I shall now take them all for a ride
After all they have tried fratricide - Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Fratricide: The killing of one's brother or sister - Joseph was not the eldest son in his family - he had several older brothers, but he was the eldest of his father's favourite wife. His father chose him as the heir - to show this he made him a “coat of many colours”.

But Joseph, being young, wasn’t bright enough to keep his mouth shut. He had a couple of strange dreams indicating that one day his father and brothers would bow down to him. The dreams were from God, sharing them wasn’t such a good idea, it made him sound boastful and arrogant and his brothers already had reason not to like “Dad's favourite.” There are 3 lessons here:

1. Parents - don’t play favourites with your children, you have NO idea of the harm you are causing, NOT just to the others but even to the favourite.
2. Don’t be boastful and think of yourself as better than everyone else. No one really likes a person who brags and acts superior.
3. You are not always meant to share everything God tells you with others.

So his brothers plan to kill him and throw his body in a pit (cistern). His older brother, Reuben convinces them not to kill him, why should they get blood on their hands, just throw him in the pit and leave him to die. Reuben was going to come back later and rescue Joseph. But when a group of Ishmaelite traders pass by his brothers sell Joseph as a slave, it gets him out of the way and lines their pockets. Greed over-rules jealousy. Reuben wasn’t too happy about it though when he came back and found him gone.

In our Old Testament reading today, Joseph is no longer a lowly slave. Being a slave knocked all the arrogance out of him and taught him humility, but he never forgot God. What they meant for evil, God turned around and used for good. Joseph is now Prime Minister of Egypt - second only to Pharoah. - Now the brothers come to Egypt during a huge famine - seeking food, and they don’t recognize their own brother. We can’t really blame him for wanting to test them and “take them for a ride” - he needs to know they no longer intend him harm, and that they are sorry for what they did. I have included songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat the Grovel song, in particular always makes me laugh.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.- Proverbs 17:22

God encourages us to laugh. Joseph fooling his brothers had reason to both laugh and cry:

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.- Ecclesiastes 3:4

So remember God has a sense of humour - he made me, you and the platypus. Find time to laugh today, enjoy your day!