Reading the Bible 35 Genesis 42: 1-25 – The Intricacies of Forgiveness

The events that had been foretold in Joseph’s dreams of stars and moons and sheaves of wheat are now coming to fruition.  The prophecy is not yet complete as only his ten brothers are there to bow down to him.  This fulfills the prophecy of the first dream in which the wheat sheaves of his brothers bow to his.  However, the dream of the sun and moon and eleven stars bow down to him remains to be fulfilled.

In reading this account I wonder if Joseph might not have shown compassion to his brothers and immediately revealed himself to them.  After all their actions in selling him into slavery lead to his ultimate triumph that was foretold in the dreams.  He might have realized that their actions were part of God’s plan for not only Joseph but all of his chosen people.  However, we can hardly blame him for wanting some payback and make his brothers suffer for their evil deeds.  But were his actions just the acting out of his natural desire for revenge or did he have a greater purpose in his actions?

First, Joseph must have known the distress his action in demanding Benjamin be brought to Egypt would have caused his father.  So why did he take this action?  I believe that his actions were necessary for there to be true reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers and his father.  If Joseph had immediately identified himself and welcomed them with open arms there would have always been a barrier between the brother and him and perhaps the brothers and their father.  They would have always wondered if Joseph had truly forgiven them and human nature being what it is they might eventually have secretly or not so secretly resented his good fortune in Egypt just as they had resented the dreams that foretold these events.  

True forgiveness and reconciliation for even minor offenses much less major injury done to a person’s body and spirit is a process which cannot be taken lightly or avoided.  It is very easy to say that you forgive someone – even if you believe it in your head but to find forgiveness for others and for yourself in your heart does not come easily.  It is not a questions of just saying I forgive which can come early in the process for the sake of wanting to move on.  However, the resentment can and does remain on a deeper level and can come bubbling to the surface when we least expect it.  If we are truly to forgive it requires a conversion of the heart which comes from God and not from our will.  Through the grace of God true forgiveness is possible.  Thanks be to God.

Reading the Bible 34 Genesis 41: 37-57 – The Stuff of Dreams

And it came to pass (as will be said later in this same book) that Joseph’s interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dreams were realized.  The seven years of plenty were followed by the seven years of famine.  The Pharaoh’s discernment that Joseph was the one to lead the country through this time of trial was confirmed.   All seemed to be well – at least in Egypt.  However, there are two points which are almost throw away lines at the end of the chapter that should not be overlooked.  

First we are told that Joseph sold to the Egyptians the wheat that had been stored up in the good years.  Apparently there was no free lunch in Egypt in those days.  The wheat that had I’m sure been taken by the Pharaoh was not given back to the people.  They had to buy it back from their ruler through the auspices of Joseph.  There does not seem to be any question that this is just how things were.  It is not a case of the welfare state.  Joseph, the man who had been looked on with favour because of the gifts that God had given him was quite willing to participate in this act of government control which could be interpreted as being ordained by God.  I’m not sure how this would be viewed by those Christians – usually of the fundamentalist bent al la the Tea Party – who call for less government and fewer taxes.  Would they hold that this was necessary for God’s plan to be fulfilled for the Israelites – God chosen people - at least until the United States was established?  Therefore this inconvenient biblical passage can be overlooked.  Of course I am using historical relativism to judge the situation and of course we have to see that God truth is not the same for all people in all times.  God’s truth is being revealed in new ways in an ongoing revelation.  

The second point is that famine was severe throughout the world. Here we have a chicken and egg situation.  God foretold the coming famine through dreams sent to the Pharaoh.  He also gave Joseph the gift of the interpretation of that message.  Was the famine part of God’s plan?  Was it necessary for God to send a famine on the world to enable His plan for Joseph and the Israelites to unfold?  Or did God just use his omniscience to use the events that were destines to happen?  Was the suffering that was inevitable with a world-wide famine necessary for God to fulfil His intention?  It is easy to read into events our understanding of God’s will when they fit our understanding of how God works in the world and how people who we believe deserve God’s punishment receive it with natural events – AIDS as punishment for Gays comes to mind and even the reaction by some to the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina as punishment for the wickedness of that sinful city a la Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is very easy for people of all stripes to relish when bad things happen to those who we consider bad people.  It is always dangerous to believe that God is on our side and should meet out punishment to those we believe deserve it.  We don’t like to leave punishment in the hands of God as God says elsewhere. 

