Remember Me

Scripture: Genesis 40

Sermon: Remember Me

Topics: Memory, Forgotten, Remembered

Preached: October 15 am 2017 Joseph Series #4

Rev. Mike Abma

Genesis 40

Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt. ²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he waited on them; and they continued for some time in custody. 

⁵One night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own meaning. ⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. ⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, ‘Why are your faces downcast today?’ 

⁸They said to him, ‘We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.’ And Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.’

9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, ‘In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.’

 ¹²Then Joseph said to him, ‘This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days; ¹³within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.¹⁴But remember me when it is well with you; please do me the kindness to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this place. ¹⁵For in fact I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon (pit – same word for what the brothers threw him into).’

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favourable, he said to Joseph, ‘I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were – and the bird was — eating it out of the basket on my head.’

¹⁸And Joseph answered, ‘This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; ¹⁹within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head ….from you!—and hang you on a pole; and the birds will eat the flesh from you.’

20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹He restored the chief cupbearer to his cupbearing, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand; ²²but the chief baker he hanged, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.

 ²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

INTRODUCTION

For some reason, I have clear memories of an illustrated children’s bible story book telling this particular story and how these characters were portrayed:

1. First there was Joseph who was portrayed as this young handsome man — surprisingly healthy for someone supposedly wasting away in prison.

The Cup-Bearer in this little book was called the Butler. The Butler was portrayed as tall, thin, and very dignified looking – like your perfect maitre de.

The Baker was portrayed as shorter, more rolly-polly, with an elaborate moustache and a rather shifty-looking face.

2. Then there were how the dreams were portrayed in this children’s book:

The Butler’s dream featured a panel of pictures with a budding vine, a blossoming vine, and grape-laden vine, and then all ending with this beautiful golden cup being presented to Pharaoh.

The Baker’s dream featured the rolly-polly Baker with 3 very wobbly baskets on his head being attacked by this flock of birds – think Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

To tell you truth, this little kid’s Bible Story book scared the heebie-jeebies out of me.

But it also made me wonder why the Butler and the Baker even needed Joseph.

From this booklet, it seemed a no-brainer that

things were going to end well for the Butler

but things were going to end very badly for the Baker.

You would have to be a bit of a dimwit not to see that.

THE ACTUAL BIBLICAL TEXT

I now know that this kid’s book was not a very faithful telling of the Biblical text.

In the Hebrew text of Genesis 40,

the Butler and the Baker are remarkably similar –

They are both portrayed as Chief Officers of Pharaoh.

The Butler’s dream and the Baker’s dream

are also remarkably similar.

The Butler’s dream has 3 branches,

budding, then blossoming, then producing fruit for Pharaoh’s cup

The Baker’s dream has 3 baskets of baked goods for Pharaoh –

there is no tipping or wobbling of these baskets in the text.

In fact, there isn’t even a horrifying Alfred Hitchcock flock of birds.

The Hebrew is such that the singular form of bird

is generally translated in the plural.

The more literal translation would be in the singular:

“And the bird was eating it out of the basket on my head”

Anyone hearing this dream might assume that “the bird”

could easily be a symbol for Pharaoh.

So the first thing you need to know is that the characters are remarkably similar,

The second thing you need to know is that the dreams are remarkably similar.

And the third thing you need to know is that the interpretations of these dreams are remarkably similar – that is, until the very end.

The 3 branches and 3 baskets both represent 3 days.

Joseph says to both the Butler and the Baker

Within 3 days Pharaoh will….

To the Butler he says

Within 3 days Pharaoh will lift your head…and restore you….

To the Baker, Joseph says

Within 3 days Pharaoh will lift your head ….from you! Yikes!

Just that one little Hebrew word – from you – makes all the difference.

I guess what I want you to appreciate is that

the way this chapter is written

the dreams and the interpretations are not at all obvious.

They are supposed to be an edge-of-your-seat surprise.

III. ANOTHER SURPRISE

And let me tell you another surprise —

this chapter is not really about

the Butler’s dream and the Baker’s dream.

This chapter is about Joseph and Joseph’s dream.

This chapter is about Joseph’s future.

Will he live or will he die?

Will he wither away, forgotten in prison,

or will he be remembered somehow and freed?

