The life of Joseph has many lessons on how to conduct yourself in the face of injustice. For those who don’t know the story, Joseph begins life as the favored child of his father then, around 17 years old, he is sold by his brothers into slavery. By the time Joseph is 30 years old he has been sold to a government official named Potiphar, thrown into prison on false charges and left to rot. While his dreams are deferred and his bright, youthful vision dies, you can see the fruits of the Spirit in Joseph – peace, patience, faithfulness and self-control.
Joseph teaches long and hard on the fruits of the spirit but what I long for on Sunday is a hard message about my Christian life today, a message about applying God’s word to Christian life as a minority in America. So, I appreciate the story of Daniel serving Babylonian kings and I still question why the Religious Right chooses to side with immoral leaders. I appreciate the story of how Jacob became wealthy working for his father in law and I still question if hard work is enough to overcome the obstacles standing between me and the American dream.
Last Sunday, I appreciated the story of Joseph and the fruits of the spirit he demonstrated during his passage from prison to the palace. But mostly I wondered how the story relates to the plight of young Black men today. Like Joseph, they are the fruit of ancestors who hailed from Africa, once the favored sons of their fathers until they were sold into slavery, sold to America and where many now sit in prison via a corrupt (or capitalist) system of mass incarceration. Instead of the fruits of the Spirit, I wonder about the Black Lives Matter movement and imagine what will happen to the people who follow Joseph’s example in 2020.
But Do Black Lives Matter to Christians?
The spiritual leaders I watch on television don’t say much about the Black Lives Matter movement. Their silence makes me wonder if they are scared of taking sides. Or taking a stand. Maybe only Colorless Christian Lives matter and anyone who is Black-first doesn’t deserve… Well, I won’t finish that comment because I don’t know what those spiritual leaders are thinking. I just know what they’re not preaching. And their silence speaks volumes.
The sanitized spirituality spewed through television and over pulpits leave me wondering what Joseph would have done if he were a young black teenager in 2020. Based on the messages I have heard, all problems experienced by minorities, would be solved by doing what Joseph did:
- Practice peace.
- Exercise patience.
- Walk in faithfulness.
- Practice self-control.
So, I guess if Joseph was a young teenager imprisoned on Rikers Island for three years without a trial, he would have just endured. Instead of screaming or yelling or protesting, Joseph would have remained steadfast in his faith until the guards recognized his talents and the Governor of New York approved his release or participation in a prisoner work-study program.
That doesn’t seem right to me. Because, in 2015, Kalief Browder killed himself. He was a teenager, imprisoned for three years on Rikers Island without a trial and, after his eventual release, he couldn’t go on. Neither could Sandra Bland who never even made it out of prison after her police encounter. I wonder what our spiritual leaders would say about these situations and their relation to the fruits of the spirit. If they spoke about such things.
Joseph endured prison, was elevated to the palace and died at 110 years old after forgiving his family and using his influence to bring them into the splendor of Egypt. The Bible messages tend to end there though, with a nod to the power of forgiveness and the rewards of long-suffering. It’s just a shame that after Joseph died, his people, the Israelites, became the unpaid, nonunion workers for the Egyptians over the next 400 years. Yet I’ve never heard a message blaming Joseph for leading his people into slavery.
Maybe we need fewer messages on Joseph and more messages on Moses.
Joseph Led Them In, Moses Led Them Out
Where Joseph goes to prison in silence, Moses comes out of Egypt with pomp and circumstance. Where Joseph is quiet and obedient, Moses is loud and unorthodox, speaking truth to power. This doesn’t make the story of Joseph wrong, it’s just incomplete. Joseph teaches us what to do inwardly, to maintain our peace, especially when we are in a situation we can’t control. It’s Moses, on the other hand, that teaches us what to do outwardly, to be used by God to change the circumstances He no longer wants us to endure.
Another juxtaposition of Joseph and Moses reveals the difference between the imprisonment of one man and the freedom of a nation. When we see Joseph, we learn so much about what to do with ourselves, how to compose ourselves and how to maintain our humanity. When we see Moses, we learn how God initiates a jailbreak. Joseph is who I need when I’m struggling with myself. Moses is who we need when we struggle as a people. And Moses is the one that should be preached today, by someone much greater than a guy with a blog.
While I listen and wait for a word from my favorite television preachers, I continue to see the relevance of Moses to the social ills of today. Especially in minority communities, where the population is high, resources are low and the oppressive forces are strong. I can hear Moses saying loudly, “Let my people go!” In this imaginary sermon I’m preaching to myself, I can hear Pharaoh ask Moses, “Why?” and Moses responds, “Because Israelite Lives Matter.”
The protest life of Moses and the Israelites isn’t taught enough but it is exactly the model that Christians should use today. I really want to turn on TBN and hear that message. Instead of waiting any longer, let me be like Moses and speak the truth even though I believe there are better, more qualified orators that should take the burden. So with apologies to the TBN lineup of speakers, permit me to offer a few thoughts on what ‘should’ be preached about the life of Moses, the leader of a counterculture movement predicated on five principles of protest.
