perhaps Reuben sees saving Joseph as a way of ingratiating himself with Jacob. However, while Reuben is absent, Judah convinces the others to sell Joseph as a slave. Ironically, they scheme for him to be a slave in Egypt.


When God speaks to us, our normal reaction is excitement; surely everyone will want to hear what we have learned, right? The pattern in the Bible—from Noah, to Moses, Samuel, David, the OT prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, Stephen, and Paul—suggests otherwise. Evidently, the more one has to lose, the less one is likely to respond well to a call to, “Come and follow me!” Jesus even warns that it will be this way:


Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt. 5:11-12)


A bit of warning is in order: just because people insult you does not mean you are God’s prophet, and just because you are persecuted does not mean that you bear the message well! Joseph would do well not to flaunt his favored status with Dad. Joseph, put the fancy robe away; save it for special occasions. Take a turn in the fields with your brothers. Listen to them instead of making them listen to you. Be humble.


What about you? When have you ever felt that God communicated something special to you? What happened when you told others (if you told others)? Learn from the example of Joseph; learn to be humble, even if you think you are supposed to be the leader.


But back to The Count of Monte Cristo. Dantès is in solitary confinement—visited but one day a year by his tormentors. However, one day his world changes as a fellow prisoner tunnels into his cell. Abbot Faria is also a political prisoner. Over the remainder of Dantès’ 14 years in prison, the two work together to tunnel their way out. During that time, Faria takes the uneducated Dantès under his wing, teaching Dantès all that he knows: languages, mathematics, philosophy, science, and more. After Dantès escapes from prison, he is rescued by smugglers, traveling with them for a time until he reaches his destination. By comparison Joseph is “rescued” from the pit by slave traders, not smugglers, but curious traders they are. They also trade in spices, and during Joseph’s entire trip to Egypt, he is treated to the wonderful smells of exotic spices; what an odd and unexpected consolation that must have been! Although Joseph will end up in the Pharaoh’s dungeon, even there he meets unexpected companions: a warden, who gives Joseph free run of the prison; Pharaoh’s baker, who dies, fulfilling Joseph’s prophecy; Pharaoh’s cupbearer, who forgets Joseph for a time. All these companions are unwitting manifestations of a simple truth: the Lord is still with Joseph, blessing all that he does. The seeds for his eventual resurrection from the pit are present, but—like all seeds—they take time to grow.


God does not promise to deliver us from evil; rather, he promises to be with us through the evil. As much as we pray in the Lord’s prayer, “Deliver us from evil,” we would do better to remember Jesus’ promise, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20). In our suffering, God is there. In our waiting, God is there. Even in our doubt, God is there. The power of the gospel is that God has the power to transform the place we are and make it the launching pad for goodness—even though outwardly our circumstances are unchanged. We may still be sick, despised, persecuted, or trapped; nevertheless God is at work preparing us for the good to come. He is Abbot Faria in the prison teaching us what we will need to know later; he is the warden, giving us a chance to practice administration on a small scale in order that later we may administer an empire.


What about you? Have you given thanks for your circumstances? James 1:2-4 reminds us:


Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.


It is hard to embrace the trials, but apparently that is the way of the hero.


Faria and Dantès never complete their tunnel. Rather, Dantès escapes when Faria dies and the guards put him in a body bag prior to throwing him into the ocean. Dantès seizes an opportunity to assume Faria’s place in the bag and be cast into the ocean by unsuspecting guards. For Dantès, as for us, the way to life is through death; as he is thrown into the ocean, he is symbolically baptized. What sort of new life will he rise up to lead—a life of vengeance, or a life of grace? Joseph never returns to Canaan. God has something rather important in store for him. When the cupbearer finally remembers Joseph, the interpreter of dreams in the jail, Pharaoh summons him to interpret the king’s vexing dreams. God is in control—Joseph and Pharaoh both agree that God has used Joseph to deliver the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream. But now, given control of an empire and second only to Pharaoh in power, will Joseph use that power for vengeance or grace? We will find out next week.


In the meantime, be humble in your walk both with God and with all you meet; be humble throughout your trials; do not despair; look for God at work with unexpected help through unlikely people; in your humility, be ready to let go of your old self so God can raise you up to something new at just the right time. Be the hero.


Points to Ponder


You may wish to read Genesis 42-45 or watch The Count of Monte Cristo this week in preparation for next week.


How do the movies Shawshank Redemption and V for Vendetta (both of which refer to The Count of Monte Cristo, by the way) follow this same pattern?


Benediction


I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)