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.

Sermons now on youtube

I am experimenting with youtube right now.  Greg Brauer recorded my most recent sermon and you can find it here: http://youtu.be/RNylLMoL_z0

April 27, 2014: John 20:19-31

Year A, Easter 2                                                        

 

During my first year of seminary, I had to read a book called We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families.  It was about the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.  There are two main tribes in Rwanda: the Hutus and the Tutsis.  They lived in relative peace, often as neighbors. The Hutus made up 85% of the population.  In 1994 Hutu extremists began a plot to wipe out the entire Tutsi population.  It is estimated that 800,000 Rwandans were killed in a matter of months, the majority were Tutsis.  Seventy percent of the Tutsi population was killed. That book was one of the most painful things I have ever read.  It primarily covered what led up to the genocide, the killing itself, and then a very brief aftermath. While I think about that book every time I see an article about Rwanda, I have not read much about it until this week.

Just this week I saw a piece in the New York Times magazine called, “Portraits of Reconciliation.”  This piece ran on the 20 year anniversary of the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda.  It was here that I read more about what came in the years after the genocide.  When the killing and looting finally ended, the Tutsis (the tribe that was almost obliterated) returned to their homes to find that they were living next door to people who had brutally murdered their families and driven them out.  As you can imagine, this was a difficult way to live.  There were court trials and some of the people who had committed the atrocities were sent to jail, but they eventually got out if they were convicted at all.  The justice system was not equipped for this kind of mass slaughter, and it certainly could not help people emotionally.

A Roman Catholic group aptly called “Pax Christi,” [1] stepped in and introduced a totally different model, reconciliation.  They[2] worked with small groups of Hutus and Tutsis and counseled them over many months.  At the end of the program, the perpetrator would formally request forgiveness from the victim.  If forgiveness was offered, the perpetrator would present the victim with an offering (usually food and banana beer).  

I often wonder what it was like for the disciples to see Jesus after they had abandoned him and denied him.  It probably had not occurred to them that they would see him again, certainly not so soon.  Jesus was aware of their angst and guilt and started with a fairly standard greeting, “Peace be with you.”  But then he followed it up with something a little new.  “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

It might seem strange that he did not tell them that they were forgiven.  They had committed some pretty egregious sins. One would think they needed that forgiveness.  If you were here on Maundy Thursday, you might remember that Jesus had already forgiven his disciples when he washed their feet.  He forgave them before they even knew that they needed to be forgiven.  So he did not have to tell them again. Now he was commissioning them to proclaim God’s forgiveness to other people.  We forgive one another in one sense, but when there is a sin that is committed, it is only God who can forgive.  What we do is tap into that that forgiveness.  We proclaim that forgiveness…which you would think would be easier to do than the actual forgiving…but it’s still pretty hard.

Each portrait in the Times’ piece depicted two people: the person who had perpetrated the crime and the person who had suffered from that crime.  One of the pictures depicts a man who killed a family and the mother of the family sits right next to him.  One story was about a woman who was chased from her village.  She became homeless and insane.  She returned to find her home destroyed.  Her husband was gone and she had to care for her children.  One of the men who looted her home asked her forgiveness.  She granted it (although not easily) and he brought 50 people, many who had committed atrocities during the genocide, and rebuilt her home.  In the interview the woman said, “Ever since then, I have started to feel better. I was like a dry stick; now I feel peaceful in my heart, and I share this peace with my neighbors.”[3]

When she compared herself to a dry stick, I was reminded of a line from Psalm 22 that we heard on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  “My strength is dried up like a potsherd.”  A potsherd is like an old piece of pottery you might find in the ground.  Sometimes we all feel that dryness.  It’s that feeling of being brittle and weak, like we might fall apart at any moment.  Or maybe we are just thirsty, in need of something to sustain us.  The thing that quenched her dry body and heart was the freedom to forgive.  Once she forgave, she was able to find peace and share that peace.

It is no wonder that Jesus brought both peace and a challenge to forgive when he came to the disciples.  He knew that they would need to share this message of forgiveness with others because it is not something that comes to us naturally.  It can be a very hard thing to do.  I have always found the line “If you retain the sins of any, they are retained” to be a little strange.  Does that mean that we can withhold God’s forgiveness?  Of course not.  We cannot control who God forgives.  But we can withhold forgiveness in the sense that when we refuse to forgive, we hold on to that sin…we retain it.  We become like a dry stick, brittle and weak. 

            When you look at the portraits, and I encourage you to do so, you will not see warm and fuzzy images.  Most of the people look pretty awkward. Some have become close, but most have not.  Part of the reason they forgave was because they had to live with these people.  It was the only way they could survive.  We think that when we forgive, when we share God’s forgiveness that it will be easy and natural.  Usually it’s not.  That dry and brittle feeling might stick around for awhile.  When Jesus returned, he made sure to show his disciples his wounds.  Even though he was back from the dead, he still carried his wounds.  Forgiving others…forgiving ourselves does not erase the wounds, it transforms them into something else.  Sometimes that transformation will take longer than 3 days….maybe longer than 3 or 30 years.

            The man who looted the home of the woman I quoted also spoke of the process of reconciliation.  He said, “I had lost my humanity because of the crime I committed, but now I am like any human being.”  It is amazing to me that we can lose our humanity.  People can take it from us; sin can take it from us.  At least it feels that way.  But God never takes away our humanity.  That is God’s gift to us.  We are created in God’s image and no one can change that.  We tarnish ourselves and we tarnish others, but God’s image is always there, waiting to shine through.

            It made me smile when I read that part of the reconciliation process is for the perpetrator to bring an offering of food and banana beer. I thought, that seems like a pretty pathetic offering in comparison to what they did.  Then I thought of what we offer to God on Sundays.  We bring wine and bread.  We might bring some food for the local food pantry, and then whatever money we can spare.  This is the offering we give to Jesus for his sacrifice on the cross.  At least the food they offer in Rwanda is fresh!  Those wafers are the most stale bread you can imagine. 

But that’s not really what the offering is about is it? Psalm 51 says, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.”  The banana beer and wine is nice, but what God really wants is a contrite heart and heart ready to forgive.  A broken and contrite heart might feel brittle and weak to us.  To God, it is the most beautiful and powerful thing we can offer. 

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[1] http://www.paxchristi.net/member-organizations/rwanda/193

[2] Association Modest et Innocent (AMI) was the specific group that worked in Rwanda.

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/06/magazine/06-pieter-hugo-rwanda-portraits.html?_r=0