Clothes - Pt 4

Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. (Genesis 37:1-4 ESV). Most people have at least heard about Joseph’s robe. In fact, it might be one of the most infamous articles of clothing in the entire Bible. The robe was beautiful, but after Jacob gave it to Joseph things got ugly. Joseph’s brothers saw that Jacob favored Joseph. They hated him for it and wanted to kill him. Instead they sold him as a slave to Egypt. To cover their tracks, they ripped up Joseph’s robe, dipped it in blood, and led their father to believe that an animal had killed him. The story ends well. God remained with Joseph, gave him important work in Egypt, and eventually reconciled him to his brothers. However, the tattered robe reminds us that favoritism is wrong. The apostle James puts it this way: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin” (cf. James 2:8-9). That’s difficult. I want to favor people who are nice to me or who show kindness to me. However, God shows us clearly through this article of clothing that love should work differently for us. Jesus showed love to all people, even his enemies. Just one of those areas where we can do better is in resisting the urge to show favoritism. Of course there is a level of love we show to our family that is deeper; however, we ought to resist excluding others in other areas of our relational lives. We have all been on the receiving side of such favoritism. It never feels good. Jesus’ example was just the opposite. He called for acts of service toward others. Read leadership is shown through serving others, not being served. There’s a wonderful story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young Bostonian being considered for employment. The Boston investment house could not say enough about the young man. His father, they wrote, was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowed. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys, and other of Boston’s first families. His recommendation was given without hesitation. Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: “We are not contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work.” Neither is God a respecter of persons but accepts those from every family, nation, and race who fear Him and work for His kingdom. So should we!