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 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.”
Break the Cycle, God’s answer in Forgiveness
People often mistake forgiveness for a feeling, but it goes much deeper than that. Basically, forgiveness boils down to a choice, an act of free will. There are a good many people who withhold forgiveness for one reason or another; anger, spite, revenge. But what does withholding forgiveness accomplish? Before we go any further, we need to understand several things that are essentially when it comes to forgiveness.
First forgiveness isn’t an option. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus makes the fact that forgiveness isn’t optional very clear. In the 5th petition of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Jesus then clarified this further in verses 14 and 15 where He tells us, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” I don’t know how much clearer Jesus can get! Second, forgiveness benefits you more than the one you are forgiving.
Thinks about it. How often has someone you know spent years withholding forgiveness only to find that the person that needed forgiving, wasn’t even aware that they had done something wrong? The person needing to forgive was racked with resentment, malice, even hatred and would take every opportunity to talk bad about the other person. In reality, one sin can lead to another. So, who was the one suffering? The answer is simple, the person withholding forgiveness. Forgiveness is the first step in a healing process. Unless forgiveness is given, a person can never really move forward, wholeness can never be fully achieved. When you really think about it, forgiving others does us more good than the one who offended us. Finally, we need to recognize that forgiveness in this world has nothing to do with consequences.
God’s forgiveness of course wipes out the punishment for sin, that is death. But in this world, between people, forgiveness doesn’t necessarily erase the consequences of the sin. A really good example of the positive effect of forgiveness can be seen in the church shooting in South Carolina. The families of the victims Dillan Roof killed publicly extended forgiveness to Dillan Roof for the murders he committed. This allowed that community to move forward and allow the healing process to begin. This act had no effect on the legal process that Dillan went through. Dillan was tried and convicted for his crimes and is now on death row in Indiana. If the families withheld forgiveness, what difference would that have made to Dillan, or at his trial? Conversely, what difference has that had for those family members?
Anytime we talk about forgiveness we need to remember these three things: Forgiveness isn’t optional, Jesus makes that clear. Forgiveness is the first act that enables healing to begin and relationships to mend. Finally, forgiveness has nothing to do with the consequences of the sin in this life. In our Old Testament reading for today, we have the story of Joseph, another great story of the effects forgiveness can have on a person, a family and a nation. But before we get to our first reading, it might be good to refresh our memories a bit about the whole story which starts back in chapter 37.
Joseph, the elder of the two sons of Jacob by Rachel, comes to the pages of the biblical account at age seventeen. He is first seen tending his father’s flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, Jacob’s other wives. The biblical account doesn’t go into detail about what happened while in the fields, but Joseph comes back from helping tend the sheep with “a bad report” about his brothers.
Jacob loved Joseph and favored him over the others because he was the youngest and was born to Jacob in his old age. Jacob didn’t make the situation between the brothers any better since he liked to spoil Joseph. After the incident with the “bad report” Jacob infuriates his other sons by giving Joseph a long tunic with sleeves that young people of the richer class wore (Gen. 37:2).
To further fuel the hatred of Joseph by his brothers, Joseph had a dream that all of the family would bow down to him. The perceived insult drove a wedge in the relationship between him and the others to a breaking point. The Bible tells us that Joseph’s brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, and Jacob asked Joseph to go check on them and their exact location. After arriving at Shechem, he discovered that they had moved their flocks to greener grass toward Dothan.
So, Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams” (Gen. 37:17b-20).
Reuben, the oldest of Jacob’s sons, came back into the circle and discovered what was being said and quickly stopped their murderous plot. He devised a plan to throw Joseph into an empty cistern with plans to return and rescue him. When Joseph arrived at the site he was seized, stripped of his robe, and thrown into the reservoir. Reuben had returned to the flock. While he was gone a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead on their way to Egypt. Brother Judah decided that instead of killing him, why not make some money on the side by selling Joseph as a slave. When Reuben returned to the camp, he discovered what had been done and immediately tore his clothes. The brothers then hatched another plan to lie to their father, telling him that his favorite son was dead. As I said before, one sin can lead to another when forgiveness isn’t given.
As we know from the Bible, Joseph’s life after these events changed forever. He was probably mistreated by the Midianite slave traders. Joseph ended up as a slave, was lied about, and was imprisoned for a minimum of two years before a glimmer of hope shone through, only to be dashed again as a longer stay ensued. After two more years, Joseph’s deliverance came. Pharaoh dreamed an unusual dream and needed an interpretation. Finally, someone remembered Joseph could interpret dreams and he was finally released from prison and bondage. His meteoric rise to prominence, power and wealth came only after years of frustration, pain, and suffering.
After some 30 years and a complicated series of intrigue, Joseph meets his brothers again. He’s no longer the same Joseph in physical appearance. The years of hardship took the edge off his arrogance, and God worked on his heart as well. By human standards, Joseph had every right to be bitter and hate his brothers. But how would him harboring resentment all those years have affected the story? How could Joseph have known that God had a bigger plan in mind while be went through his time of trial? If Joseph had allowed hatred to rule, would he have been able to win the favor of the jailors, the cup bearer and eventually the Pharaoh? I bet the story of Joseph would have had a completely different ending if he had allowed animosity to rule in his life.
