I. Theme – Love Your Enemy
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Psalm – Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
Epistle – 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
Gospel – Luke 6:27-38
The main idea this week is that of loving your enemy. The Joseph story gives a wonderful example of how Joseph was able to forgive his brothers, despite all they had done to him so many years before. Telling that story afresh and tying it up to Jesus’ words could be very powerful. The Psalm is a salutary reminder that evil is temporary and death is the great leveler. We need to get our attitude right if we are not going to be embittered or cynical.
That begins with God and when we reaffirm our trust in God then we can dare to engage in the adventure of faith both by living right and loving our enemies. It may have been a journey such as the Psalmist describes that took Joseph on a journey from hate to love.
The teaching of Jesus in Luke gives some concrete examples that we can
easily understand but that makes them also harder to run away from.
II. Summary
Old Testament – Genesis 45:3-11, 15
From Working Preacher
The text for today describes a moving scene of reconciliation, the self-revelation of Joseph to the brothers who sold him into slavery many years before, and gives us the theological lens through which to view the whole story of Joseph.
This scene of reconciliation comes right after an eloquent and extended speech by Judah. It should be noted that Judah was the brother who had the idea to sell Joseph into slavery in the first place, though by doing so he saved Joseph from the murderous intentions of his other brothers (37:26-27).
Now, in chapter 44, Joseph has framed his brother, Benjamin, for stealing his silver cup. This is the last of a series of deceptions through which Joseph (in his position as an Egyptian ruler) has manipulated his unsuspecting brothers, causing them a good deal of consternation.
In this last deception, then, Joseph frames Benjamin, his full brother, who is innocent of any wrongdoing. Joseph claims him as a slave and offers to let the other brothers go free. One could interpret Joseph’s actions here as revenge for the pain his brothers caused him. A more sympathetic and more accurate interpretation is viewing Joseph’s actions as a sort of test. Will the brothers sell Rachel’s other son into slavery, just as they sold Joseph? Will they buy their own freedom at the expense of Jacob’s remaining beloved son?
If this interpretation is correct, Judah–and, presumably, the other brothers–pass the test. Judah will not abandon Benjamin. In a moving speech, he describes how he swore to their father, Jacob, that he would bring Benjamin back. He tells Joseph that their father has already lost one beloved son, and that if he loses another, he will die. Judah then offers himself as a slave in place of Benjamin: “Now therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord in place of the boy; and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the suffering that would come upon my father” (44:33-34).
It seems that Judah and the other brothers have changed over the course of the story. Gone is the intense hatred they once held for the favored son of their father. There is no hint that they envy or hate Benjamin for the special place he holds in their father’s heart. They bear the guilt of what they did to Joseph, interpreting the trouble they’re experiencing as punishment for their sin long ago (42:21-22). Now, they have repented and are determined to save Benjamin.
It is this change of heart, and the compassion they show for their elderly father, that finally moves Joseph to reveal himself to them in the Old Testament reading. He has been speaking with them through an interpreter, pretending that he doesn’t speak Hebrew (42:23). Now, he sends all the Egyptians away and speaks directly to his brothers: “I am Joseph.” And he adds a concern close to his heart: “Is my father still alive?” Too dumbfounded to speak, they stand dismayed. So Joseph calls them closer to him and says again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.” Then he moves quickly to reassure them: “And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life . . . . It was not you who sent me here, but God” (45:3-5, 8).
Eventually, the brothers are able to absorb this stunning revelation. Joseph weeps loudly, embracing his brother, Benjamin, and then kissing and weeping over his other brothers. Then, at last, they find their voices. We are left to imagine what they say. Perhaps, like their father Jacob in his own reconciliation with his wronged brother Esau, they speak of seeing the face of God (33:10). Perhaps they say now what they will say to Joseph years later, after Jacob’s death: “Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father” (50:17). Whatever they say, Joseph reassures them; he urges them to fetch Jacob and to come and live in Egypt, where he will care for them. The scene is one of reconciliation, of forgiveness, and of grace.
Joseph’s words to his brothers also give us the theological lens through which to view his whole story. “God sent me before you to preserve life . . . . It was not you who sent me here, but God.” Joseph makes the same statement to his brothers years later, after their father’s death: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today” (50:20).
Note that Joseph does not attribute the brothers’ sinful actions to God. God did not make them sin: “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt” (emphasis added). Joseph does, however, affirm that God was able to use those sinful actions for God’s own purposes. The brothers devised evil, but God turned it to good. Note also that God’s will is for the preservation of life, the life of the family of Jacob (45:7) and, indeed, the lives of many people, including the Egyptians (41:56-57; 50:20). Joseph’s presence in Egypt is the means by which God ensures that human life will go on, even in the face of famine.
In these last chapters of the Joseph story, we see that God has been at work all along in the events of Joseph’s life. God has not spoken to Joseph directly as he did to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but God has been at work behind the scenes, so to speak, preserving life in spite of (and even by means of) human sin. The descendants of Abraham (and all humanity) continue to be deeply flawed, but through it all, God fulfills God’s promises and provides for God’s creation.
