“Nevertheless, God Is Up To Something”             2011

Genesis 45:1-15                   Ephesians 3:16-21

 

Genesis 45:1-15

45Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. 4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. 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 five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7God 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 delay. 10You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’ 12And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

 

Ephesians 3:16-21

16I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

 

During my 20’s, I took over running a corporation when

       my business mentor and friend suddenly and unexpectedly died.

His widow repeatedly   reassured me that we would  work out

            the legalities and paperwork for me to buy out her interests,

                        so that eventually I would own the business

                              as her late husband had always promised.

 

His untimely illness and death seriously disrupted the business,

            but over the next years we worked hard & turned things around.

   The business was doing well, growing and making a nice profit.

 

I expected to be well rewarded for my efforts and hard work,

            but when I finally received and read  the agreement papers

                        that my friend’s widow  had had her attorneys prepare,

                                                 it was clear she was not going to keep her word,

                                                            and that it was her intention to cheat me.

 

I can’t describe my sense of betrayal and disappointment,

            or how angry, bitter and resentful I became.

                        I felt so foolish and naïve for having trusted her,

                                    and then vengeful,  for all her lies and dishonesty.

 

I resigned, and I became obsessed with how I had been mistreated,

            increasingly resentful, embittered and filled with hate.

                                       For months I steered every conversation to how

                                                she had taken such unfair advantage of me

                                                            and she had ruined my life and my future.

 

Eventually I recognized that my bitterness and angry resentment

            were unhealthy and self-destructive,

                        and holding me captive in a terrible place…

                                      … and that I needed to let go   and get past it.

 

Over and over

            I prayed that God would help me forgive   and find peace,

                        so that I would not resent & hate  for the rest of my life.

 

Nevertheless, for many years whenever I’d think about it,

            I’d get angry and feel that bitterness rise all over again …

                  … forgiveness & peace were not easily or quickly attained.

 

But eventually with prayer and effort, emotionally I moved on.

            I rebuild my life and career, moved in a different direction,

                             and my angry memories and bitter resentments

                                    slipped away as I was able to focus on other things…

 

             … and I felt pretty good about myself,

                    that I had finally forgiven, healed and moved past it.

 

It was much later, after I had been a pastor for several years,

            that one afternoon,  I got an unexpected phone call from her.

                        It was almost two decades since we had last spoken,

                                and somehow she had located me through the Internet.

 

   She was calling because she want to setup a meeting with me,

            and so with some reluctance I agreed to see her

                        the next time I was in the DC area to visit my parents.

    After I hung up, I was surprised how angry and tense I felt,

            as my old resentments and bitterness resurfaced again.

 

    It was several months later

            that Kathy and I sat quietly in her mansion listening to her,

                            and honestly,

                                    I still don’t understand why she wanted to meet.

 

She spoke fondly and longingly about the old days,

            but said nothing about how she had taken advantage of me.

                        There was no sense of regret or repentance,

                                    I just found it weird and strangely unsettling.

 

Afterward, as we drove away I told Kathy that my anger and à

          my resentment were gone   having turned to pity and sorrow…

 

                        … that her life was so small, shallow and impoverished;

                                    as she talked mostly about her wealth & possessions

                                                   and had tried to impress us with the silliness

                                                            of knowing lots of famous people.

 

I realized that yes, she got the money,   and she had lots of money,

        but I got a second chance, and I got to live a meaningful life;

              a fulfilling life with purpose & making a real difference.

 

Yes, she had intentionally cheated me,

          but God had more than made up for whatever she had taken;

                   and there was nothing in her mansion or bank-accounts

                         that I would consider trading  for my life with Kathy,

                                      or my satisfaction and joy at being a pastor.

 

That understanding has helped me appreciate Joseph’s story

            which is also about betrayal and God’s gracious providence;

                        about God’s amazing power and life-giving purpose

                             that can transform even evil & terrible wrongdoing

                                  into grace-driven goodness, wonder & blessings.

 

We first meet Joseph back in Genesis 37.  He’s his doting father’s

            youngest and favorite son, who is a spoiled and bratty kid.

   As a boy, Joseph has dreams about his future greatness,

            and he delights in telling his brothers that someday,

                        they will bow and grovel   when he rules over them.

 

There is also a story  about Joseph tattling on them

            and getting his brothers in trouble with their father …

                        … who rewarded Joseph by making a special coat for him.

So it is not surprising

          that neither Joseph   nor his father’s blatant favoritism

                   were well received by his older and resentful brothers.

 

           One time his father sends Joseph to check on his brothers

                        who are tending sheep in a remote and distant region.

They decide to  be rid of him once and for all,

            so they drop him into the pit of a dry well

                        and then sell him to some passing slave traders.

 

Then,  to hide their crime, they dip Joseph’s coat in some blood

            and convince their father

                        that he had been killed by a wild animal.

 

The slave traders sell him to a rich and powerful man in Egypt,

            for whom Joseph works hard, is faithful and does well,

                        and eventually is trusted to run his master’s household

                             until he is falsely accused & unjustly sent to prison.

