Sermonette: It's Dangerous to Go Alone
#FT26-06s
Jarod Ritenbaugh
Given 01-Oct-26; 14 minutes
description: Joseph's narrative in Genesis serves as a profound real-world iteration of the Hero's Journey, tracing his arc from favored son to enslaved prisoner and finally to Egyptian governor. While he endures classic trials—betrayal by his brothers, false accusation by Potiphar's wife, and unjust imprisonment—he is distinguished by a unique structural element: the absence of a mortal mentor who departs or dies. Instead, Joseph's journey is sustained by the continuous, unwavering presence of God, who remains with him through every stage of hardship and elevation. This divine companionship transforms the traditional template; rather than facing isolation despite appearances, Joseph experiences constant guidance and support, illustrating that even in the most turbulent trials, one is never truly alone, as God strengthens, upholds, and leads His people through every step of their heroic path.
transcript:
In literature, there is a very common storytelling template known as the hero's journey. This is an incredibly broad general template that once you know how it functions on a basic level, you can identify it in quite a lot of stories, especially in the fantasy space. Think Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit or Luke Skywalker from Star Wars as prominent examples of the hero's journey structure. Just think about Luke Skywalker for a moment. He gets R2-D2, who plays a message of Leia asking Obi-Wan for help. He then finds Obi-Wan, who tells him about his father and the Jedi, and then his adoptive family is killed, so he joins Obi-Wan on the adventure, and they go, they make friends, they go through trials, they beat the big baddie, and everyone is happy in the end. I could really dive into detail about Luke as an example, but I want to approach the hero's journey from a different perspective. You'll see why the two examples I mentioned are the cultural poster children for the template when I explain how it works in more detail, which is what I'm going to do next. But I'm going to do so by following along with a character from the Bible, namely, Joseph and his story. We will not go to any of the verses, but I recommend following along as we pull sections of his story out from Genesis 37 onward. Now, there are complicated versions of the hero's journey, and there are simplified versions. I'm going to use a very simplified 11-step version for the sake of time. When you meet the hero, they are in a place of stability and security. Even early in their journey, they are usually still in somewhat familiar territory. Think of the hero's journey as an auraboros, a circle that repeats itself with the steps of that journey laid out along the circle. The circle is separated into a top half and a bottom half. The top half represents what we will call the known world, and every step in the top half of the circle would correlate to being in this state. While in this section, the hero is comfortable with their life and their place in the world. The first step of the journey that the hero embarks on is not even really a step at all. It's simply called the ordinary world. The status quo. We can see this with Joseph at the beginning of chapter 37. We find his place in his family, that he is his father's favorite, that his brothers are very jealous of him. It also shows Joseph's proclivity towards prophetic dreams. And how they foreshadow the conclusion of his coming journey. Then comes the call to adventure. Step 2. This is where some outside influence comes in and persuades the hero in some way to leave their comfort and pursue the adventure. Sometimes this is followed by the refusal of the call, a reluctance to change. In this case, Joseph has no choice in the matter. He travels out to meet his brothers, and in their jealousy, they throw him into a pit. Kicking off an adventure that Joseph never asked for. We're going to skip over the 3rd step for now, because one, it doesn't slot into any specific period in time in Joseph's story, for reasons you'll understand later, but also because it's going to tie very nicely into my point at the end. So, with step 4, we cross into the other half of the journey. If you remember from my example of it being a circle, we've crested into the bottom half, the unknown world, where true to its name, everything is foreign and new to the hero. The first step into the unknown world is called crossing the threshold, where the hero has left familiarity and is now well and truly on their adventure. In Joseph's story, this is represented by his being sold into slavery at the end of chapter 37. He is now committed to this adventure, whether he likes it or not. The first step after crossing the threshold and 5th overall is where the heroes sees their first challenges. It's aptly called Tests, enemies, allies. Because this is the point where you'll face all of those. In chapter 39, Joseph is tested by Potiphar's wife, makes an enemy of her and Potiphar, and finds unlikely allies in the prison warden and some of the inmates. The tests do not eat it up after this. Because the next up is the first challenge. Sometimes this is known as the innermost challenge, the deepest in the mud that the hero is going to get on their journey. Joseph goes through much the same with his imprisonment after being framed. He even interprets the dreams of Pharaoh's servants in hopes of them speaking well of him enough to get out, but to no avail. Until he gets another opportunity. This time to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh himself. This leads straight into the 7th step and penultimate step of the unknown world, the bottom half of the circle. This step is the ordeal, the culmination of all his trials. Our hero Joseph uncovers that Pharaoh's dreams