Psalm – Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
“It’s not fair” is an expression used by all age groups from toddlers to pensioners.
Life is hard and sometimes it seems that other people, indeed the wrong people, get off lightly while those, seeking to do right before God and others come off second best.
The Psalmist aims to help them recover perspective and faith. He acknowledges that on the surface things do not add up, but adds an extra dimension to their thinking, namely time. In the end they, like everyone else, die and what then? If they do not know God, serve God and love God and others, then all their past achievements will count for nothing and leave them in the dock. The way of faith is to do what is right and leave the outcome to God. Put God first and you will not be disappointed.
In many ways this mirrors Joseph’s tale in all the ups and downs of his colorful life. Put God center stage, find your peace in God’s presence and you will find balm for your soul. Continue to make correct choices – be patient not angry; don’t work yourself into a lather or you will overreact. Take the long view of life. Evil gets found out. Wickedness will be judged and found wanting. It will be the meek who will inherit the earth
Epistle – 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
Paul is trying to answer the question about what life looks like beyond the grave. His answer is that we do not have the language or concepts with which to explain it. However Paul wants to assert that there is both continuity and discontinuity between the body we have now and the new body we will have then. To make the point he uses an agricultural metaphor about the seed and the plant it produces. The central point is clear – we will have a new body.
Paul has written: “Christ has been raised from the dead … so all will be made alive in Christ” (vv. 20-23) when he comes again. Will we have the same kind of bodies then as we have now? By analogy from nature (vv. 36-38), Paul points out that:
- seeds need to die in order to have new life;
- they change state following death: plants have different bodies (forms) from seeds;
- God chooses the body of a plant; and
- seeds look alike but are changed into a variety of plants. There are various kinds of bodies, “flesh” (v. 39) and “glory” (vv. 40-41), so there may be more meanings of these terms than we know.
In resurrection, our state is changed: before it, we are subject to decay (“perishable”, v. 42) and death (“dishonour”, “weakness”) and have a “physical body” (v. 44); after it, we will be immortal (“imperishable”) and have “glory”, “power”, and a “spiritual body”, . So there must be two modes of existence, and two bodies. There are two prototypes: “the first man, Adam” (v. 45) and “the last Adam”, Christ. Adam received life; Christ is “life-giving”. The “first” was earthly, physical, “a man of dust” (v. 47), and the “last” heavenly, so the physical came first (v. 46) contrary to what some claimed). Correspondingly we bear the image of (have the same kind of body as) Adam now; and will have bodies like Christ’s (vv. 48-49). In our present state (“flesh and blood”, “perishable”, v. 50) we cannot participate (fully) in God and in immortality (“the imperishable”) .
The Christian faith believes in the resurrection of the body not the immortality of the soul. The continuity is that the seed that is planted determines the plant that will grow. The discontinuity is that there is the world of difference between the dry husk of a seed and the living plant that emerges. If you picked up a seed, not knowing what kind it was, you would have little idea of what sort of plant it would become. What is clear, however, is that the transformation is remarkable. Paul emphasizes this by pairing opposites – perishable and imperishable; dishonor and glory; weakness and power; natural and spiritual. Our new body is a fulfillment of God’s plan, the goal to which it was always heading. Finally we will resemble less of Adam who was made from the dust of the earth, and more of Jesus, the man from heaven. Such a change must take place if we are to inherit the kingdom of God.
If this is mind-blowing then perhaps this illustration will help. Imagine trying to explain to a baby in the womb what the world that it will shortly be born into will be like. All they have known is darkness, all their food comes from their mother’s cord. They have been on their own all their life. How do you begin to explain color, community, food, life and so much more? Yet they are only a skin’s thickness away from the world outside. Once born, through all the discomfort of labor (cf. death), they will feel instinctively at home. So, in
life, a seed has to die if the life it carries is ever to emerge. The same is true for us also but we have a prototype model in Jesus who lived, died and rose again, never more to die, to encourage us to hope.
Gospel – Luke 6:27-38
This is the second part of the “Sermon on the plain.” In the first part (Lk 6:20-26) from last Sunday, Jesus addresses Himself to the disciples (Lk 6:20). In the second part (Lk 6: 27-49), He addresses Himself “to you who listen to Me,” that is, the great crowds of poor and sick people, who had come from all. These are the ways we can act like God.
The readings have 3 basic teachings:
1 Luke 6:27-30: Love your enemies!
2 Luke 6:31-36: The Golden Rule! to imitate God. “Treat others as you would like people to treat you!” (Lk 6:31). The second saying is “Be merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful!” (Lk 6:36)
3 Luke 6:37-38: “Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and there will be gifts for you;
This section is not difficult to understand but it is very difficult to do! The call to love God, to love our neighbor and to love one another is added to with one final call, to love our enemies. To love those who are different from us, to love those who disagree with us, to love those who are difficult and demanding and delight to do us down is asking too much, surely!