WAS I TEMPTED?
Reading
Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. one day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, she caught hold of his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me!’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called out to the members of her household and said to them, ‘See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.’ Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.’
When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, ‘This is the way your servant treated me,’ he became enraged. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. Genesis 39:6b-20
The meditation of Joseph
Was I tempted?
You bet I was!
She was an attractive woman, let’s face it,
suave,
sophisticated,
sexy,
and I was a young man in my prime,
flattered and excited by her attentions.
I felt my pulse racing when she looked at me,
my palms sweating with anticipation,
and I could have yielded so easily,
my body crying out to surrender.
But I couldn’t, despite myself,
for both our sakes, not just mine.
oh, I’d have enjoyed it, no doubt,
for a moment, in the heat of passion,
nothing else seeming to matter;
but then the guilt would have started,
the regrets,
the sordid subterfuge,
and finally, punishment!
She was married, you see,
my master’s wife,
and the vows she’d taken were sacred,
whichever god she’d made them by.
So I refused her, time and again,
keeping my distance whenever I could.
only she wouldn’t take no for an answer,
waiting patiently to seize her chance.
I should have it seen it coming, I suppose,
for I knew she was put out –
you could see that a mile off –
unused, apparently, to being turned down,
but I never thought she’d come on that strong,
not after all I’d said.
It was a close call eventually,
too close for comfort,
costing me my clothes, if not my virtue.
And it wasn’t just my clothes I lost that day;
it was my freedom,
my position,
my reputation,
for she turned the tables as I knew she would,
making me out to be the guilty party –
‘hell hath no fury . . .’ as they say.
But whatever I lost, I kept far more,
my integrity,
my self-respect,
and, above all, my faith.
A price worth paying, wouldn’t you say?
Prayer
Loving God,
you know what it is to be tempted,
for you took on human flesh,
making yourself frail and vulnerable,
just as we are.
You know what it is to lose everything,
for you gave your only Son
for the life of the world.
For our sakes you became poor,
enduring humiliation,
yet you stood firm,
refusing to be swayed
or to contemplate compromise.
Teach us, in our turn,
to hold fast, come what may.
When temptation comes,
help us to look to you rather than self,
to your kingdom rather than our gratification.
Show us the way you would have us take,
and help us to walk it faithfully,
now and always.
Amen.