AProp19

Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 114; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

September 14, 2008

Story of Joseph and brothers

Joseph’s brothers were afraid that after their father, Jacob, died

Joseph would finally judge them and pay them back

for selling him into slavery when he was a boy.

And without a doubt he had a lot to hold against them!

His jealous brothers were going to kill him but then sold him into slavery.

He was taken to a strange land.

Pharaoh’s wife told lies about him which…

put him in prison for two years…

until Pharaoh learned of his ability to interpret dreams.

His brothers came years later to buy grain in Egypt

because there was famine in their land.

Joseph recognizes them and when he finds out that his father is still alive,

he is overcome with joy and tells the brothers who he is.

He tells them not to be distressed,

that he does not blame them but sees God’s hand in the outcome.

Some people are like Joseph.

Forgiveness seems to come more easily, more naturally to them than to most of us.

Robert Coles is a distinguished child psychiatrist whose name you might recognize.

He is known by Christian educators for his book, The Spiritual Life of Children.

He writes about going to Biloxi, Mississippi in the 1950’s

to help black children living with the trauma of being integrated into white schools.

Ruby was the first black child involved in desegregating her public school.

Every day Ruby would be escorted by Federal Marshals to school

through an angry mob of protestors.

Dr. Coles was concerned about the effect

all this hatred would have on Ruby as she bore the brunt of it.

He knew, as a psychiatrist, that she was probably having trouble

eating, sleeping, and carrying on her normal routine.

Every day he interviewed her and would ask, “Ruby, how are you sleeping?”

She would reply, “I’m sleeping just fine.”

“Ruby, how are you eating?” “I’m eating just fine.”

Each day he would check in on her and ask her how she was doing.

“I’m just fine.”

Finally one day he heard Ruby’s teacher say

that she had noticed that Ruby seemed to be talking to herself

when she walked through the angry mob every morning.

Dr. Coles asked Ruby what she was saying

as she walked through the line of angry people.

She told him, “I say, Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.

Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

Some people just seem to forgive more easily, more naturally.

But we say, about the people in our lives,

‘The heck they don’t know what they’re doing!’

He cheated on me and ruined the business I worked so hard to build.

I trusted him.

You can’t trust anyone.

She used me, took advantage of my love and devotion to her.

We were supposed to love each other.

You can’t love anyone.

He abused me for years -assaulted me with hateful words and horrible blows.

I still carry the scars.

I was supposed to be safe with him.

You’re not safe with anyone.

It wasn’t her time to die.

What did she ever do to deserve it?

God is supposed to protect the innocent and answer prayers.

You can’t count on God.

When someone does you wrong, you feel like you have to do something.

Get even? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?

Force an apology or some kind of penance?

Make someone deserve your forgiveness?

Hold that grudge!

But Jesus has something different in mind. Let it go!

A joke about the prodigal son:

The father is going down the road to meet the boy and the caption reads:

“I’ll be glad when this boy grows up; this is the sixth fatted calf I’ve had to kill!”

I’ll add the footnote that while we must forgive again and again,

that is very different from enabling behavior that is hurtful or destructive.

“How many times, Lord, should I forgive? As many as seven times?”

Peter is exaggerating, coming across as more forgiving than most,

because the rabbis instructed that you must forgive a person three times.

In other words…I get it, Lord, that you are telling us to be more forgiving

than the usual expectations.

So, seven times?

No.    70 X 7

Peter pulls out his calculator: 490 times!?

And Jesus tells the very exaggerated parable about forgiveness and mercy.

A poor man, a slave, is released and forgiven the debt of what, today, would be

Well…a talent was worth more than 15 years’ wages of a laborer

15 X 10,000 talents = 150,000 years of wages!

Jesus wanted to get the point across!

And then he compares God’s unlimited forgiveness to our human tendencies

as he continues the parable his point being, should we not have as much mercy on each other

as God has mercy on us?

I think the difference between Joseph and Ruby and so many of us

is that they walked through the world

even as a slave and a prisoner and one who is despised and hated

they knew that the very real presence of God walked with them.

And because of that abiding companionship,

They did not take it upon themselves to pick up, hold, and carrying the weight

of the dark events and the harmful people they encountered.

They did not have to harden their hearts to get through.

They seemed rather to ‘embrace the grace’, seeing and relating to a loving and merciful God

whose presence went with them.

And in the light of that Presence in their lives they were able to

see what good was around them, live into what life was around them.

Their hearts remained supple enough to pulse with the love so near them

and share in love’s compassion for those who were so lost to it and so blind to it.

Lost and blind people become parents and business partners.

We fall in love with the heartless.

And Jesus says, ‘Let them go. Take them off your back.

I’m right here. Hand them over.’

With the weight off our back and our hearts opened our eyes will open, too.

Every day that we live we trust…

…that the sun will rise

…that water will come out of the faucet

…that people will keep their word and their commitments

Every day we see love…

…in a mother’s eyes for her child

…in a man’s regard for his wife

…in a person’s affection for a pet

…in a doctor’s attentiveness to a patient

Every day we see people being kept safe…

…public services to respond to our emergencies

…watchful eyes of parents on their children

…random acts of kindness

Every day we encounter things we can count on…

…that people will do all the jobs that service us and make our world go ‘round

…that new life will keep springing up out of this old world

…that many, many people will experience answered prayers

and moments of grace