Stories ofForgiveness

Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Luke 6:27-38

Jesus says several times that we should pray for our enemies; love our enemies; love those who persecute us; and so forth. It seems like it gets harder and harder to do that every day. In the US, people are more polarized than ever, and the polarization puts a greater than ever divide between and among us.

What is our response? Just what Jesus told us to do. Pray for and love all, even those with whom we disagree, even those who are trying to do us harm.

The Jewish people Jesus encounters in his travels around Galilee and greater Judea should know this already. For centuries, the Jewish people have known the stories in Genesis and Exodus, and all of Torah, and the encouragements and challenges of the Prophets. So, all Jews should have been familiar with the story of Joseph, son of Jacob. But, they certainly are not living out what it teaches.

… Our Lectionary gives us only the final dramatic moments of a story that lasts 13 chapters, about 12 pages in my paper Bible. So, let’s do a quick review of the Joseph story.

Joseph is the 11^th son of Jacob, and the first son of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel. As a sign of his favor, Jacob has given Joseph a special garment. Joseph is gifted with the ability to have and interpret dreams. Fortunately or unfortunately, in some of the dreams, Joseph has authority over his brothers. And he tells his family about the dreams.

It seems Joseph says, “Nyah, nyah, nyah,” to his brothers one too many times, and they retaliate by selling him to traveling Midianites, who traded him to Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. The brothers tell their father that Joseph is dead, and life goes on in the household.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Joseph has various adventures and misadventures. Near the end of the story, he is second only to the Pharaoh in power and influence. The brothers arrive in Egypt seeking food during a famine. Joseph recognizes them, but doesn’t reveal himself to them. With a few more adventures and misadventures, the family is reunited, and Joseph reveals himself to them all.

This is the scene we have in today’s reading from Genesis. Although the brothers fear that Joseph will quickly throw them into prison, it turns out that Joseph weeps with joy at seeing his brothers once again. “What you did was evil, but God made it all right.” It’s a sort of truth and reconciliation moment. You all did evil things to me. But I forgive you.

Joseph forgives his brothers in spite of the fact that they tried to kill him, and did sell him into slavery. I might have found it hard to forgive, if that had been my brother!

As we read the story of Joseph in the Bible, we don’t see the active hand or voice of God, except here, where Joseph acknowledges that God has made good things come out of the bad situations Joseph found himself in.

… Do we trust God enough to believe that God’s purposes will be fulfilled, even though it will take longer than we hope or dream? Do we trust God, no matter how hard – or good – things seem to be today? Do we trust God to help heal our hearts and help us forgive those who have hurt us? Do we allow God to guide our conversations with or about people we have trouble loving?

The congregation council and a few other leaders spent 24 hours together learning about each other by telling stories. No, not tall tales, but true stories that became conversations, that built trust, so it will be easier in the future to make decisions together. Will they always agree? Of course not, but hopefully, it will be easier to come to a consensus.

That is one purpose of a retreat where we told a lot of personal stories. In our storytelling, my story led to your story to the telling of another and another story. The main purpose was to make connections between our various stories, that we have a lot in common, despite our apparent differences.  

When we realize we have faith stories, and begin to tell them, we notice God’s activity in more places in our lives than we ever dreamed of. They may not get written down and shared for centuries, like Joseph’s story, but they guide us into the future. Our past experiences with forgiveness, to use today’s example, can give us a basis for trusting God to help us forgive when it becomes hard to do so.

… So, a story. I was on internship and became good friends with Linda and her husband Griff. They often invited me to be part of their family meals. One day, Linda was quite upset. Her baptismal sponsors, her Godparents, always remembered her baptismal birthday. For 50 years, they had never missed it, but this year, they did. The reliable presence of her godparents was an essential part of her faith story, and this year, the story had a hole in it. And I don’t recall Linda telling me how the hole was filled, but I do know she continued loving her Godparents, even though they had missed this important day in her life. Probably, she forgave them!

… This week I encourage you to think about all the places and times when you have felt or known God was present. Tell someone else the story. Amen