Genesis 37:14
And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

Joseph is sent as a messenger.

That is the scene.

Jacob says, in essence, “Go see how your brothers are doing. See how the flocks are doing. Then come back and bring me word.” So Joseph goes out from Hebron and heads toward Shechem carrying the concern of his father and the message of his father.

And once again, Joseph gives us a glimpse of Jesus.

Because Jesus, too, was sent by the Father.

Not only as the beloved Son.
Not only as the obedient Son.
But as the Messenger of the Father’s heart.

He came to see after His brethren. He came into a broken field, into a violent world, into a rebellious vineyard, and He came representing the Father.

That is why the story Jesus told in Matthew 21 is so striking.

The owner of the vineyard sent servant after servant to collect what was rightfully his, and the tenants beat them, mistreated them, and sent them away empty. Finally the owner said, in essence, “I will send my son. Surely they will reverence him.”

But they did not.

They killed the son.

That is the pattern Joseph is stepping into here.

A father sends.
A son goes.
The son comes to his brethren.
And the brethren do not receive him.

It is hard to miss.

Joseph is not wandering aimlessly. He is on assignment. He has been sent out of Hebron to Shechem. And that little movement matters. Hebron means fellowship. Shechem speaks of the world in its pain, violence, and corruption. Joseph leaves the place of fellowship and goes into the place of trouble because his father sent him there.

So did Jesus.

He came from the fellowship of heaven into the wreckage of this world. He came from the Father into our Shechem. He came not for His own sake, but on mission. On assignment. Sent.

That is why John says over and over again that the Father sent the Son. Jesus never presented Himself as an independent actor. He came in the Father’s name, carrying the Father’s will, speaking the Father’s words.

And that is what Joseph is doing here in shadow form.

He is carrying the father’s concern.

“See whether it be well with thy brethren.”

I like that.

Because even though the brothers were already hostile to Joseph, the father still cared about them. And Joseph is sent to seek their welfare.

That sounds a whole lot like Jesus to me.

He came unto His own.

He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

He came not merely to condemn, but to call, to warn, to rescue, to redeem.

And yet what happens so often to the sent one?

He is rejected.

That is why Matthew 21 fits here so naturally. The messengers were beaten. The Son was killed. Men do not mind having a vineyard. They do not mind having blessings. They just do not want the owner’s claim over it. And that is still the problem. Fallen man resists the One the Father sends.

Joseph is heading right into that.

He does not know all that is about to happen yet, but the reader does. We know Shechem will not end with a warm reunion. We know the sent son is walking toward rejection.

And again the picture of Christ shines through.

Beloved, the wonder is not simply that Jesus was sent.

It is that He came.

He came knowing what men do to messengers.

He came knowing what they do to sons.

He came anyway.

And there is a word in that for us too. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you also are sent. Not as the Son in His unique glory, of course, but as one carrying the message of the Father into a world that does not always welcome it. Sometimes you will go to people who misunderstand you. Sometimes to people who resent you. Sometimes to situations where you are not received the way you hoped.

But if the Father has sent you, that is enough.

Joseph went because his father sent him.

Jesus came because His Father sent Him.

And you and I can go where God sends us because the same Lord who sends also watches, rules, and redeems.

Saints, thank God for the sent Son. Thank God for Jesus, who came out of the fellowship of heaven into the violence of this fallen world to seek after His brethren and do the will of His Father. And may the Lord give us grace, when He sends us into difficult places, to go with the same quiet obedience.