Losing Control -- FPC sermon excerpt

There are some powerful people who have powerfully bad tempers.

Katie Couric is a bright and attractive news anchor, but she once slapped one of her producers. And what did he do to deserve this? According to mental_floss magazine (January-February 2010), he kept saying the word “sputum” while Katie was taping a segment on tuberculosis. He said the word repeatedly, despite her insistence that it annoyed her. So she slapped him.

Stephen Hawking. He is a world-renowned mathematician and physicist who cannot speak except through an electronic voice. But he can show his anger with his wheelchair. He is famous for running over the toes of people who bother him, including several of his assistants. People say that he even rammed the feet of Prince Charles.

Robert Frost — probably the most famous American poet of the past century. Known to lash out at his poetry readings, he would often berate late-comers. Once, he arrived at an event and was disappointed in the meager crowd. He yelled at the organizer, “Who do you think I am, a rural schoolteacher?”

These are powerful people, but they are all guilty of losing control. They get angry at people around them and lash out — slapping producers, running over the toes of princes, yelling at event organizers. Being a famous, brilliant, or artistic person does not mean that you have superior control over your emotions.

In fact, fame and power can sometimes make the situation worse.

Joseph was a powerful person in the land of Egypt when his brothers came to him from the land of Canaan. If you were in worship last week, you heard the story of how he got into this position, and how he overcame the hatred that existed between his brothers and himself.

To bring everyone up to speed, I’ll just recap by saying that Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him for being their father’s favorite son, so they sold him into slavery and he was carried from Canaan to the land of Egypt. In Egypt, he had many adventures and ended up rising to power, eventually being named governor of the land.

In a time of famine, people traveled to Egypt to buy grain — including ten of Joseph’s brothers. They did not recognize him, but Joseph recognized them, and initially he treated them like strangers and accused them of being spies (Genesis 42:1-9).

Joseph decided to test them by asking them to return home with a load of grain, and fetch their youngest brother Benjamin. He said, “Bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies but honest men” (v. 34). They did this, and then Joseph revealed himself to them, saying, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life” (45:4-5).

As I said last week, Joseph discovers that there is a power at work in his life that is bigger and stronger than hatred. Although the brothers clearly intended to do harm to Joseph, God intended it for good — in order to preserve the people of Israel (50:20). Joseph is able to forgive them because he sees that God has brought good out of evil, and used a horrible act to save a large number of people from famine.

Today, I want to dig a little deeper into Joseph’s reaction to his brothers. As today’s passage begins, Genesis tells us that “Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him” (v. 1). He could no longer control himself. Now if he was like so many power people today, this loss of control would mean that he would slap, run over, or yell at the people who annoyed him. But for Joseph, losing control means something very different.

When Joseph loses control, he does not lose his temper. Instead, he gives up control and lets God be God. That’s a loss of control that we can learn from.