by Jeff Yackley A Crisis of Crises – How to Respond When Everything Seems to Go Wrong Pastor Mike is in Columbus this weekend visiting his sons, and so he has asked if I would like to speak again this week and next. Next, because I just can’t get through this in one week! We have been going through a series blatantly stolen from the Obama Administration Mantra: Never Waste a Good Crisis. – and then we usually include a subtitle. So far, the subtitles have included “The Crisis of Sin”, “how you can survive and thrive through a crisis of faith” – Matt Cramer spoke on Jeremiah, the crisis of failure; and just last week, Mike spoke on the crisis of Peter – getting out of the boat – or, what to do when you are walking on water and suddenly find yourself sinking. Ok, I embellished that one a little bit. These next two weeks, we will be looking at the life of Joseph – and this week’s subtitle is A Crisis of Crises – How to Respond When Everything Seems to Go Wrong – or, What it Means to be a Cleveland Sports Fan. Let’s pray… It is important to have a little background on the dysfunctional family life of the Jacob family. Back in Genesis 29 we read that Jacob loved Rachel. He agreed to serve her father, Laban, for 7 years for the privilege of marrying his younger daughter, Rachel. It says in Genesis 29: 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her. At the end of the seven years, it was time for Laban to give Jacob his daughter. Well, Laban didn’t think it was right to marry off the younger daughter first - so on the wedding night – he pulled the ole’ switcheroo – substituting Leah for Rachel. That must have been some surprise waking up the next morning. It was said of Rachel that she was beautiful of form and face – but that her older sister Leah was ‘weak in the eyes.’ I think, because of the contrast, that probably translates to “not as pleasant to look at”… So, within the span of a week, Jacob gets Leah and her handmaid, Zilpah, and then the girl of his dreams, Rachel, and her maid, Bilhah. Now the babymaking challenge begins. Leah bears 4 sons – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. In the meantime, Rachel can’t conceive, so she suggests that she have children through her maid, Bilhah, and Bilhah has Dan and Naphtali. Then Leah was barren for a time, and she gave her maid, Zilpah, to Jacob and bore 2 more sons, Gad and Asher. Then Leah is able to conceive again, and has Issachar and Zebulun – and then a daughter, Dinah. So, the tally is thus Leah – 6 sons (and a daughter) Leah’s maid, Zilpah – 2 sons Rachel’s maid, Bilhah - 2 sons – for a total of 10 sons – leaving Rachel: 0. Finally, the woman Jacob loved so much is able to conceive – and she has a son – Joseph. Now Joseph becomes the favorite firstborn son of the favorite wife – now let’s pick up Joseph’s story in Genesis 37 Genesis 37:2b Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was [still] a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. 4 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and [so] they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. Some commentators have suggested a couple of things about this varicolored tunic – this coat of many colors. 1) It is a sign of receiving the rights of the first-born – in fact, Joseph was the first-born son of the wife that he loved – you know, the wife he wasn’t tricked into marrying. Also, this was actually fulfilled later that Joseph was given the rights of the firstborn – 1 Chronicles 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the first-born of Israel (for he was the first-born, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel;) 2) The language surrounding the tunic suggests that it was a robe of leisure – instead of just being a coat of many colors, it could be translated flowing and long-sleeved. You wouldn’t work in the coat – and it is possible the brothers resented Joseph for that as well. Gen. 37: 5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 And he said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I have had; 7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf. " 8 Then his brothers said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Notice – the word DREAMS here is plural – that sug