First Reading: Genesis 45:3-15
3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. 4So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.
Psalm 103:1-13
1Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. 3He forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities; 4He redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and lovingkindness; 5He satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like an eagle’s. 6The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed. 7He made his ways known to Moses and his works to the children of Israel. 8The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. 9He will not always accuse us, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness. 11For as the heavens are high above the earth, so is his mercy great upon those who fear him. 12As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us. 13As a father cares for his children, so does the Lord care for those who fear him.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:21-26, 30-42
21For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
30Why are we in danger every hour? 31I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 34Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
27{Jesus said,} “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 32If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Anger vs. Hate, and Enemies
Our Old Testament reading for today involves a familiar character, Joseph. If asked, most people will recall the coat of many colors when this patriarch’s name is mentioned. This is, of course, just a small part of the whole Joseph story. What many seem to forget is that by age seventeen, Joseph was a spoiled brat and something of a tattletale. And while these attributes of Joseph aren’t ones we like to recall, they are important to acknowledge, to better understand the full impact of today’s text.
Chapter 37 of Genesis describes this in vivid detail. As the youngest of many children, and born late in his father’s life, Joseph became Jacob’s favorite. Sadly, Jacob did little to discourage or disguise this fact. While Jacob’s other sons wore the typical knee-length sleeveless tunics, Jacob made his “favorite” son a colorful, long and luxurious robe, with full sleeves. Additionally, Joseph alienated himself further from his siblings by bringing Jacob bad reports of their shepherding work. Around home Joseph often taunted his brothers even more by sharing his dreams in which they all bowed down to him. We’ve all seen this kind on TV, we call them trust-fund kids.
It’s no wonder Joseph wasn’t popular with his brothers. Nor is it surprising to read that Joseph’s brothers couldn’t bring themselves to speak a kind word to him. Finally, the conflict reached the point of no return. Jacob sent Joseph to check up on his brothers, who were tending the flocks near Shechem, a few days’ journey from home. When his brothers saw Joseph coming, they plotted their revenge. It’s hard to blame them for their anger. Joseph had been nothing but a source of trouble for them since the day he was born. They did all the hard work. They were faithful to their father, yet Joseph received the gifts and the love that was rightfully, justly, theirs. So, they plotted.
When Joseph arrives at their camp, they seize him and plan to rid themselves of their trouble-making brother. However, Ruben, the oldest, intervenes and talks them out of killing him. Instead, they came up with a plan to strip Joseph of his robe of luxury and throw him into an empty cistern used for gathering rainwater. Eventually, when a caravan of traders, on its way to Egypt, passed by, Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Ishmaelite traders for twenty pieces of silver. As far as they were concerned, Joseph, the story telling, tattletale, spoiled brat, would no longer trouble them. To cover their vengeful deed, they sprinkled goat’s blood on Joseph’s robe and returned it to a grieving father, speculating that Joseph must have been killed by a wild animal. As my parents were fond of telling us boys, two wrongs never make a right.
Joseph certainly was a source of frustration for his brothers, and for more reasons than one, they had good cause to be angry with him. However, one sin can never cancel another, especially an even more grievous sin than the first. And when we ponder this story further, we must ask the question, who in the end had a greater right to be angry? The brothers who felt slighted by their father, or Joseph who endured being sold into slavery, was falsely accused, thrown in prison and then forgotten by the one person who he thought would help him? This story, and our gospel reading for today, compels us to confront three things, anger, hatred, and enemies.
Another passage I struggle with is found in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, “Be angry and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity (4:26-27). The question for us to wrestle with is, how can we be angry and yet not sin? For me this is a difficult struggle for many people today. In a world that equates disagreement with hate, it’s difficult to find room in this command for discussion. As I was examining this passage with the other pastors, I decided to look up the definition of anger. According to the dictionary, anger is “a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.”
