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The Tale of Joseph's Coat

Colin Gibson

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This innovative tale was told by Colin Gibson in his sermon on Apr 22, 2006, and cleverly used to illustrate the good news of transformation inherent in the Easter gospel.

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Let me tell you a story. A Yiddish story of transformations.

When Joseph was a baby, his grandfather (who was a tailor) made him a wonderful coat to keep him warm and dry.

But as Joseph grew older the wonderful coat grew older too.

One day his mother said to him, 'Joseph, look at your coat. It's frazzled and it's worn and it's unsightly and it's torn. It is time to throw it away.'

'Grandpa can fix it', Joseph said.

So Joseph's grandfather took the little coat and turned it round and round. 'Hmmm,' he said as his scissors went snip snap and his needle flew in and out,' there's just enough material to make a wonderful jacket. Joseph put on the wonderful jacket and went outside to play.

But as Joseph grew older the wonderful jacket grew older too.

One day his mother said to him, 'Joseph, look at your jacket. It's shrunken and small, doesn't fit you at all. It is time to throw it out.'

'Grandpa can fix it', Joseph said.

Joseph's grandfather took the jacket and turned it round and round. 'Hmmm,' he said as his scissors went snip snap and his needle flew in and out,' there's just enough material to make a wonderful vest. Joseph put on the wonderful vest and wore it to school the very next day. He was so proud of it he wore it all the time.

But as Joseph grew older the wonderful vest grew older too.

One day his mother said to him, 'Joseph, look at your vest. It's spotted with glue and there's paint on it too. It is time to throw it out.'

'Grandpa can fix it', Joseph said.

So Joseph's grandfather took the vest and turned it round and round. 'Hmmm,' he said as his scissors went snip snap and his needle flew in and out,' there's just enough material to make a wonderful tie. Joseph wore the wonderful tie to his grandparents' house every Friday.

But as Joseph grew older the wonderful tie grew older too.

One day his mother said to him, 'Joseph, look at your tie. This big stain of soup makes the end of it droop. It is time to throw it out.'
'Grandpa can fix it', Joseph said.

Joseph's grandfather took the tie and turned it round and round. 'Hmmm,' he said as his scissors went snip snap and his needle flew in and out,' there's just enough material to make a wonderful button. Joseph wore the wonderful button on his braces to hold his trousers up.

One day his mother said to him, 'Joseph, where is your button?'

Joseph looked. It was gone.

He searched everywhere but he could not find it. Joseph ran to his grandfather's house. 'My button, my wonderful button is lost!' he cried. His mother ran after him. 'Joseph, listen to me. The button is gone, finished, kaput. Even your grandfather cannot make something from nothing!'

Joseph's grandfather shook his head sadly. 'I'm afraid that your mother is right,' he said.

But the next day Joseph went to school. 'Hmm,' he said as his pen went scritch scratch, scritch, scratch over the paper. There's just enough material here to make a wonderful story.'

This is folktale which has inscribed on it the experience of a whole people, which acknowledges some of the difficulties of existence, and comes up with a gesture of hope and belief in the future. In a special way it offers a transformation or rather a series of transformations; it also suggests that we may yet bring life out of death.

The world in which Joseph lives is one of desperate poverty, in which any material goods must be made to last as long as possible. The world of Joseph's family overshadowed by two great evils all human beings experience in life: the inevitable losses brought about by the passage of time (coats are worn out, ties are stained with soup) and unfortunate accident (buttons are lost). They are evils most of us know from personal experience.

The voice of Joseph's mother steadily acknowledges these sad truths: 'it is time to throw it out, to throw it away. The button is gone, finished, kaput. Even your grandfather cannot make something from nothing!' it is the voice of stoic realism.
But the world of Joseph is lightened by two great human values: the first is the power of loving social relationships (the boy's love for and trust in his grandfather—'Grandpa can fix it'— and the grandfather's lovinimagination courage and creativity, forever winning something out of nothing. This is the voice of the tailor-grandfather, whose scissors went snip snap while his needle flew in and out.

The narrative depicts a grim world in which less and less is left to survive on, a world in which it seems that eventually everything must be 'lost, finished, kaput'. Not even a loving grandfather can do any more to protect the child from defeat. But, wonderfully, through the imaginative experience of the story, there rings out the old human challenge to a hostile universe; the ancient Jewish belief in the race's survival against all odds. The child has learned the wisdom of his grandfather; there is a trick left yet; the lost piece of cloth will be transformed in a story that goes on being sung to this day.

Now I've offered this story alongside readings from the Bible and a Sufi poet, and it stands in place of a sermon of the conventional kind. So I had better ask where is God in this story?

The immediate answer is nowhere. God remains unnamed, invisible. God never intervenes to protect the little family from its losses or to save it from the ravages of time. There is no sign of the God, favoured by fundamentalists of all kinds, who intervenes in the world to protect or reward his favourites.

Is there no God in the story, then? That would be unthinkable in a tale coming out of a Jewish world. What we need to remember is that, as the Book of Genesis declared, we human beings are made in God's image. Our stories have the shape of God's story.
Well, what is the Godlike shape of this story? I think it lies in the modest little triumph in the story's ending. God is not to be defeated—as the family is not to be defeated. God's story never ends; it continues to be written, gathering up the little human stories we all write into the greater story of existence. And God's story—like the little boy's tale of the wonderful coat—works towards an ultimate triumph over defeat and death. To put it in Christian terms, it works forever towards resurrection and transformation. Best of all, it works towards Mary's whispered word 'Master', as in a moment of astonishment and joy she recognises her dead friend as the risen Christ.

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