Sermon Feb. 18, 2001 Epiphany C7 Gen 45:3-11,15 and Psalm 37: 1-11, 39-40.

I Cor. 15:35-38, 42-50 Luke 6:27-38

"Love Your Enemies"

Good literature is one of God’s blessings to us.

All good literature shows us ways to rise above the usual problems of life. We are entertained by entering into a waking dream that we call "story", in which we can examine dilemmas that catch our imagination, and interest our emotions. Good stories make us believe we are part of the tension in the problem that has to be solved. In good literature, that solution rises above our regular way of thinking and doing things, and shows us something spiritually enlightening.

And, in addition to that, good Bible literature tells us something about who God is, who we are, and something about the relationship between God and us.

The story of Joseph in the Bible was told orally, before it was written down, for thousands of years. Since it was written down, it has again lasted thousands of years. This morning we’re going to do some investigation, looking into the story to find out what makes it timeless. What about this story is so true to life that it is still serves as good literature, after 4000 years?

This story could be called, "Love Your Enemies"

Joseph was 17 years old, and he had led a life that was more privileged than his brothers. He was the youngest son of Jacob (Israel), and he was kept close to his father, who favored him. His father even made a special coat for him. These things made his brothers jealous. Also, Joseph reported to his father about his brother’s behavior, whether they were acting right or not, and that made his brothers angry. When his father wanted to send messages out to the fields, he’d send Joseph out, so we know that Jacob held Joseph in his confidence, a position usually reserved for the eldest son.

One day his brothers were out working in the fields, and Jacob sent his son Joseph out with a message for the brothers. Well, the brothers had just had enough. They were fed up. This whole scene was just wrong. And it was time to do something about it.

Long story short, they threw Joseph into a well, and sold him off as a slave to a passing camel train on its way to Egypt.

Years go by... now, I hope you know the story of all that happened to Joseph in Egypt. If you don’t, or if you need to be reminded, open your Bible. This story is in the back part of the first book in the Bible, Genesis Chapter 36 and following. [If your Bible is an old one and smells funny, buy a new one. If you never did like the old fashioned words, buy one with new fashioned words. There’s a great new translation out, The Message, by Eugene Peterson. It’s a modern translation that doesn’t lose the heart of the gospel.]

Anyway, back to Joseph. Years go by and he suffers a great deal as a slave in Egypt. But he also serves the Pharoah well, and eventually is put in charge of all of the Egyptian storehouses.

Now there’s a famine in Palestine, so Jacob, the family patriarch, who thought his son Joseph had died, sends his sons, that is, Josephs brothers, to Egypt to buy grain. Here is the scene in our scripture reading for today, when Joseph reveals to his brothers that they have come to beg for their lives from the one person who has most reason to take their lives away.

You see the picture? The brothers who sold Joseph into slavery are now begging him for their lives.

There are different ways that this story could go, now. On one hand, isn’t this everyone’s dream situation? The people who have wronged you now have to beg you for their very existence. Its not something bad you’ve done to them that has brought them to this state of destitution, it is God, the maker of justice, who has delivered them into your hand. The psalms are full of this imagery turned around... "deliver me, O God, from the hands of my enemies"...the implication is, because my enemies will murder me.

Well, the wonderful thing is, this story tells us that God did deliver them, but in a surprising way. God didn’t deliver the brothers from Joseph, no, instead, God delivered Joseph ! God saved Joseph from the enemy of peace by turning Joseph into a conveyer of mercy. Joseph showed his brothers mercy, not vengeance. And so God delivered Joseph. Not from other enemies, but from the enemy within. See, God saved Joseph from the enemy of vengeance that is within us. God redeemed Joseph’s life from a way of vengeance to a way of mercy.

Not only did God save Joseph from "the angel of his worst nature", from vengeance, but also, over and over again in the story we see how much Joseph loved his brothers, even after all they had done. God also put love for his brothers into Joseph’s heart.

Joseph wept for his love of them, ... he fell on their necks and kissed them. He gave them grain and money and land... but still they were afraid of him, so this is what Joseph told them:

Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?

see, he’s saying, leave vengeance to God. Let God do the judging.

Even tho you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear. I myself will provide for you and your little ones. In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them".

In the Gospel lesson, in Luke 6, we hear Jesus say, Love Your Enemies.

Jesus is straight forward with his expectation. He said clearly in Luke 6, Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who abuse you.

Now let me say right up front, Jesus never said let anyone abuse you.

He said clearly in Luke 6, Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who abuse you.

Jesus calls us to go one step further than to not seek vengeance. Jesus doesn’t just say "don’t treat others badly", Jesus says, Love your enemy. Do good to those who do bad to you. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

This really calls for some radical life changes. Jesus doesn’t say, "think about doing this, study it in Sunday school, weigh the consequences and get back to me". No. Jesus says simply, do it.

Its not always given to us to understand. Job tried to question God, and God answered, "Did you set the stars in their course? Were you there when I formed the world?" In other words, don’t expect to ever understand. God is too great for us to ever get our little brains around God. If we’re occassionally given moments of wisdom, little spurts of understanding, What a gift!!

Don’t expect to understand God’s reasons.

We do, though, don’t we? We want it all to make sense. And yes, God gave us brains to use, and our reason is related to our faith. But its also true that sometimes we do not make sense of God’s will for this world. When that happens, we just have to trust God.

Its not easy. We often fail. And we don’t like to fail. Thats when its so important to pick up the pieces of our hearts, repent and try again.

Perhaps all of us have given up at times, then we rally ourselves and try again. Its an old old story. Even after 4,000 years we still need stories of encouragement to keep our hearts set on the way that leads to eternal life.

The Bible is full of wonderful inspiring stories. We need to keep picking them up and reading them, and keep praying to God for inspiration and strength to "keep on keeping on." We need courage to continue being kind and forgiving, not withholding or cold. We need to support and encourage one another in our efforts, noticing when someone has fallen and not condemning them, but loving them,

Loving them, not because they deserve it, not because they will ever change,

But loving them because our Lord bids us to do so, whether or not we understand, whether or not we agree, whether or not we ever get anything out of it.

Loving them because we have been forgiven, and that has made all the difference in our ability to love others.

Loving them because we love God, who first loved us. Loving them because we know our salvation is through our faith, and our faith rests in trusting God’s will for our lives.

I’ll close with this hymn of John Calvin’s

Our hope is in no other save in Thee

Our faith is built upon Thy promise, free.

Lord, give us peace, and make us calm and sure.

That in Thy strength we evermore endure.

Amen. .