A139 – Pentecost 10 (Gen 37, Matt 14:22-33)

Meg Warner joins the podcast to talk about Joseph, favoritism, family dissension and trauma. We discuss how Joseph’s story is contradictory and ambiguous; that Joseph himself is an enigma – which attention to the nuances of his dreams illustrates. We note that though his story is as long as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s, Joseph is not put in their esteemed company – largely for political reasons. Focus on his brothers’ betrayal of Joseph highlights the rippling effects of trauma, at the personal, communal and global levels. We talk about the apocalyptic nature of the miracle in the Matthew reading, and the echoes of Genesis 1 and Exodus 32 which cast Jesus as both the new Moses and the great ‘I am’. Is it an epiphany? We note that Peter’s understanding of faith as obedience: he requested to be commanded to walk. Fear took over when he took his eyes from Jesus. We mention Meg’s Tragedies and Congregations and Joseph: A story of Resilience, and Mary’ Trump’s Too Much is Never Enough.