Sermon 20th February 2022 – 7th Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Genesis 45:3-11, 15 – God’s providence
I believe that one of the most powerful people in the Bible is Joseph –
the firstborn son of Jacob and Rachel even though he was the 2nd last son born
to Jacob. As a result, Joseph was favoured by Jacob above his siblings because
of his love for Rachel. As a result Joseph’s brothers, born to Jacob but not Rachel,
despised him. Joseph would have dreams which foretold that his brothers would
one day bow down to him which infuriated them.
One day while his brothers were out in the field, Jacob sent Joseph to
find them and report back about them. You get this sense that perhaps Joseph
would tattle on his brothers when they did wrong. When his brothers saw him
coming, they devised a plan to kill him. His oldest brother Rueben, discouraged
that and in the end they sold Joseph as a slave to some slave traders who in
turn sold him to the Egyptians. Over time it was discovered by the Egyptians
that Joseph was blessed by God and as a result rose in the ranks in Egypt to
2nd in charge because of a dream he had foretelling a 7 year famine preceded by
7 years of abundance. Joseph advised Pharoah to store up supplies during the 7
years of abundance to cater for the 7 years of famine. The famine affected the
entire world and many would come begging to Joseph for provisions.
Eventually this included his brothers except they did not recognize
Joseph after so many years. This was Joseph’s opportunity to exact revenge on
his brothers. He toys with them for a while but then he reveals himself to them
– “I am Joseph”. This was Joseph’s real power. Not the power he had as 2nd in
charge in Egypt. Not the power to decide who gets food and who doesn’t. But the
power to forgive his brothers. Anyone can take revenge – eye for an eye. Anyone
can hit someone back Anyone can say
nasty things in return. Anyone can toot their horn in the car and yell abuse
when someone cuts them off – it’s the easiest thing to do. But to forgive. Or
to do as Jesus commands – love your enemies. To turn the other cheek – that’s
powerful. Maybe not in the eyes of the world – but in the eyes of God. As Jesus
says - "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For
even sinners love those who love them.
We live in an era where this is sadly missing. We live in an era of
revenge – cyber bullying and something we have come to know as “cancel
culture”. If you haven’t heard of cancel culture before it’s a process of
destroying your enemy so that even if they have repented and apologized you
cannot accept it. In this age of social media there are people who are
constantly checking the archives of people they do not like to see if they can
dig up anything – even if it’s 30 or 40 years ago to destroy their reputation
and have them cancelled today. Even if what was said or done 30 years ago was
acceptable and part of that day’s culture but not today we judge them by
today’s standards even if there was nothing sinister or wrong when it was done
back then. Political parties employ people who are experts in creating dirt
files to destroy their opposition rather than debating them on issues for the
community. It’s much easier to find a comment or photo they posted decades ago
to shame them even if that comment was in a particular context of the time that
is different to today’s standards. And it is very easy when we are being
attacked to respond in kind and hit back – and hit back harder.
You may have seen on the news this past week a driver who tried to run
over 4 youths riding electric scooters.
He even reversed and tried 3 times to run them over. Why? Because
apparently they said something nasty to a pedestrian they had passed and he
couldn’t let it go. Jesus offers the way to respond: Love your enemies, do good
to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; That is not a human
instinct. That is the divine instinct that would cry out from the cross –
forgive them Father for they know not what they are doing. Jesus could have
said – Father, avenge my death.
And that’s why I believe Joseph is one of the most powerful characters
in the bible. He had the perfect opportunity to exact revenge on his brothers
who wanted to kill him and who sold him as a slave. But what was it that
changed Joseph’s mindset from revenge to forgiveness? It was because he saw
what we call God’s providence in his brother’s actions.
While his brother’s intentions were evil God used that evil to bring
about good. And this will come out later when he detects that his brothers are
still worried about him taking revenge.
When their father dies they believe that Joseph will be free to take his
revenge: So, when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said,
“What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs
we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these
instructions before he died: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and
the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the
sins of the servants of the God of your father.” It was a lie but that was not the reason
Joseph didn’t avenge their evil. Joseph saw it differently – he saw what
happened as all part of God’s providence. You intended to harm me, but God
intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many
lives.
Providence is divine guidance or care - the power sustaining and guiding
human destiny. And so Joseph says to his brothers - So it was not you who sent
me here, but God; Providence is NOT God creating evil in order to bring about
his good and gracious will. Providence is God using his power to nullify evil
that is produced by the world and humanity.
What we have been going through with Covid is shocking. It has devasted
families not being able to visit sick family members. It has put our hospitals,
aged care and emergency services under enormous strains. It has ruined many
businesses. It has seen people lose their jobs. It has divided our communities
– the vaccinated and unvaccinated – the boosted and the unboosted.
God’s providence is our hope and way forward – in the words of Joseph. What
is planned for evil God uses for good.
Even though Joseph’s brother’s intentions were pure evil – firstly to
kill him and then to sell him as a slave and tell his father Jacob he was
killed by a wild animal. Evil doesn’t care about what others go through as long
as I get my way. Joseph’s brothers didn’t care about the grief their father would
experience.
Joseph saw God’s providence even in this – it wasn’t YOU who sent me
here but God. So our response in all this is to continue to trust in God’s
providence. To use what we have been going to bring about good. And if that
means that we suffer we still trust God, as Jesus say – turn the other cheek –
pray for those who bring evil – love our enemies. I don’t know what good God
will bring about in this and I don’t know how long it will take before we see
it – if at all. It took Joseph possibly up to 20 years to see God’s action of
saving the world from starvation. And during that time not only did he end up
in slavery but he spent years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He even
witnessed to other prisoners. But he never lost faith in God.
Who knows, maybe God is saving the world from something much worse than
what we have been going through. And sometimes we may not even see the good
that comes out of it because it will happen in future generations. This is
where trust in God’s providence comes in especially in times of suffering –
like Joseph, like Jesus, like Paul and many others in the bible. God’s love and
power is not seen in preventing evil but in using evil to bring about good. Remember
though – God doesn’t create evil. Evil is the consequence of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil – the tree from which our ancestors Adam and Eve disobeyed and
ate from. But, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, God chose the foolish things of
the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame
the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised
things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are.
We don’t’ understand – and that’s part of the mystery of God and he will
reveal all just as Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. But he didn’t
reveal himself immediately but when the time was right. So let us also keep
trusting in God’s love and care for us in his guiding providence and when the
time is right God will reveal all to us. Maybe we’d like it now but remember –
God is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he
is being patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance and be saved.
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