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“Allowing Our Lives To Unfold”
Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – August 16, 2020
Centenary United Methodist Church Psalm 133;
Genesis 45:1-15 Our Scripture lesson this morning contains a rare
look at what happened to a young man who lived a life of being bullied,
tormented, sold as a slave, accused of a crime that he did not commit,
and put into a prison. What thought did he cling to that prevented him
from being destroyed by the onslaught of rejection and injustice? The Old Testament records that Joseph was a
teenager that had a very active imagination.
He had fantasies of becoming someone with a great deal of power.
He began telling his dreams to his twelve step-brothers.
(Genesis 37:6f) They were extremely jealous of him because they
knew that their father, Jacob, loved him more than all the others. Jacob
had a robe made of many colors that he gave to Joseph. None of the other
brothers got such a gift. Jacob sensed that his son's story-telling was
creating tension in the family so he scolded Joseph for sharing his
fantasies. (Genesis 37:10f).
Shortly thereafter, his brothers hatched a plot to get rid of
Joseph. After a group
discussion, the brothers decided to sell him to a passing caravan that
was headed for Egypt. His brothers dipped his robe in the blood of a
goat, showed it to Jacob, and told him that Joseph must have been torn
to pieces by a wild animal. They followed through on their plot and
Joseph was gone from their lives.
Jacob recognized the robe as belonging to Joseph.
He believed their story and grieved for a long time. (Genesis
37:31). It is remarkable that anyone could have withstood
such abuse. He faced
rejection from everyone.
Drawing on his spiritual heritage, Joseph trusted God to do the
navigating for him. Joseph took his hands off the steering wheel
of his life and brought his best into every setting where he found
himself. The young man was bought by Potiphar, who was the
captain of the Royal Guard that surrounded and protected Pharaoh.
Potiphar was so impressed with this young man's intelligence that he
gave him authority over everything in his household. This handsome boy caught the eye of Potiphar's wife
who attempted to seduce him. He declined her attempts and in her
resentment of his rejection, she reported to her husband that Joseph had
entered her chambers and assaulted her.
Potiphar was so furious that he had Joseph put into prison.
(Genesis 39:17f) Our lesson this morning opens by describing the
moment when Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers.
The entire region was in the midst of a prolonged drought.
Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to secure food for his extended
family. The setting of this revelation was most dramatic.
Standing before his brothers, Joseph was dressed in the attire of
royalty surrounded by servants. All of the political symbols
communicated power and wealth. Here
were shepherds standing in front of a man who represented the most
powerful nation in the world.
He burst into tears as he told them that he was their brother,
Joseph. The brothers were
stunned, terrified, and immobilized by fear. (Genesis 45:2f) Joseph
removed his Egyptian head-dress and showed them that he was, indeed,
their brother. What was it that preserved Joseph's identity in the
midst of rejection at every stage of his life?
The crown jewel that sustained him during his sojourn is
our text this morning.
Joseph told his brothers: Do not be upset or blame yourselves because of what
you did to me. It was
really God who was fashioning my life in such a way that I was sent
ahead of you. I am now able to save my family from starvation. God has
made me Pharaoh's highest official.
I am now the ruler of Egypt. (Genesis 45:5-8) Joseph's story could easily save the lives of
countless people today. He
was living every day what Jesus would teach Nicodemus fifteen centuries
later that attitude is what allows people to live in the Kingdom of God.
Joseph was already there.
His story in many ways is superior to the teachings of
Christianity. Jesus is reported to have saved the lives of
believers by dying on the cross. For centuries, Christians have been taught that
God's grace forgives us of our sinful nature and welcomes us
into God's Kingdom. In the Joseph story, this young man who was
sold into slavery was doing that same thing as God by forgiving his
brothers of everything that they had done and welcoming them to live in
the most fertile land that Egypt had to offer. (Genesis 45:17-20)
This is the story of God's grace that Jesus
revealed in the parable of the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-24)
There is so much life-saving education in
the Joseph story that teaches that a successful life was actually
experienced by a slave fifteen hundred years before Jesus was born.
It happened because Joseph kept telling himself, "I have no
idea where my life of rejection is taking me, but I know who is in
charge of my journey." There is no telling how many people have centered
their lives on responding to rejection by depression, who have committed
suicide because friends made fun of them on Facebook, or
who believed that they were useless because they perceived that their
mom and dad had more love for the other siblings.
