Naming the Evil: February 23, 2025

 Year C, Epiphany 6                                    Genesis 45:3-11,15                                                                                                          

          I have three older brothers. The oldest is 13 years older than me, the youngest is 8 years older. We were on very different levels when I was young. They were always doing something interesting and I was talking to my dolls or trying to get someone to play with me.  Once when I was pretty young, they were trying to create booby traps in a wooded area near our house.  They dug a large hole and covered it with branches. I was looking for them and fell right into the hole.  They thought this was hilarious.  But when they were done laughing they pulled me out.  I wasn’t hurt, but it was mildly traumatic.

However, this can’t compare to what Joseph’s brothers did to him.  Joseph was one of the youngest in the family, a family of 12 boys. His father Jacob was not shy in showing that Joseph was the favorite, which caused resentment with his older brothers. To make things worse, Joseph was a little obnoxious.  He liked to tell his brothers about his dreams, dreams where they were bowing before him.  So they decided to get rid of him, which I think we can agree was a bit of an extreme way to handle an annoying younger sibling.

When they were very far from home, they decided to throw him in a deep pit and leave him there, with no water or food. This way no one could say that they actually killed him, because he could have possibly escaped.  While Joseph sat at the bottom of the pit, they took a break and had lunch.  Some traders came by on their way to Egypt and the brothers thought, hey we might as well make some money on this whole thing and sold their brother to the traders.  They went home and told their father that Joseph was killed by a wild animal. Now, I think we can all agree that these brothers were horrible and Joseph would have some good reasons to carry a grudge.

          There are a lot of things that happened to Joseph when he got to Egypt, but eventually he was given the opportunity to interpret the dreams of the pharaoh and he predicted a 7 year drought and famine that would be preceded by 7 years of plenty.  The pharaoh was so impressed by this prediction he put Joseph in charge of the land so that they would be prepared for the famine.  Joseph did a great job preparing for the famine and when we come to our reading for today, they were 2 years into the famine. 

People from all around were coming to Egypt to beg Joseph for food because Egypt had prepared (thanks to Joseph). That’s how Joseph’s brothers ended up appealing to Joseph.  At this point, it had been about 20 years since he had seen his brothers, which is at least one of the reasons why they didn’t recognize him until he told them who he was. 

          In our reading for today, we see this beautiful encounter between Joseph and his brothers.  While the word “forgiveness” is not used in this part of the story, Joseph’s words and actions demonstrated radical forgiveness to people who considered murdering him and then compromised by selling him into slavery. In our reading for today, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” He then promised to provide for them and their families for the next 5 years of the famine. 

          It seems astounding, even divine. From what we can see his brothers have not apologized or given him any reason to provide for them after what they did. This seems to align with our Gospel reading where Jesus said, “Forgive and you will be forgiven.”  Jesus also told us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. Is this what that looks like? Did Joseph just provide forgiveness without asking anything from his brothers?

Remember there are 7 chapters before this dramatic moment.  This is a long story arc for the Bible.  The brothers first showed up 3 chapters before.  Joseph gave them food but not before he accused them of being spies. Then while they were not looking, he instructed his servants to put the money they used to buy the food back in their bags so he could accuse them of stealing.  He didn’t, but when they found the money upon their return home, you can imagine it made them a little anxious. 

The next time they came to Egypt, Joseph planted a silver cup in the youngest brother’s bag and then sent people after them to accuse them of stealing the cup.  He said that the youngest brother, Benjamin would have to be detained in Egypt.  The brothers knew this would kill their father, who had already lost one son. And Benjamin was the one brother who had not been part of the plot to kill Joseph. He was the only innocent one.  So an older brother, Judah, offered to stay and be a slave in place of him.  It was only then…when Joseph saw that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the one innocent one, when he finally admitted who he was.

And notice how he introduces himself.  He doesn’t say, “It’s Joseph---your long lost brother.” He said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”   He reminded them of what they had done.  He named the evil that they had perpetrated and then added that God had allowed good to come out of it.  He named the evil and also the redemption that God had made possible.  It was only then when they could start the process of reconciliation. And it was a process.  It wasn’t until their father Jacob had died that the brothers finally asked for Joseph’s forgiveness.

I think sometimes when we consider our faith, we think it should be easy.  We say, well Jesus told us to love our enemies, but that is totally unrealistic. We don’t need to even try.  Joseph gives us a model for loving those who hurt us…and he shows us it can be painful, gut wrenching. I don’t have definitive proof of this, but I am pretty sure that no one weeps as much as Joseph does, in the entire Bible.  Over the course of the story, he broke down weeping 7 times…and that was after seeing his brothers.  The author of Genesis doesn’t even mention him weeping when he was sold into slavery…only after being reunited with his family.  That was when the really hard work began.  Both sides had to do the work.  When Joseph’s father died, the brothers were terrified that Joseph would now punish them. They were incredibly aware of what they had done wrong, how it affected their father, and of course Joseph.  Love and reconciliation is hard work, for everyone.

Another thing I love about this story is that not only does it show what forgiveness can look like, it shows us what leadership and the proper use of power looks like.  Joseph saved a nation from starving by being a good steward. When people came to him begging for food, he didn’t make them grovel. He didn’t take more from them then he needed. He helped them. 

In a later chapter, there is a story of people having to sell their animals and their land to Joseph so they could have food. That meant that when the famine was over, they would have no way to provide for themselves.  Joseph bought the land, but told them that when the famine was over, they could keep 4/5 of the yield and share 1/5 with the pharaoh. 