Five Things Modern Spiritual Leaders Haven’t Preached (much) on TBN
- Moses was a criminal (and a friend of God).
Joseph spent at least 2 years in prison and Paul spent over 5 years locked away. Neither would be allowed to vote in Iowa but there’s no doubt that these were good men in bad situations that God used mightily. Moses, on the other hand, was an admitted murderer who, maybe due to his privilege, was never brought up on charges (Exodus 2:11-12). And the fact that God chose him almost immediately after his crime tells me that God loves using people with pliable hearts and spotty backgrounds.
Maybe that’s why Hebrews 13:3 says “…remember those who are in prison…” and Psalms 69:33 says “For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.” Maybe that’s why the Bible NEVER says, “disqualify ex-offenders from job opportunities“. The Bible also never says, “make all who have sinned beg the governor for the right to vote” or “prevent the prisoners from qualifying for federal housing assistance.”
Prisoners are people. Current and former prisoners are more than people; they are God’s most desirable vessels. As such, things like mass incarceration should matter to Christians. Employment discrimination should matter to Christians. The suffrage movement and the availability of housing for ex-offenders should matter and we, as Christians, should be in the first wave of protests.
- Moses had a choice.
Moses was an Israelite but he wasn’t exactly a man of the people. Raised in privilege (Exodus 2:10), he had the option of continuing his life of posh in either the pristine palace or the palatial countryside. I think the most remarkable thing about Moses is that he had a clear choice, and then he heeded the call of God.
When I think of Moses I think of a social justice contradiction, like an old white farmer living in rural America that travels to the inner city to stand with young Black boys being racially profiled. Many of us have the right to say, “it’s not my fight” and walk away. But Moses teaches us that when the battle is not at our doorstep, and when no one in our immediate family is threatened, we should choose to strap up and stand on the side of the oppressed. Moses didn’t grow up with, or around, the Israelites but he heeded the call and called them ‘my people’.
- Moses started with words.
Very few Christians embrace the power of protest. I’ve been in some churches that openly denigrate this method of free speech. Those same churches promote the power of confession every Sunday. Need to be saved? “confess your sins before the Lord”. Need a blessing? “confess God’s Word over your finances.” Need justice? “pray silently and wait.” Huh?
If confession can bring you into the body of Christ, then every Christian should embrace the power of confession to change a situation. Moses did. He had no money, no political influence, no platform. Yet, it’s clear that Moses was a protester (Exodus 4:10-12, 6:10-12). If he were alive today he would be hearing from God and then taking the message to every member of Congress and the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And I don’t think his message would be clean and polished, just simple and poignant. Black Lives Matter…Israelite Lives Matter…Let My People Go.
- Moses was a disrupter.
While I support various types of protests, I have to admit that I never found a way to fit into the Occupy Movement. I didn’t understand it in its time and the television images always resembled a homeless encampment more than a power movement. Actually, many protests look a bit disheveled and disorganized, especially to those who are not there. I’m sure that’s what the plagues looked like, a big messy display of disruption intended to make the powers that be change their minds.
The plagues were messy, both literally and figuratively. Exodus 9:8 says “Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh’.” The plagues were also an extremely effective method of God-ordained protest (Exodus 7:15). Similar to the sit-down strikes that powered the Labor Movement or the sit-ins that powered the Civil Rights Movement, they all disrupted the status quo for effect and change. Disruption is a common tool used by God’s people. And it works.
- Moses changed laws, God changed hearts.
A parallel study of Malcom X and Martin Luther King, Jr. presents a choice between changing hearts and changing minds, easing people into something new or forcing something new upon them. I have lived my life believing that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had the better way, the Godly way to change hearts in order to change laws. With research, I realize that both were right and that the better way included a focus on changing laws with full knowledge that all hearts won’t be changed.
God Himself hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 10:1-10) so that there was no real chance that it was going to change. Moses could have talked all day about the gross working conditions, the civil rights violations and inhuman treatment. None of that was going to change Pharaoh’s hardened heart. It didn’t have to, Pharaoh only had to have his mind changed for a moment so that God’s people could leave. Pharaoh’s mind immediately changed back after the Israelites left but, at that point, God’s purpose had been fulfilled and His people were on their way to the Promised Land.
I’m sure there is more that Moses can teach us, more that we can learn and apply to our lives today. The lessons above are a start but by no means complete. My main concern is that there are better speakers, better teachers, better leaders who could train us how to apply God’s timeless Word to the social and cultural issues we face. Those speakers are silent today and those social issues – from the foolishness in the White House to the injustice in the court house – are not directly addressed by Christians.
My hope is that more Christians wake up, speak up, and share God’s Word with a people hungry for the love God expressed through His Son Jesus Christ. My hope is that more Christians stop teaching that the gospel ends when you give your life to Jesus. My hope is that more Christians follow the examples of those who, like Jesus, gave their lives in the service of others and spoke out against any attack on the immeasurable and unconditional love that is the heart of Christianity. My hope is that more Christians acknowledge the cause, join the movement and embrace the power of protest.