Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Consider Joseph’s brothers, who we learn in Genesis 37 are so envious of Joseph that they plot to get him out of their way. Other than that “long ornamented tunic,” we don’t see any significant paternal favoritism toward Joseph. It’s not as if their father, Jacob, was physically, emotionally, or verbally abusive to his other sons; indeed, the New American Bible notes on this chapter include this observation: “Throughout the story, Jacob is unaware of the impact of his favoritism on his other sons.” But Joseph was the child of Jacob’s old age; Jacob was wiser, perhaps softer, perhaps had more time to get to know 
Joseph as a person than he had the others as they were growing up.
Sometimes, it feels like God plays favorites too, doesn’t it? One woman gets pregnant and has ease in childbearing; another finds it impossible to conceive. One man can’t not make money and be a professional success; another can’t keep a job and struggles to survive. It’s easy to become jealous and envious, as did Joseph’s brothers and the people in the parable of the tenants, and to exact “revenge” not on the One seen as showing the favoritism but on the one for whom life seems easy and free.
We diminish ourselves when we do this. For truly, finding favor with God is simply a matter of loving Him and loving our neighbors as ourselves. We can do it with God’s help, praising Him for all He has given us, or we can choose to focus on the gifts given others instead, knowing little or nothing of the price they paid or the secret sorrows and challenges they hold in their hearts. One path is the road to redemption… the other is filled with demons happy to commiserate with you. The choice is yours.