Joseph was a slave
who never took that label as something demeaning or that his
station-in-life represented a lower class of people. In every setting Joseph became the best slave, the
best administrator of Potiphar's affairs, the best prisoner that
elevated him to be the administrator of the prison, and the most
insightful interpreter of people's dreams.
His remarkable attitudes propelled him to be at the right place
at the right time to save thousands of lives. The Joseph story may have
inspired Jesus to choose servitude over all other attitudes for living.
(Luke 22:27) When we have servitude connected with living The Golden
Rule, that is all we need for God to find us a willing tool for
creation. This kind of life does not just happen because we
have had courses that deal with low self-esteem, with asserting
ourselves, with standing up for our rights, or with protesting
our variety of social justice for everyone.
Such a life happens when we refuse to judge anything as unjust
and by allowing our lives to unfold without our interfering in the
process. We know that
we are completely blind to our eventual destiny.
Accurate self-evaluation is absolutely
impossible because we have no idea who we are influencing or what
creation intends to do with our humble efforts.
We learn to live one day at a time sowing our seeds absolutely
mindless of where they might land.
This is how Joseph lived. Joseph never saw ahead of time how God
might be using him in some task.
He brought his best to every experience without knowing the
meaning of any of it. There is a song that explains this process entitled
Anyway? Here are the
lyrics:
You can spend your whole life
building' You can chase a dream God is great, but sometimes life
ain't good The World's gone crazy and it's hard
to believe
You can pour your soul out singing Once we take ourselves off the stage of
self-importance and do just simple things because that is what we have
dedicated ourselves to do, our circumstances really won't matter.
Look at what God did for the world with a carpenter and twelve
men who were living in one of the most obscure and unimportant
parts of the world. Think of the scrolls that have been preserved that
were written by people who never gave a thought about whether or not
they would be preserved or that anyone else would find them important
enough to read. And yet, we had one of them read for us this morning
thousands of years later because someone wrote their remembrances
anyway. I am always reminded of Vincent Van Gogh who
created 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches.
He only sold one of them during
his lifetime. He wanted
something from this life that he never received.
His spirit was singing with a paint brush and he never recognized
that his creations were enough. He grew despondent and chose to end his
life. Joseph found a better way, one that all of us can
follow. He lived fully and
left all the fine print of success up to God.
The personalities that become
historical figures that offer guidance for the rest of us are seldom
recognized while they are alive.
Always remember that God is the Creator.
All that we have to do is to sing our songs, sow our seeds, love
with abandon, and God will fill in the blanks.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Loving and
ever-present God, all of us need to stand before
the mirror Jesus holds in
front of us to review the quality of our lives.
We thank you that his revelations stand in our midst like a
sentinel that guides our
thinking, emotions, and spirit.
We thank you that his truth does not change because of what
others believe. When we set aside our loving responses because we feel
hurt or betrayed, our light
is not as bright. The
unhappiness, pain, and disappointment that we experience, O God, are
like voices that are calling us back to becoming the person you
created us to be. Inspire
us to remember that we are always a work in progress.
Amen.
PASTORAL
PRAYER
Thank you, God, for the fragile
moments in life that repeatedly teach us that we may never know why our
lives take all the twists and turns that they do. All we know is that
our trust in you guides us to step out in faith toward our next
adventure. Thank you for the challenges that make us stretch beyond our
known capabilities. Thank you for the times when all of our
symbols of security dissolve around us, and once again, our thoughts
must find peace with you as the unexpected aspects of our lives unfold.
Why is it that
we so often quickly respond with frustration when your will may be
fashioning a destiny other than the one that we are seeking? Why
is it that we find detours so unattractive? Why is it that so
often we conclude that something is a waste of our time?
As we reflect on
our lives, who could have known ahead of time the jobs that came our
way, the friends with whom we have had a relationship, and the
experiences that have taught us that we have more blessings than
defeats. As we anticipate
our tomorrows, help each of us to stand forth with faith and trust,
knowing that our future will be as fascinating as our past.
Inspire us to greet each new day with unwavering confidence by accepting
every moment as our opportunity to mirror your likeness.
We pray these thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, the Christ,
who taught us to say when we pray . . . |