Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42; I Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50; Luke 6:27-38"
If you have been here or watched on our LiveStream for the last few weeks you may have noticed a running theme. TRANSFORMATION. And even if you haven't been here or you keep falling asleep during my sermons, you had to pass a sign on your way in the Nave this morning that clearly tells you the theme. I mean the word TRANSFORMATION is right there in big bold red letters. So are y’all with me now? Good, because today is no different.
This morning the lectionary framers give us the story of Joseph, (at least part of it). Now if I’m perfectly honest anytime I hear or read about the story of Joseph in Genesis, I hear the soundtrack from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. And no matter the narrative, in my mind Joseph always looks a little bit like Donny Osmond. In fact, I was listening to the soundtrack while writing out this sermon last night. But today I promise I will try to stick to the biblical text.
First, a little background . . . . Joseph is the 11th of twelve sons of Jacob. He is the firstborn of Jacobs favorite wife Rachael, who to this point in the story had been barren. Being the favorite child comes with a great many perks. The most obvious is that while the older brothers all toiled in the fields, Joseph stays home and gets an education. This doesn’t go over well with his brothers. To add insult to injury, Joseph is blessed with these extraordinary dreams. He revels in sharing these dreams that seem to raise him up and put down his brothers, even going so far as to say they will bow down and honor him. Then Jacob does something that drops the straw to break the camels back. He gives Joseph a special coat.
Now sorry to burst your Sunday School bubble, but it wasn’t a coat of many colors. According to the Hebrew, it was a coat “with long sleeves“
oooooOOOOOOOoooooo! But think about it. This isn’t a short tunic meant to be worn in the fields with the sheep bought on the cheap, this is a garment for nobility someone who stands out who stays inside, and evidence seems to suggest that Joseph was a bit of a brat about it and enjoyed lording his special status over his brothers. Not how we usually like to think of the patriarchs, now is it?
Well to fast-forward a bit, Joseph’s brothers have had enough. They take his coat, fake his death and sell him into slavery. Through a series of extraordinary events, Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharoah in Egypt, predicting a great famine, and putting his education to use, he suggests the Egyptians undertake major austerity measures and develops what some regard as the first recorded rationing. For his efforts and his prowess, Joseph is made the second most powerful person in Egypt. He gets a palace, takes a wife and fathers two sons.
One day, a group of dusty Bedouins from Caana stumble into the delta valley seeking reprieve from the famine. Though they don’t know it’s him, Joseph recognizes his brothers. These are the men who kidnapped him,
tortured him, took away his precious coat and sold him into slavery. He had plenty to be angry about. These brothers deserve to become the enemy. They deserve to be hated. They deserve to starve! RIGHT?
Let’s jump to Jesus words in the gospel for a moment.
“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; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
What does Joseph do? He feeds them. He instructs them to bring their families to Egypt too. He loves them. He forgives them. He kisses them and even weeps over them. They took his coat, and he gave them his shirt. They begged for their lives, and he gave them all they asked and more. Joseph did what Jesus says to do. How lovely is that? It sounds easy on paper, no? Words on a two-thousand-year-old scroll, and a four-thousand-year-old story. But what about now? Besides “sell all you have and give it to the poor” and “die in order to live” These commands by Jesus are probably the most difficult for us to follow. It is harder to love and forgive an enemy than to do anything else.
For two hundred years, South Africa was under British Colonial Rule, but it wasn’t until 1948, that the laws of apartheid took effect. Apartheid laws established separateness, not too unlike the Jim Crow South. Black South Africans, the natives of the land, were legally second-class citizens. While the Dutch and English lived in beautiful houses, the Zulu, the Xhosa, the Sotho, and the Tswana, were forced into crowded slums and reduced to squalor. Mixing of races was illegal, and people like comedian Trevor Noah were “born a crime.”
In 1986, the Bishop of Johannesburg, Desmond Tutu, was made Archbishop of Cape Town, and he continued to devote his ministry to end Apartheid.
In 1994, the laws begin to lax. Nelson Mandela is elected South Africa’s first black president. And in 1996, they together begin the work of ––not revenge,–– but reconciliation.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was about the work of RESTORATIVE JUSTICE. This was not about retribution or appropriations. This was about the transformation of the heart. In these courts of restorative justice, the two sides had to sit together, while the victim shared their stories of abuse. The goal was forgiveness, however long it may take.
About this difficult process of forgiveness, Archbishop Tutu had this to say,
“Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end, it is worthwhile, because in the end, only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.”
True love requires a transformation of the heart. It does not make us superhuman. It does not take the pain away. But it does bring us closer to each other, and thereby brings us closer to God.
Lent is right around the corner, a time when we are charged with examining our hearts.I promise you, there is always room for a little more transformation.
So what does Jesus call us to do? How do we live like Joseph and Desmond Tutu?
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
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 it will be given to you.
You have your charge. May you rise every day and strive to keep it. Transform your hearts, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Rev. J. Nelson - Epiphany 7C Sermon - February 17, 2019
St. David of Wales Episcopal Church - Elkhart, Indiana
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