 

Genesis describes several more twists and turns in Joseph’s life…

          … his journey from most favored son, to slave, to prisoner,

                   then finally  Pharaoh himself  puts Joseph in charge of

                             managing all of Egypt’s resources during a famine.

 

The famine was so severe and widespread that Joseph’s brothers,

            the same ones who sold him into slavery come to Egypt,

                    and end up buying grain from Joseph, unaware of who he is.

 

            Joseph arranges things   to test his brothers’ character,

                        and to determine what sort men they have become …

                                    … and it becomes clear that they have changed,

                                                they have grown and would not still do

                                                            the terrible things they did to him.

 

This passage is the culmination of the whole Joseph story,

            when he finally reveals who he is to his brothers;

                             their own long-lost brother they sold into slavery,

                                    and who is now second in command over all Egypt.

vs. 1-2

            Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.”  … And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.           

           

What a powerful moment of emotional release that must have been.

            Joseph’s feelings of anger and betrayal by his brothers,

                        for all the injustice he experienced along the way,

                                    and confronting long-buried issues of home & family

                                                of betrayal, separation and reconciliation.

                   How terribly conflicted and unsure he must have felt.

After all those years of accumulated hurt and suffering,  he wept.

 

Joseph’s behavior and emotional outburst,

            must have seemed very odd to his brothers,

                            but imagine their shock and terror

                                    when this powerful Egyptian overlord says, vs. 4

                                                “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”

 

                    This passage offers an important lesson for dealing

                        with those who have betrayed or done wrong toward us.

 

Joseph in no way denies   that what they did was truly evil,

    nor does he suggest that his wounds & bruises don’t really hurt.

 

He also does not excuse, condone or deny their despicable deed,

            nor does he minimize their responsibility and fault.

Joseph is quite open and frank concerning their guilt: vs. 8

                        You sold me here ....      You intended to do me harm ....

 

Joseph’s losses and sufferings are very real;

            and even coming to power and influence in Egypt,

                        hardly restores his lost years of being with his family,

                                or makes up for being a slave and prisoner in Egypt.

 

   Surely Joseph must have rehearsed such a moment of revelation

          many times over the decades of his slavery and suffering,

                        and thought about how he would make them pay

                             should there ever be the opportunity to avenge.

 

Though Joseph has the power to do anything he wants in revenge,

            he has grown,  and he sees things from another perspective.

As a man of God, who has seen God’s abiding care,   now there wasà

          room for grace, forgiveness, forbearance and mercy,

                   and to trust that it was God working behind the scenes.

 

This is a critical scene in Scripture

            because mortals do sin, and rebel against God, and do evil,

                        and yet    the nature, wisdom, will and power of God

                                    transforms it into good, for benefit & blessing…

…  for God intrudes,  which opens up hope and new possibilities

       as God's grace & loving purpose pours into our life situation…

            …  as Paul explains to the Christians living in Ephesus,

                        by encouraging them to hold fast to their faith, vs. 16-17;

            I pray that, … He may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

                       

It’s not for them to accomplish or to be strong on their own,

            but that the Holy Spirit will be their strength and power,

                        as they are rooted and grounded in God’s loving promise;

                        for God’s gracious love will make all the difference.

vs. 18~21

            I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, … what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God… who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.

 

God’s love is beyond all understanding, it changes all things,

          just as God’s purpose and will worked within the reality

                   of the evil that Joseph’s brothers had set into motion.

 

            God didn’t cause or approve of what Joseph’s brothers did,

                        but God was able to use it and work with that reality

                                    to bless and preserve life … to bring blessing…

                          … and accomplish far more than any mortal might ask or imagine.

 

And yes, everyone who lives in this corrupt and broken world

            necessarily   deals with injustice and unfair circumstances,

                        even abuse, unimaginable contamination & destruction.

The question is how will we deal with it,

          and can we really trust in God’s love, promises and purpose?

 

I can say with absolute certainty   by my own experience

            that holding onto hatred and bitterness,

                        that even the best-devised revenge will never satisfy,

                                    for they are self-destructive  and prevent healing.

 

The lesson from Joseph’s story is

          to trust the Lord’s will, purpose, wisdom and justice;

                   and that though often hidden, delayed and mysterious,

                             God is up to something despite all appearances.

 

God does not waste the challenges and adversity we endure,

     but will always somehow bring new hope, life and healing,

            there will be redemption,  and there will be some blessing…

 

… and may God give us the grace, strength, faith and courage

            for the journey toward that promise and peace of our God.

 

Joseph had a lot of years before he ever saw his brothers again;

            and I suspect God used all that time guiding his perspective,

                        and preparing him  for meeting his brothers with mercy.

 

My own experience is,

          that when I can forgive a wrong, I am setting a prisoner free;

                   and that prisoner I’ve set free,   has most often been me.

 

As Ephesians 3:20-21 is paraphrased in The Message,

            God can do anything you know – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!  He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.