Radical Response

I have been reading about the life of Joseph in Genesis 37. You know the story, one of only two children of the beloved Rachel, loved by his father Jacob, recipient of the multi-colored coat, a symbol of his place in his father's heart. His brothers are jealous of him, his father favors him, and God sends him dreams showing his future preeminence and authority over all of them. This boy, at seventeen, this dreamer of dreams, is sent to check up on his brothers. The text says the brothers see him coming and start making plans to kill him. It is in the next few verses that we see two different responses to temptation.
First we see the brothers, from Simeon, second to the oldest on down. They start plotting to kill him. When older brother, Reuben suggests they throw their little brother into a cistern instead, they agree. But when some travellers, Ishmaelite traders headed for Egypt pass by, they decide instead to make money off the boy and quickly sell him to these Midianites. These boys, all nine of them, were active participants in this sin. They were not tricked. They were not deceived, they were neither unknowing nor unwilling. They plotted and acted----they sold their brother into slavery willingly, and then devised a lie to tell their father. (Lies usually follow up our sins).
But then we have Reuben, the oldest, the one who should have known better. He seems to be a passive participant in this scenario. Yes, he keeps them from murdering their brother. But it doesn't appear he tries to change their minds about their brother, or tried to soften their hate for him. The text says Reuben planned to return him to his father. It was a good thing for Reuben to prevent murder. But, why not just take the boy back right then and there? Did he think his brothers would not notice he'd rescued his father's favorite child? Was he afraid of them? Perhaps he thought a bit of time in the cistern would teach the youngster a lesson. I don't know. But, it seems that Rueben's actions contributed to Joseph's new calling as slave boy. He is co-conspirator in the lie concocted to appease his father. (Even if he didn't tell his father the lie, it took all ten of them keeping silent to make it work)
Fast forward to chapter 29. Here we have Joseph. He is working in Potiphar's house taking care of Potiphar's business. He is handsom and good looking and has earned a reputation for being honest and bright and has now become powerful. Just the kind of person Potiphar's wife is attracted to. She tries to catch Joseph and seduce him to sin with her. The text says she tried day after day to tempt him. But he refused. Finally, she grabs ahold of his coat and he runs away, leaving it with her. He chooses a radical response to the sinful situation--he runs!! He chooses to be a non-participant. This costs him, he will go to prison for some time but he has faith in God and God does indeed restore him to a position of power.
It seems to me that we are faced with sinful situations everyday. We have choices when tempted. We decide how we are going to react or respond. We make the choice. Sometimes we are active participants. That really doesn't need much discussion. We know when we plot and scheme to sin and then go right ahead and act on it. Sometimes we are passive participants. Sin is all around us and we simply pretend it is not there. Or we may make some suggestions to keep it from being a "BIG" sin. Sometimes we may even make plans to go around the back door and clean up the mess. Nevertheless, just as in the story of Reuben and the brothers, the end result was the same for all of them. Being "caught up" in a sin has the same end result as deliberately plotting and scheming for it. And although Reuben was a passive participant in the first part of the sin, he was an active participant in the lie (also a sin). He had to lie in order to protect all of them including himself. He must have realized how lame it would sound to tell his father, "I kept them from killing him and had them throw him into a well instead, then I turned my back for just a little while and they sold him. No, I didn't go after him, I was really upset . . "
And so he participated in the cover up.
We need to be more like Joseph. We need to say "no" to sin. And when it threatens to get hold of us, we need to run. Sometimes it costs to have such a radical response to temptation. But our faith structure says that there is more to life than what happens here on earth. We need to be non-participants in sin--that is radical, isn't it. We have the promise of a home in heaven.
Active and passive participants also have a promise, though not of heaven. We need to accept that sin is everywhere around us, temptation ever present. We cannot choose them. We can only choose our response to them. Are we going to indulge ourselves, take part in the sin willingly and without thought of consequences? Or are we going to stand by and watch as our brothers participate, hoping to clean some of it up later, before anyone notices? Or are we going to respond radically and run away from sin? What kind of participant are you?

Neva
I Thessalonians 5:22
"Flee the very appearance of evil"