In Jesus Holy Name May 15, 2016
Text: Genesis 37:3-5 Series: The Story Redeemer
“Dreams, Jealousy & Betrayal”
What was the greatest gift or card you received on Mother’s Day? Was it a fancy $5 card and a box of chocolates or flowers from your husband? Or was it a folded paper with a heart and barely legible words from your child or grand child that said: “I love you?”
The greatest gift God has given to you and me is the ability to love. You cannot live or love or laugh or cry if God had not given you a heart.
This is part of being created in the image of God… we have the ability to love and be loved in return. Love is wonderful. Often times when I am counseling a couple about to be married I ask them to explain the word love. Most of the time… they simply stop and look at each other and then try to explain. Everyone knows love can be rejected.
God knows what creatures will do with the gift of free will. He already suffered one mass betrayal in the rebellion of the angels. Why would he still give Adam and Eve free will? Why would He still give Cain free will when He knew that Cain was thinking about killing his brother? Good grief why?
The answer is simple. If you want a world were love is real you must allow each person the freedom to choose.
“God’s problem is not that God is not able to do certain things…. God’s problem is that God loves. Love complicates the life of God, as it complicates every life.”
Something has gone wrong with the human race. It doesn’t take a theologian nor a psychologist to tell you that.
The Titanic sank. Rome burns as Nero fiddles. Winter has come to Narnia. Longshanks has enslaved Scotland. Commodus killed his father so he could be the Emperor of Rome. Evil holds sway. The future of the Middle East stands on the edge of a knife.
I John 5:19 “The whole world is under the control of the evil one.” The evil one substituted “life” for “death” with a lie.
But wait. Doesn’t every great story have a hero, one who rescues? William Wallace will rise up and rescue Scotland. Luke Skywalker will rescue the princes and free the people of the universe. Aslan rescues Narnia. A thousand more.
Every great story has a rescue. Yours does!
One day Adam and Eve betrayed their Creator. They ran off and hid in the bushes. God came looking for them. God did not abandon them, nor us. As we read the “story” of Joseph there is painful betrayal. Later, Moses was betrayed by his own brother Aaron at Mt. Sinai. David was betrayed by his sons; Absalom, and his longtime friend and General Joab. Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples. Many of you are here because in your previous church you were betrayed. Those of you who have experienced divorce experienced betrayal. Deep inside your soul you may feel “abandoned”.
We are introduced to Joseph when he is 17 years old, the son of Jacob, grandson of Isaac and the great grandson of Abraham. Jacob, grew up cheating his brother Esau. Cheated his father in law out of livestock. And then showed extreme favoritism to some of his children, Joseph and Benjamin. It was a dysfunctional family… where jealousy lead to hatred. The famous multi-colored robe was just the final straw….and his brothers hated Joseph and could not speak a kind word to him. Maybe we see some dysfunction in all our families.
When the opportunity came, his brothers through Joseph in a pit. Sold him to some gypsy traders. Sold on a slave block in Egypt to Potiphar.
Abandoned. Betrayed. What is going though his mind in the “pit”… they are plotting to kill me.” Where is God? Where is my protection.” On the slave block in Egypt, do you think these same words crossed his lips?
When the Bible reports the status of Joseph as a slave we find these words slipped in: “The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered.” Joseph rises in status.
Just when things seem to be back on track… you don’t have to watch Desperate Housewives to know what happened next. While Potiphar is away at work, Mrs. Potiphar simply tells her husbands slave: “Come to bed with me.”
Have you ever been tempted to do something you knew was wrong but you also knew you’d never get caught? Here we have Joseph, a young and handsome man placed in an unfavorable situation because of the betrayal of others. Who would have blamed him, since slaves who refused their master’s orders could be and were often severely punished.
Deep inside of Joseph is a moral character, a faith that trusted God even through the “pit” & the “slave block”. Was he rewarded for his integrity? Was he rewarded for his obedience? No. As payback Potiphar’s wife lies. Joseph is sent to prison. Up, down, Up down. Where is God… should Joseph continue to trust in God’s plan? Did he even know God was involved with a plan?