are prophesying a coming famine, and Joseph advises Pharaoh to set somebody over storing up food in the coming years to prepare for this event. Pharaoh decides Joseph himself is that guy and puts him in charge of preparing for the famine. This kicks off 7 years of hard preparation work for Joseph. Finally, this puts us in the final step of the unknown world, the reward. This one is kind of cheating, because he technically got his reward when he went through his ordeal. He became governor of all Egypt and second in power only to Pharaoh himself. It goes so far as to say in chapter 4144, Without your consent, no one shall lift up a hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. Our final 3 steps of the hero's journey take us back into the top half of the circle, where we re-enter the known world, but this time, things are different. Our hero is different. So the section is aptly renamed the Changed World, and it begins with the road back. For Joseph, this is entirely metaphorical, because home, his brothers, come to him in chapter 42. Slight aside, but I find it fascinating that Joseph names his firstborn son Manasseh, which means to forget. We can read in Genesis 41:51. Joseph speaking, for he said, God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. It strikes me that Joseph never had plans to return home and see his family again, that he would forever be on this adventure. Until home came back to him in the form of his brothers. Then he put them to the test. This is the point where we reach the resurrection, where our hero is reborn into what the hero's journey template dubs the master of two worlds, the familiar and the unknown. This is seen with Joseph when he reveals himself to his brothers, forgives them, and reconciles with them. And finally, the last step of the journey, the return home. Which in Joseph's case is entirely reversed with his family coming down to Egypt to be with him. Thus, Joseph completes his hero's journey. Now the master of two worlds, conquering the unknown and having the familiar returned to him. Now, you probably thought we were done, but I remember really early on when I said that we were going to skip over a step. That pesky 3rd step of the hero's journey in between the call to adventure and crossing the threshold. Well, meet our main point for this message, the mentor or guide. This individual He is the one who sets the path for the hero. Gives them what they need for success, but does not walk the path for them. This is Obi-Wan for Luke, Gandalf the Grey for Bilbo. Joseph's guide is, of course, God. But I mentioned that the step did not slot in well to our template with Joseph. Why did I say that? Well, because God did not just appear in Joseph's life after his call to adventure. He was there the entire time. Every moment of every day. Let's go to a couple of places where this is explicitly stated. These will be the, the verses we flip to today. We'll start in Genesis 39, picking up verse two, we are getting like 4 verses here in chapter 39, so you may as well get comfortable. 39 verse 2. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master, dropping down verse 5. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field. And then down further to 21. Verse 21. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Then 23, the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, he did, the Lord made it succeed. And then we will jump over a couple chapters to chapter 45. Pick up verse 8 here. Joseph speaking here. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. And then, last verse here, over to chapter 48, we will pick up verse 21. Verse 21 And then Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. I wanted to grab verses that spanned the entire journey to really drive home the point that Joseph's guide never left like Gandalf or turned into a force ghost like Obi-Wan. To wrap Joseph's story up in a neat little bow, God eventually did see Joseph returned home, just not in the traditional sense. In Exodus 13 Moses is shown taking Joseph's bones with them as he had been instructed at the end of Genesis. And I believe it's in the end of Joshua, where they are finally buried in Checkham. And that finally completes Joseph's long journey. Joseph may have seemed like he was on this journey alone in a foreign land, but he never was. God was by his side every moment of every day. Guiding his steps towards the ultimate reward that he planned for Joseph. It was not easy for him. Joseph had to go through a lot of moments where I'm sure he felt truly abandoned and alone. Much like we do at times. I think it's easy for us to think that we are completely isolated. Easy for us to fall into the, the Elijah mindset, like when he was fleeing Jezebel, and he wails to God that he's the only one left. But We're not Let me go a little off script here and add in one more verse I wanna do. Ted inspired me with this one. If you go with me to Isaiah 41. We got Isaiah 41. Verse 10 and 13. 10 through 13, sorry. Isaiah 41:10. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all you who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded. Those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them. Those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand. It is I who say to you, fear not, I am the one who helps you. It's a, it's a fragile thing, life. And it's hard enough without thinking that you're alone. But You're not Especially here at the Feast of Tabernacles. We have each other all just a phone call or a text message away at all times. We always have help and encouragement, whether it's from the brethren or from God in His word. We just have to be willing to seek it out. It's dangerous to go alone. But you're not alone. God is right there by your side on your heroic journey, every step of the way.
JTR/aws+/