Reading the Bible 33 Genesis 41: 1-36 – Dreams of Things to Come

There are times in our lives that it doesn’t seem that things will ever get better.  We hope that the trials and tribulations of our lives will end and better times will finally arrive.  However, days turn into weeks and the weeks pile up and nothing seems to change.  For those of us who believe that God is with us we wonder if He or She has forgotten about us.  All our prayers and efforts seem to amount to less than nothing; they seem to be a waste of time. 

Reading the account of Joseph in prison I can’t but think that Joseph must have felt that way in spades.  God seemed to be with Joseph from his earliest years.  God had given him the gift of dreams – big ones that seemed wonderful.  However, the way he used and misused that gift led him to his exile and a prisoner in a foreign land.  That gift had stood him in good stead while in prison and he had predicted the fates of his two cell mates to the despair of one and the joy of the other.  However, even that blessing did not appear to do him any good.  When this chapter in his story opens we find that Joseph has been languishing in prison for two years.

In my imagination Joseph would have pretty much given up hope when a minor miracle happened.  The Pharaoh was visited with disturbing dreams which none of his magicians and other assorted wise men could interpret for him.  This jogged the memory of Joseph’s former cell mate who had benefited from Joseph’s ability in dream interpretation and tell the Pharaoh about it. 

The rest as they say is history.  Joseph successfully interprets Pharaoh’s dreams predicts the good times and bad times ahead – seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.  Joseph shows that he has gained wisdom from his trials and knows that his ability to interpret dreams is a gift from God.  Joseph advises the Pharaoh to make hay while the sun shines and as we shall see the Pharaoh is wise enough to know wise advice when he encounters it.

Those two years as I say must have seemed like an eternity to Joseph sitting in his prison cell with no rescue on the horizon.  And it is a valuable lesson for us when we are in the midst of a dark period in our lives.  God is with us whether it seems that way or not.  Good times or bad; feast or famine; God is with us.

Reading the Bible 32, Genesis 40 - Dreams, God’s Forgotten Language

Reading the Bible 32 Genesis 40 - Dreams, God’s Forgotten Language

After Joseph’s good deed is punished he finds himself in prison.  However, God had not forgotten him and he had not forgotten God.  Joseph’s God-given gift of dream interpretation was with him still.  Previously the rashly shared prophetic dreams of his predominance in his family had set in motion the events which were still unfolding.  However, that same gift now opens a way to release him from his current prison.  He is able to interpret the dreams of his cell mates – the Pharos’s cupbearer and baker

Now the baker and the cup-bearer are in a difficult situation.  They have had what could be called today, big dreams.  However, they believed there was no one there to interpret them.  They held the common understanding that not everyone could interpret dreams.  That was the special purview of priests, magicians and other assorted wise men.  Joseph rebuts this piece of orthodoxy by assuring them that interpretations belong to God.  He goes on to correctly interpret the prophetic dreams of the two men to the joy of the cupbearer and the sorrow of the baker.

Today our culture has generally dismissed the understanding that dreams come from God.  This understanding was the norm in biblical times and continued in the life of the early church being upheld by such church fathers as Tertullian and St. Augustine.  The language of dreams that Joseph was able to understand through God’s grace, is something that our world has generally lost.  However, it is something that can and is being rediscovered and relearned.  Today it is not the secret purview of the magicians and wise-men self-proclaimed or otherwise. 

Dream interpretation and understanding can be taught and learned.  However, it is art as well as skill and it is a useful reminder to treat them as sacred object and that they are in the hands of the divine source of all wisdom as Joseph noted.  It is important to be open to the inspiration that can come when trying to understand dreams. 

May your dreams be fruitful and may you be open to the wisdom contained in them. 

 

Reading the Bible 31: Genesis 39 – Joseph’s Good Deed Does Not Go Unpunished

I question that comes to mind reading the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife is, why do bad things happen to good people?  We are told that God was with Joseph and he prospered despite the challenging circumstances he found himself in.  He came to Egypt in the poorest of poor circumstances - as a foreign slave.  Yet he succeeds against all odds.  The talents that God has blessed him with enable him to rise to a position of prominence in his master’s house.  He is a loyal and faithful servant and does not yield to temptation when his master’s wife tried to seduce him.  He ends up in even a worse situation than when he arrived in Egypt – in prison for his trouble. 