Well let’s see what Joseph thinks. He’s had dreams before. (read Genesis 40:1-8) So the dreams are fulfilled. But the chief cup bearer forgot all about his promise to Joseph. Betrayed and Abandoned again. Two more years of prison, when he is summoned to interpret Pharaoh’s dream.
Pharaoh believes Joseph and put him 2nd in command over all of Egypt. 9 years go by. 11 years go by. Joseph is dressed in fine linen. Decked out in royal jewelry. He could hardly have imagined his new role when he was curled up at the bottom of a dry well, listening to his brothers decide to sell him. Falsely accused. Abandoned. Imprisoned. Yet Joseph in each situation decided to trust in His God.
How did Joseph do it? How did he have such a wonderful attitude through the “pit”, through the slave block, through the prison? How did he forgive his brothers after what they did to him. Well, somewhere along the road, somewhere in his spiritual journey, Joseph understood that God was in charge.
God is still looking for people who will turn to Him and trust Him no matter the circumstance, no matter the pit, the dungeon, the betrayal. When it happens in our lives. And it has. And it will. God is asking: “Will you trust me?”
What would you do if you were Joseph? Are you the kind of person who holds a grudge? Do you? Do you look for an opportunity for “pay back”? It is never easy to forget hurts that scar our souls and change our lives. Some say that the best cure for forgetting unjust hurts is a good case of Alzheimer’s.
There is another option. Imitate God. Offer Forgiveness.
Listen to what Joseph tells his brothers: “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great rescue. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (Gen. 45:7,8) What you meant for evil, God meant for good.
We have no idea of the disappointments, Betrayals. Abandonment, that may confront us tomorrow. When those days come….we must listen for the whisper of God who says: “I love you. Will you trust me?” He told Adam and Eve He had a plan.
In our gospel lesson last week Peter asked Jesus how many times we should forgive those who offend us, causing emotional harm, or hurt feelings. Jesus said, 70 X 7. Robert Hoyer in his book reflects upon this command of Jesus when he writes: “The primary act of faith is forgiving. It is the characteristic act of God, the Father of Jesus Christ. If we follow him in faith it is the first thing we do in our following. It is the one thing different we do in faith which we would not do if we had no faith. It is what we start with if we want to put meaning and purpose back into our lives.” Forgiving is an act of faith.
“Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. This king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this might King was melted by love for a humble maiden. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist…no one dared resist him. But would she love him.”
She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want as cringing subject. He wanted a lover.
He wanted someone to love and to be loved in return. So the mighty king disguised himself as a beggar and went alone to the maiden’s door in the wood to win her heart.
It is a parable of the coming of Jesus. God himself the king of all creation…takes on human flesh and enters our Story as one of us. He sets aside his glory, clothes himself with humility, and sneaks into the enemy camp, under the cover of night, in a small Judean village, to say: “I love you. I have come to rescue you.”
The problem with the story of the King and the maiden is that the cost will be different for God. He will have to die to rescue you and me.
The coming of Jesus of Nazareth was far more like the opening scenes of “Saving Private Ryan”. A dangerous mission. A great invasion. A daring raid into enemy territory, to save the free world, but also to save one man. If you know that story: Saving Private Ryan you know a price was paid.
The Apostle Paul wrote: Jesus has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13-14)
Historically speaking, God’s Story, tells us that Jesus of Nazareth was betrayed by one of his followers, handed over to the Romans by the Jewish religious leaders, and crucified. He gave his life as a ransom to rescue us from “the grip of fear death and judgment that Satan uses to hold people” away from hearing about a God of love. Jesus rose from the grave to prove that God’s word and promise are true.
This is God’s Story: Yes it is true that mankind is destined to die once and after that face judgment; So Jesus was sacrificed once to take away sins….he will appear a 2nd time not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28)
At the end of “Saving Private Ryan”; some 40 years later with his family gathered around, standing at the grave of Captain ; overwhelmed with emotion, what did he ask? Do you remember? “Was I a good man?” In other words “was my life worth that sacrifice?”
God’s Story. Yes, you are worth it. Like Joseph, will you trust me? Will you let me rescue you?