Now the emotion of anger is something we all experience. Anger, of course, comes in varying degrees from annoyance to feelings of retaliation. When someone steals the parking spot you’re waiting for, you feel angry. When you listen to stories of child abuse or exploitation, or are witness to social injustices, we feel anger toward the perpetrators. When someone harms our loved ones, we might even feel a certain level of rage. The fine line that we cross is when the feeling of annoyance or displeasure turns into feelings of hate and the desire to seek revenge. When feelings of annoyance cause us to go from praying for the individual to wishing the other person harm, we’ve crossed the line between understandable irritation and sin. We can be angry and still love our neighbor as God commands. It’s about what’s in our hearts.
Someone once said that anger turned inward can lead to depression while anger turned outward can lead to hate. Hate, of course, is a very strong emotion and the line between it and anger can be thin. Again, turning to the Merium Webster’s dictionary, hate is defined as “an intense feeling or passionate dislike for another.” It’s important for us to know the difference between the two, in order for us to manage our emotions.
According to Dr. Carlos Todd, “Anger and hate are two powerful and complex emotions that often intertwine, but they have distinct characteristics that set them apart. Anger is a universal human emotion that arises in response to perceived threats, injustices, or frustrations. It is a natural and often temporary emotional state ranging from mild irritation to intense fury. Hate, on the other hand, goes beyond anger.
It is a deep-seated and intense aversion towards someone or something, often fueled by resentment, hostility, and prejudice. Understanding the difference between anger and hate is essential for navigating our emotions and relationships in a healthy and constructive manor. While anger can be a normal response to a specific situation, hate is a more extreme and enduring emotion with far-reaching consequences.”
And to see the extent to which hatred can drive people, one only needs to turn to our history books, or the nightly news, there we can see examples of how once anger turns to hatred, the horrible things people can do, and have done, to others. Even though present day society has misused and abused this word, hatred is still something we must be very careful of. There are several passages in the Bible that warn us about hatred.
St John reminds us, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). This is why Jesus stressed reconciliation. Jesus said, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering (Matthew 5:23-24).
And in Matthew 18 Jesus said, “If your brother sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (vss. 16-18). It’s important that we never let anger toward another fester, when we do, we not only risk that anger turning into hatred, we risk leaving the door open for satan.
The truth is, we must take serious the words of our Confession at the beginning of our service, “We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We sin in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” Sure, the thought of getting even may feel good at the time, but invariably it only results in more trouble. And what about the feelings of guilt? Oftentimes, one or both of the parties will question whether or not that an action of retaliation will result in an even greater retaliatory act. And when one side decides to stop the process and try and reconcile, the other may not trust the reconciliatory gesture. Case and point, look just 5 chapters later, Joseph is having to repeat his words of forgiveness to his brothers. Despite all Joseph has done to this point, the guilt the brother feel prevents them from truly accepting Jospeh’s forgiveness.
If you turn to chapter 50, we read that Joseph’s father, Jacob has died. Because of the guilt felt by the brothers, they have been unable to accept that Joseph has truly forgiven them. Starting in verse 15 we read, “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children” (vss. 15-19). By worldly standards, Joseph had every right to seek retribution against his brothers. But Joseph saw all that God had done through him and was able to forgive them from his heart. Anger and hatred bring strife, forgiveness and kindness bring reconciliation and peace. At the beginning of the sermon, I mentioned that we need to understand the difference between anger, hate, and enemies.
In our gospel reading for today, Jesus is very clear when He said, “love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (vss. 35-36). These two verses contain a lot of instructions, and I could spend another 20 minutes just looking at each aspect of Jesus’ command. But for now, I want to focus on the first three words in light of verse 36, “Love your enemies…Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
Again, going back to the dictionary, an enemy is defined as, “one that is antagonistic to another, especially, one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent.” Sadly, it seems that in our current culture, the line between who is an enemy and who is a friend is very thin. Disagreements over the climate debate, politics, discrimination, world conflicts, and so much more are so sharp that violence ensues even over small and perceived differences. We saw an example of this on Wednesday in New York City between Palestinian supporters and the Jewish community. We must acknowledge that the issues being faced in the Middle East are complex, and the only way to solve them is through cooperation. One must be willing to love their enemy before any conflict can be resolved. Sadly, Christians aren’t always the poster children for ones who love their neighbor.