That is the question that plagues Joseph.

First, Joseph wants to remain strong and faithful.

From the beginning of this chapter,

Joseph boldly states, “Don’t all interpretations belong to God?”

Isn’t God the holder and keeper of the future?”

Joseph has faith and wants to remain faithful.

But it is not at all obvious what Joseph’s future will be.

In the middle of this story, Joseph pleads with the Butler,

That when the Butler is restored to his old job,

The he would do Joseph a kindness –

That he would remember Joseph.

You can almost hear the pleading in Joseph’s voice:

“Please get me out of here.

I have done nothing to deserve being in this dungeon.

Literally the word for dungeon is PIT – Joseph is in a pit,

The same word used to describe the hole in the ground

That his brothers threw him in years before.

This is Joseph’s prayer.

This is his plea – please, please, Remember Me.

Then chapter ends with a thud.

The Butler, the Chief Cup-bearer did not remember Joseph

but forgot him.

Whenever something is repeated in the Bible,

As in this verse – he did not remember, but forgot —

Pay attention.

This is the double-whammy.

This is Joseph’s gut-wrenching reality.

Here, Joseph the wise, Joseph the faithful,

Joseph the righteous, Joseph the dream-interpreter

Is still in the PIT,

And he has no idea whether he will live or die,

Whether he will ever be remembered and freed

Or whether he will be forgotten and left to wither away.

What was Joseph destined to live – a dream or a nightmare?

JELLE’S STORY

In the first church I pastored, there was an older Dutch immigrant named Jelle.

Jelle came to church every Sunday.

He sat in the same pew.

He sat the same way – with his legs and his arms crossed, looking out the window.

Jelle rarely talked with anyone.

He had a reputation for being grumpy, and prickly – generally a tough person to get to know in any real way.

Jelle ended up in the hospital.

A form of cancer and the prognosis did not look good.

I visited him not sure what would happen.

Would it simply be awkward silence?

To my surprise, Jelle began to talk.

And he talked a lot.

He talked of his childhood in the Netherlands.

He talked of being a 12 year old boy when the Second World War began.

He talked about being one of the oldest in a large family with limited resources.

He talked about how his parents thought it would be best if they left Jelle

with two aging great aunts who lived in a far-away town.

So that is where Jelle spent the war years – with those great aunts.

But here is the thing that Jelle never got over.

During those war years

His parents never visited him;

They never wrote him or card or a letter.

He immigrated soon after the war,

And I do not think he ever returned home.

All this came spilling out of Jelle,

a heart-breaking story that he had never really told anyone else.

All this old pain,

the pain of being the forgotten child.

This old wound

that perhaps his father and mother never really loved him.

And the thought that haunted him all his life

that perhaps he was simply an unloveable person.

WITH JOSEPH AND JELLE

I do not think Joseph is alone.

I do not think Jelle is alone.

I think there are many of us people trying to be faithful,

Trying to hold tightly to the grand claims of the gospel –

That God has plans for us, dreams for us,

to prosper us and not to harm us,

plans to give us a future with hope.

But then there is our lived experience.

We live in a prison of old wounds,

that never seem to heal.

We live in the pit of present struggles,

that never seem to be resolved.

We live in the darkness of loneliness,

and wonder whether anyone, anywhere

knows what we are going through

or even cares.

Psalm 13 lives in our hearts:

How long, O Lord?

Have we been forgotten forever?

CONCLUSION

To all those in the darkness,

trying to hold on to hope in whatever pit we are living,

please know we have our own 3-day story –

the story of Friday, and Saturday, and Sunday

The agony yet victory of Friday and the cross is over,

And we remember with both bread and cup.

But the full new creation of Sunday is yet to come.

We are living between these two days,

We are living this long Saturday,

A time of waiting,

A time of wondering,

A time of darkness,

A time of asking, “does God remember us?”

People of God,

Know that the Great Sunday is coming,

Know that the New Creation is about to dawn,

Know that the Great Shepherd will call us sheep each by name.

He will draw us out of the Pit.

He will lift up our heads,

He will put our feet on the Rock

And he will put a new song in our mouth.

So wait …..wait patiently for the Lord,

Who remembers you,

And loves you,

Love you with a love that will not let you go.

PRAYER