People have struggled with that question throughout history and many books have been written on the subject including books of the Bible.  With some trepidation here are a few of my thought on that eternal question.  Joseph seems to be beyond blame for the misfortune that befalls him in this episode of his story. Unlike his earlier treatment by his brothers which could be blamed in part on his hubris, he appears to be faultless when fate turns against him this time.  So apparently being in God’s favour does not guarantee that your life will be without problems and challenges and even misfortunes or the most serious kind.  

Everything does turn out for the best for Joseph as we will see in later episodes and there does seem to be God’s hand guiding Joseph through all that happens to him.  However, when we consider all the twists and turn in his story we can’t help be filled with wonder at how easily it could have turned to disaster and God’s plan would have gone unfulfilled.    

I don’t believe that God's caused Potiphar’s wife to attempt to seduce Joseph or to lead Potiphar to have him thrown into prison.  I do believe that God can be with us and we will still suffer the slings and arrows or life fortunes.  People will act in ways that God does not intend for us to act because of free will and evil.  Unlike Joseph’s experience in many cases the ends does not turn out as God intends for us.  However, we have the guarantee that God will be with us in our journey wherever that many take us through all its twists and turns. 

Our part in this is to be intentional in understanding God’s will for us and where the Holy Spirit is leading us.  The vagaries of life may intercede and work to oppose that plan just as we can make the wrong decisions in life; however, God will be with us on that journey.  Thanks be to God.

 

Reading the Bible 30: Genesis 38 – What is displeasing in the Sight of the Lord?

The account of Judah and Tamar (as the passage in my bible is headed) has been inserted into the story of Joseph.  We have left Joseph being sold as a slave to Potiphar one of the Pharaoh’s officials with Jacob is mourning his apparent death.    This passage could have been introduced with the phrase, ’meanwhile back at the ranch’.  We are now introduced to a new branch of the family.  Judah has married a Adulamite woman (who doesn’t happen to be named – not important in the narrator’s eyes apparently) and they have started a family.  We now have an example of family values of a different kind indeed. 

Reading the account of Judah and Tamar I must wonder how anyone could question that the bible must be put into context to be understood.  Here we have an account of a widow - Tamar being required by custom/law to have intercourse with her brothers-in-law - Onan; of a father (Judah) ‘going into’ h is daughter-in-law (Tamara)  through deception – Judah only thought she was a temple prostitute so no harm done; the practice of Onanism being established as a form of birth control (again with a sister-in-law).  Judah also righteously is going to condemn Tamara to death because she has ‘played the whore’ and become pregnant outside the bounds of holy matrimony (as they existed them) – no hypocrisy or double standard there. 

And what is God doing while all this is happening?  We hear that Er, Judah’s first born is put to death by God because he was evil in God’s sight.  We have to wonder what terrible thing he did to bring down God’s wrath on him.  I would hazard a guess it wasn’t something such as not upholding the family values of today judging by the fact that God doesn’t seem concerned by all the carryings-on in the story.  Soory, I spoke too soon.  God did also strike down Onan for his terrible act of not impregnating his sister-in-law so perhaps all was not well with Judah and his family.

Apparently cultural context does matter when we are considering how we relate to others and how God views what is good in his sight. 

 

Sermon Sept. 1, 2013, 14th after Trinity Luke 17:11 To Be Made Whole

One of the principles of reading and hearing the Gospel is that we should be surprised each time.  Now this may be a surprising statement to you.  After all we all have heard the four Gospels read in church all our lives or for many years in any case.  How can it be that we will be surprised when we hear a Gospel passage that we have heard many times before?   

I believe that this principle is valid because if we have ears to hear and eyes to see God’s truth will be revealed to us in new ways each time we hear the Gospel.  This will happen as we will be changed in some way each time we hear the Gospel proclaimed in our lives. This will not happen automatically.  As part of what God does in and for us it helps for us to be involved.  This may not be required but it does work better if we are open and to pay attention to how God is working in our lives and to listen and hear what the message is that God has for us and respond to it.   That is why there were many people when Jesus walked among the people of Judea who did not recognize Jesus as the messiah.  They were not open to his message.  They were not prepared to receive the truth he was offering - the truth of eternal life.