Joseph did this because he knew that he had all this because of what God had given him, so of course he wasn’t going to hoard it all for the pharaoh.  We have all seen examples of how power and money can corrupt people, but this story shows us that it doesn’t have to be that way. There is always room for mercy and forgiveness. It might make things a little more difficult, but it’s worth it. It’s always worth it.

Who's child is this? December 18, 2017

Year A, Advent 4                                                      

Matthew 1:18-25                                                                   

            One of the things that you have to come to terms with when you have chosen to adopt is that it is unlikely that you will have a child who looks like you.  No one will ever say, “He’s got your smile” or “Wow, look at those eyes…I wonder where they came from?”  It’s a small thing….especially when you see your child smile and you think, “There could be no smile more beautiful than that smile.”  But it’s still something that you need to consider.

            When we talk about the story of Joseph (which we don’t do very often) the focus is usually his reaction to the information that his fiancée is pregnant and it’s definitely not his child.  We usually refer to Mary and Joseph as engaged.  This is not the most accurate translation.  Our understanding of engagement today and what it was at this time period are two very different things. Today there are elaborate proposals and photo documentation of the proposal. Engagements are important.  It is a commitment, but it is also pretty easy to break.  In the time when Jesus and Mary lived, engagements were more than a ring and an extended time to plan the perfect wedding. An engagement (or more accurately a betrothal) was a legal agreement that two families made.  After the betrothal, they were legally wed, but not yet living together.  To break a betrothal, one had to get a divorce.  To have relations with someone other than your betrothed would be adultery.  It had the same punishment for the woman…public stoning.

            One can only imagine what Joseph felt in hearing that his wife was pregnant.  Despite the fact that they did not live together, they were still referred to as husband and wife.  He must have felt betrayed by her and even her family who had arranged this.  Most likely, their marriage had been planned for years, perhaps their whole lives.  Suddenly, his whole life was changed.  Certainly, he could find another wife. Yet even if he could, people would still wonder if the child Mary had was actually his and he divorced her so no one would condemn him for having marital relations before they were officially married.  He could have survived the embarrassment and shame, but it would have probably followed him and his whole family the rest of their lives. These are all reasonable assumptions for his initial reaction to the news.

            What I wonder is what he felt after the angel came and told him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All we know is that Joseph woke up and followed the angel’s instructions.  He took Mary as his wife.  Let’s assume for a minute that there was no doubt in Joseph’s mind that this had really happened….an angel had appeared to him and told him that the child who would be born to his wife was actually the child of God.  The father of the child was God.  Did he wonder: what is this child going to look like?  Will he look like God?  What does God look like?  Will God give this child the physical attributes of Mary but no attributes of me?  When this child comes out of Mary’s womb and I cradle him in my arms, who will I see….my son or the son of God?

            I like to think that Joseph was asking these mundane and rational questions, because that is what I would be wondering.  Now that we know the whole story, they seem like foolish questions.  But all he knew was that that this child was from the Holy Spirit.  In this time period, the first son was a very important thing in a family.  The first born would very likely acquire all that the father had.  The first son had a position of importance. Yet was this Joseph’s first son?  The questions that were whirling around his head and almost surely the head of Mary must have been unlimited. 

Think about it, everyone wonders what their child will become.  Will he be an athlete…a musician, a scientist.  Those were not the questions Jesus’s parents had.  Their son would save the world.  I am sure that put all their concerns to rest.  After this initial dream with the angel….consider the dreams or nightmares that followed.  Perhaps this child would come out of Mary not as a baby…but as a full grown man.  No baby could save the world.  That is ludicrous.  He would have huge eyes that would see all things and a huge head that would know all things.  The possibilities are terrifying.

            Who knows what he must have envisioned in the dead of night as he lay awake with fear and anxiety? What we know is this:  Joseph took Mary as his wife and he claimed Jesus as his son.  He might have looked at Jesus and seen Mary’s eyes or Mary’s smile. But I bet what he really saw was what we all see when we see babies.  He saw a miracle.  He saw a child of God…someone so precious that God had to be involved somehow. At that moment, it did not matter if he had his DNA…he had God’s DNA. He was infused with the Holy Spirt.  He was love in the flesh.

            People make a big deal of the fact that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus.  For some, it has even become a litmus test for true Christian faith.  For my part, I believe that Mary was a virgin.  I believe that is important not because it makes her pure or holy, but because it makes it clear to all of us, that this child born was no ordinary child, no matter how ordinary he looked.  The virgin birth and Joseph’s acceptance of that story is proof that something special was happening…something beyond our understanding.  We can tell the story over and over again, but we can never make it our own.  We can never tame this story because it is so amazing, so out of this world.   

            When Joseph looked into that newborn’s eyes, he saw pieces of himself…not because this child carried his DNA, but because this child knew him more than anyone else. This child could see into the depth of his soul.  At this time of year, we have an amazing opportunity. We have the chance to imagine the eyes of Jesus, the eyes that know us and loves us….without condition. We have the chance to see ourselves through those eyes, just like Joseph saw himself in Jesus’ eyes. 

Let’s try it. Let’s close our eyes for and take a deep breath.  Then for a moment, imagine that you can see the eyes of Jesus and you see yourself reflected in those eyes. What do you see? Do you see beauty? Do you see pain? Whatever you see, don’t allow yourself to judge what you see. This is not a mirror you are looking at…this is you, through Jesus’ eyes.  What you see is holy.  What you see is your divine image.  Take that with you when you leave this place.  Remember that you are holy and that you too carry the Holy Spirit.  Let that be your Christmas miracle.