Conflicts within churches have caused splits in congregations over the most inane things. I’ve told you about a church body splitting over the length of the altar candles. So, with Christian conflicts in mind, Thom Rainer did a twitter survey asking for the most absurd reasons that caused churches to split. Out of his top 25, I picked my top 7: 1) Argument over the appropriate length of the assisting minister’s beard verses that of the pastor. 2) A heated argument over the type of filing cabinet to purchase, black or brown; 2, 3, or 4 drawers. 3) A fight over which picture of Jesus to hang in the foyer. 4) A dispute over whether the worship leader should have his shoes on during the service. 5) An argument over whether the church should allow deviled eggs at the church’s fellowship meal. 6) Some church members left the church because one church member hid the vacuum cleaner from them. And 7) A dispute over whether the church should allow people to wear black t-shirts, since black is the color of the devil.
I know I compared extremes; the issues faced by congregations over deviled eggs and color of t-shirts cannot compare to the very complex issues facing the Middle East. However, we must acknowledge that once we begin to see the other as an enemy, there is no love in our heart. And once we refuse to love our neighbor, for whatever reason, conflict will result and so will stronger reactions. To continue to love one’s neighbor even during disagreements is hard, but it’s what God commands us to do. Moreso, God commands us to be charitable to our enemies, in the same way God is charitable to us.
Anger, hatred, enemies, all three are things we need to guard against doing or making. In response to all these, Jesus’ answer is simple, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” When Kenneth Godfrey of Locust Grove, Georgia was eighteen years old his father died. For as long as he could remember, his father owned and operated a service station and people purchased items on credit. After his father died, he and his mother tried to run the service station. His mother opened the station every morning and after school Kenneth went down and worked until they closed.
As he worked in the office, he noticed a large file which listed the debts that had accumulated through the years. Since his father had died, people refused to pay what they owed. This bothered Kenneth. Statements were sent and the statements were ignored. After a year and a half Kenneth and his mother sold the service station and got out of the business. They kept that file of debts, in hopes that those who owed them would someday pay. Another year went by.
One Sunday afternoon Kenneth’s mother walked into the room with that file of debts in her hand and announced, “Son there’s something that’s eating at me about these debts and I have decided to do something about them.” Kenneth thought, we’re finally going to get a lawyer. Kenneth asked, “What are you going to do?” She said, “I’m going to forgive them.” “How are you going to do that?” Kenneth asked. She said, “Follow me and I’ll show you.” They went out into the backyard and gathered some sticks and made a fire on an old BBQ grill.
Once the fire was going, she opened the file of debts, took one out, read their name out loud, tore the debt in half and said, “I forgive you,” and dropped it into the fire. She looked at Kenneth and asked, “Son, would you want to try it?” Kenneth said, “I don’t think I can.” His mother said, “Son, you don’t have a choice about it, if you want to be forgiven, you must forgive them.” Kenneth stood there in silence watching her burning those debts. Finally, he slowly reached into the file, got out a debt, read their name out loud, tore it up and dropped it into the fire. It took over half-an-hour to complete the task, but when it was finished it was as if a heavy burden had been lifted. As he forgave, he was forgiven.
“Because of this demonstration in forgiveness,” says Kenneth, “that phrase in the Lord’s prayer, `…forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…’ has taken on a whole new meaning.” Forgiving those we’re angry with, those for whom we feel hatred and even our enemies is the first step toward loving them. You say, “But pastor, what they did to me was too horrible. I can’t forgive.” My response is, first, you pray. Second, ask yourself, what has the anger, hatred, and having someone as an enemy gained me? Sleepless nights, anxiety, depression, paranoia, feelings of guilt? Far too often the line between anger and hatred, friend and enemy is hard to distinguish. However, Jesus command for us to love others is crystal clear. The saying is true, anger and hatred bring strife, forgiveness and kindness bring reconciliation and peace.
Amen