If you were raised hearing Bible stories, I wonder how you reacted to this one. Did you relate to Joseph or any of his brothers? Did any adult hold it up to you as a model of peacemaking?
It seems I’ve always related to this story with familiarity. I remember thinking “He should’ve had sisters!” Our childhood was crowded with an increasing number of siblings, squabbles and household responsibilities. We older girls washed – when possible hung – 10 loads of laundry every few days. And ironed most of it. So “sending away” an annoying younger brother – or a slacker sister – was tempting. Of course at times it seemed that mom loved the youngest best. The decades since have acted as a stretcher, separating us by distance, education, stability and now, politics.
For most of us with any sibling or close childhood peers, I suspect Genesis 45 may be a compelling text on forgiveness: Joseph, sold off, works his way to power and wealth. His traitor brothers, now hungry, try to deceive him– and he weeps, seeing them. It’s so humbling, how he embraced and forgave them.
We might wonder, could that be all his own doing? Allen Hilton, a UCC pastor in MN suggests that Joe’s forgiveness was a vehicle of providence; he had opened his soul to initiate connection, and this openness allowed reconciliation to take place.
Joseph didn’t gloss it over; he told his brothers ”It was not you, but God, who sent me here, and made this possible”.
I am aware that within many of our families such reconciliation seems inaccessible, and the further out we open our lens, to include those alienated from family, by addiction, domestic, homelessness; in foster care, refugee camps or prison cells, how much more unimaginable!
Hilton believes that Josephs’ forgiveness was crucial to the larger movement of the Israelites through Genesis, Exodus and beyond; that it was Necessary because the faith could not carry them forward without it. This story has space for everyone, he stated, regardless of our reality.
Can it help us “move on” today?
Because by temperament I mostly recover from a flash of anger fairly quickly, the reminder that I am capable of “making” or worse, “keeping” an enemy is stinging.
After 22 years I am now finding my way to love a priest under whom I served in south Florida. Hired as a pastoral associate before he arrived, afterward too frequently I was seeking out the refugee farmworkers he’d insulted and attacked – in 3 languages. He regularly denied them sacraments, funerals, and sheer decency, adding to their trauma, and provoking hot anger in me on their behalf.
I doubt I‘m the only one who’s experienced how anger for a while can be energizing, but soon siphons energy and joy. I loved the work, but the stress was bad for our family. So after 2 years, I took a position a mile down the road, to serve that precious community with greater freedom. We returned to Madison after 7 rich years, immersing ourselves in parenting, work, families of origin, this Assembly, life!
I thought we’d carried only love and gratitude, 3 kids, a cat, and our same old furniture back north. But when a friend in Immokalee recently mentioned that priest’s name matter-of-factly, it caught me short!. 1500 miles and two decades since, long after the subjects of his spite have necessarily let him go,,, I find I have carried an enemy. Tossed in a box, moved to the attic, but not forgiven.
Years ago I prayed he would see the harm he inflicted, be moved by the beauty and faith of the people, and change as I wanted him to; He didn’t.
I stopped. Now what he told me of his childhood in Brazil, the youngest of 11 he was sent to seminary – he’d said for “one less mouth to feed”; their parents likely spent. He hadn’t chosen priesthood – but it was a better gig than roofing with his brothers! This time I’ve prayed for his well-being, surrendering him to our loving creator. I feel a bit lighter for letting him go; Humbled by my tardiness; and hoping to speak of him no more. I’m also searching the attic of my soul for other “vampires” – as we call those phantom devices who suck energy even when turned off.
Through the witness of many of you from this circle and beyond, especially those who have suffered pain and losses beyond my capacity to imagine….I have been shown that through our practices of prayer and contemplation we can become aware of the pattern of our lives; we can bring even the darkness and pain to have its proper place. I don’t think it’s ever been more critical that we do.
This moment of human history requires all of us to bring all our clarity, love, and energy to support healing, reconciliation, and peace. As daunting a task as was faced by the earliest followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Our
Gospels this Sunday and last, offer direction, encouragement, and hope.
Jim did such a good setup for the Beatitudes that precede this passage, that I will highlight just a few more distinctively Lukan themes for today:
1) Luke’s Good News is clearly meant for all! Faced with enemies, we are to forgive And to bless them and wish them well, as equal children of a most compassionate God. Our lifestyle is to be determined neither by friend or enemy, but by the model of Jesus. Judgment is not our responsibility.
2) Love is an active verb in Luke, and followers are to take the initiative in loving, undeterred risk or persecution. Love flows from God’s abundance, and the power of love is found in resisting evil, through nonviolence.
3) In Luke “the poor” always includes those without food, shelter, or hope of a better life. Poverty is not metaphorical.
And 4) The rigors for those few who become disciples are demanding and not for the faint of heart. Disciples are to follow grace wherever it leads, and our transformation through that grace is the sole reward of discipleship.
With my 8 siblings so widely dispersed, our infrequent family gatherings can be fraught. As we converged for our mother’s funeral, I knew that my youngest sister would be especially stressed. She lives with my parents, grieves privately, and isn’t so comfortable in church. Before the service began,she slipped through the crowd, and pinned on each of us a nametag At the top of each one she had printed above our name, “Mom’s Favorite.” She embraced us on that day, and made us whole. True Grace.
I pray that in these weeks grace accompanies you and each of those to whom you are related by birth, choice, or accident. Let each of us keep seeking any opening in which healing might take place, attentive wherever, with whomever we are. For the powerful grace of God’s own Spirit precedes us.
Petitions: Let us pray
Let’s pray for all who work as healers in our world: for those in the medical and psychiatric fields; for funeral directors, for therapists, counselors, recovery circles, ministers, artists and musicians who draw the suffering into greater light.
For those whose work is in reconciliation: bringing together individuals, groups or nations. May their efforts be grounded in truth and committed to equity
For families of every description, that each member of every family knows love, acceptance, and joy.
We pray for all those listed in our Book of intentions, and now take a moment to quietly voice the concerns on our hearts……….
God of Compassion, through your son Jesus you opened our eyes to the depth of your love for all you have created. Hear our prayers for those in need, be they dear friend or perceived foe, and grant us the grace to offer ourselves as we can, to love and to heal by the power of your Holy Spirit.
Amen.