Excerpt from Genesis 37:1-28

"So his brothers were jealous of him . . ."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

The story of Joseph and his brothers reads like a textbook on birth order dynamics.

There's Joseph, he of the famous coat, who's effectively though not literally the youngest.  He spends all day coming up with ways to annoy his older brothers, from tattling on them to having dreams in which he finally becomes the boss of them all.

There are the middle brothers, always misbehaving and beating up on the youngest one—or selling him into slavery.

There's Reuben, the oldest and the responsible one, who calms the middle-child hellions down, tries to protect the baby, and is forever freaking out about what Dad’s going to say.

It will take a prison, a famine, a scheming minx, dreams, psychic powers, a Pharaoh, and God to get this family back together.  And you thought your family was screwed up.

God cares as much about your family as Joseph's.  Got a sibling rivalry that's gone on long enough?  A wound that's not going to heal till somebody says something important, like "I'm sorry" or "I forgive you"?  Does somebody need to break out of their birth order?  Perhaps today is the day to pray for God to intervene.

Prayer

God, thank you for promising to not let separation and discord be the end for the families you love.  And thank you that the youngest children always grow up to be awesomer than their two mean older sisters, which just serves them right for always calling their little brother names and never letting him play with their Barbies.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

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