What then is the surprise for us in this Gospel message we have heard today?   You may have been surprised by any number of things in this passage.  It may be that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus then had his focus on what he knew faced him when he arrived in that place.  He was on his way to meet his destiny – everything that would be the culmination of all that he taught and had done in the last three years.  It could be that the lepers that he encountered only had to ask for mercy and they received it immediately.  Jesus did not always respond so quickly to those he encountered – such as the resurrection of Lazarus when he delayed responding to Lazarus’s’ death for two days.   It could be any number of aspects in this passage.  That would depend on your particular circumstances and how the Gospel speaks to you.

For me the surprise was that the tenth leper was a Samaritan.  Now I probably was aware of that previously but it had not made a lasting impression because it did surprise me.  Perhaps it is because this lesson comes directly after the story of the Good Samaritan and I preached on that passage last week at St. Alban’s in Souris.  You could say that this is the parable of the Good Samaritan part 2.

As you didn’t hear my sermon last week I will summarize what I said about Samaritans.  They were close relatives of the Jews.  However, there was no love lost between those two branches of the family.  They were engaged in a family feud that ran long and deep.  You know what a family feud can be like – it can be very nasty.  The Samaritans claimed to be direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. 

They continued to identify themselves as Israelites rather than descendants of Judah - or Jews.  They did not worship at the Temple.  There were in effect despised and seen as outcasts and not part of the chosen people of God.

So this man that Jesus heals has one strike against him.  The second strike is of course he is a Leper.  Lepers - those who suffer from leprosy - were also considered ritually unclean.  They could not participate in the religious life of the community and they would contaminate anyone they came into contact with.  They   could not worship at the temple.  They remained outcasts until they were healed of their leprosy – which was not the same as the disease we know today.  According to the Levitical code there were many things that made someone unclean such as a woman who was menstruating, or coming into contact with a corpse, or  anyone with a skin condition such as psoriasis which was considered Leprosy.  Someone who was unclean remained so until a priest declared he or she no longer suffered from the condition.  Therefore this Leper was doubly unclean – doubly an outsider and outside the covenant with God.

The next thing that was a surprise to me is the declaration by Jesus when the Leper returned to give thanks to Jesus for being healed of his leprosy.  Did you note what Jesus declared?  Well it easy to missed.  He declared, ‘Arise, go thy way, thy faith has made thee whole.”   Note that he did not say that the Leper was healed or cured – he said the Leper was whole.  All the lepers were healed of their leprosy.  They were made clean and Jesus sent them to the priests to fulfill the requirements of the law and enable them to reenter the life of the community fully. 

The central issue here is what does it mean to mean to be whole?  For this leper who was doubly outcast – a Samaritan and a leper – it meant that God’s grace was also available to him.  He was just as much a part of God’s kingdom – he was as much able to receive God’s grace as was any Jew.  He was whole because he saw that to live fully as a child of God he must know – truly know in his heart and mind and soul that he is loved by God and that love was shown to him through the person of Jesus Christ.  At that point he had been in today’s language saved.  We know that he knew that because he showed that in his action.  He showed that through the gratitude that he expressed spontaneously not on the instruction of the priests and not following the example of one of the other lepers.  He acted because he could not do anything else.  That expression of gratitude flowed from his very being.  It was an essential part of who he now was.

What does all this mean for us?   If we are to be able to live a life a gratitude  - to have a life that will truly be one that is grateful for all that God had graced us with  - we must truly believe in our hearts that that is true.  Does that mean that we despair if we don’t truly feel that at present and therefore that there is nothing I can do?  No – as I said at the beginning of this sermon – we can have ears to hear and eyes to see what God has done for us.  We can see and hear how God is working in our lives.  We can see and hear the evidence that we are children of God and that as His beloved children we have Jesus as our savior and redeemer.  We can respond to that.  We may not fully believe that but when we respond we will begin to see and hear the truth of that.  It does not have to happen is one great event as it did with the Leper.  It can happen little by little. One day it will be as natural as breathing.  Gratitude will be an integral part of who were are.  Thanks be to God.