But Joseph did forgive and because he did, God used him to rescue and save the future generations of Israel. Forgiveness allowed Joseph to heal and move on. Another person described the effect forgiveness has on a person in this way. “Forgiving involves acknowledging your hurt, releasing your thoughts about the violation and giving up the desire to pay the offender back … forgiving has more to do with your own spiritual and mental health than it does with the one who wronged you. Forgiving another releases the one who hurt you from your wrath, but — more importantly — it frees you from the bondage of unforgiveness.”
Forgiveness releases us from the bondage of an unforgiving spirit from anyone a mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, colleague, pastor, church member, or anyone else. The principles of forgiveness remain steady and today’s Old Testament lesson reveals some of those basic principles. First it helps us break the cycle of an unforgiving spirit as we acknowledge our attitude.
Dr. Norman Wright states, “If we don’t forgive, that means we are carrying resentment and bitterness.” Resentment and bitterness mimic a physical cancer that eats away at the healthy body cells and can cause death. Resentment and bitterness can destroy our emotional, psychological, and spiritual life if left unchecked and unhealed. The New Testament word for bitterness is from the root pic and means “to cut or prick.” Literally, it is pointed, sharp, or pungent in its action and feelings. Bitterness manifests itself as prejudice, an acrid tongue, exaggerated lies, and revenge. Chuck Swindoll illustrates this in his book, Seasons of Life.
Pastor Swindoll writes that during his time in the Marine Corps he and his wife rented a studio apartment from a man in south San Francisco named Mr. Slagle. During World War II Mr. Slagle was captured at Wake Island and for years he languished in a prison camp. It was in the prison camp that an enemy soldier struck him with a rifle butt and injured his back, which plagued him the rest of his life.
Swindoll tells that every single time he visited his landlord he would relate story after story of how barbarically he had been mistreated. Using vile language and intense emotion, he spoke of the tortures he endured at the hands of his Japanese captors and his utter hatred for them. His pain and misery were constant reminders of his hatred.
But there was another factor which made his existence even more lamentable. Our landlord became a bitter man.
Even though (at that time) he was thirteen years removed from the war … even though he had been safely released from the concentration camp and was now able to carry on physically … even though he and his wife owned a lovely dwelling and had a comfortable income, the crippled man was bound by the grip of bitterness. He was still fighting a battle that should have ended years before. In a very real sense, he was still in prison.
You cannot conceal bitterness because it raises its ugly head often. The root of bitterness bears the fruit of bitter actions. Bitterness imprisons us as we refuse to forgive a friend, relative, or stranger for a sinful, foolish, or sometimes ignorant act. Inner torment will ride alongside us every day of our lives until we forgive. However, when we decide to disclose the problem to Christ, that’s the beginning of forgiveness and healing.
Paul had it right when he wrote, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:31-32). The second lesson we can learn from Joseph’s story is that God helps us break the cycle of an unforgiving spirit as we acknowledge our need of forgiveness. Paul reminds us in Colossians, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (3:13).
As we battle forgiving others, we need to remember that God freely forgives those who are truly repentant and who are ready to forgive those who trespass against us. We were forgiven in the waters of Baptism and anytime we come to God with a contrite heart. No, forgiveness isn’t easy all the time, but it is expected, and God will help us through the process. We need to bear in mind that in Jesus, forgiveness is a debt of sin cancelled. Everything that we’ve done against God is forgiven as soon as we ask. We also need to remember that forgiveness is a journey. The awful gulf of sin that separates us from God has been bridged by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We can continually walk across that bridge as needed. When ill feelings toward another comes to mind or the emotion resurface, we can go immediately to God and ask Him to help us deal with the feelings. The fact that forgiveness has taken place doesn’t necessarily mean that feelings don’t resurface. It’s a process that can take years. We also need to remember that forgiveness is also a choice.
We choose to forgive as part of our willingness to give it up. Forgiveness isn’t done without our knowledge. It isn’t a surprise! It’s a choice. Forgiveness also allows God’s love to flow through us to someone else. As a Christian we cannot horde God’s love, but rather, we must give it away. Even when we get hurt, we need to demonstrate God’s love. Third, God helps us break the cycle of an unforgiving spirit as we acknowledge our need to move forward. Joseph could have been harsh and taken his revenge out on his brothers in response to their actions. Joseph instead choose to trust God and forward.
Once Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he tells them to go back and bring his/their father to Egypt where all of them will live in comfort and peace. Joseph doesn’t renege on his promise or on his forgiveness. And because of this forgiveness and reconciliation, Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children (Gen 47:11-12).
It’s obvious from the story that Joseph didn’t hold a grudge or hatred in his heart. The question for us is, how do we start the journey of forgiveness? Again, the answer is found in Joseph’s story. Joseph tells his brothers, “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For 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. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So 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. Hurry 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” (Gen. 45:5-9).
Forgiving others isn’t always easy, but it is necessary. The answer to the question, “How do we begin the journey of forgiveness?” is God. God extended forgiveness long before we even knew we needed forgiving and He continues to forgive anytime we come to Him asking and when we are willing to forgive those who sin against us. Remember, forgiveness isn’t optional, and forgiveness allows healing to begin. As Chuck Swindoll wrote in his final paragraph about Mr. Slagle. For your sake, let me urge you to “put away all bitterness” now. There’s no reason to stay in POW camp a minute longer. The escape route is clearly marked. It leads to the cross … where the only one who had a right to be bitter wasn’t. Amen.
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