Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost - Sermon Text

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost 16 

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

O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. 

From time to time, I am asked, “Why do we say the Lord’s Prayer so often.” The answer is that, first, this is the prayer that Jesus teaches. Second, we need regular reminding of the theology and wisdom embedded in the petitions. In these petitions, we ask God to shape us. As Christians, we are on the long path of repentance in addressing the corruption of our sinful nature. So, we need to ask God to make his name holy on our lips and in our hearts. We want to desire what God desires for us. He desires that by our words and conduct in all our days and nights, God will be glorified. 

We regularly invite God’s kingdom to come and that His will be done in and through us because so much of what we decide is based on me and mine. Too easily, we forget that our whole life is centered in God and that our future is ultimate with God. 

We ask that God provide us with daily bread because it is easy to forget from whence our food and daily sustenance comes.  Our striving can be all consuming. Our sinful nature would like us to think that what we have, what we achieve, is based upon our efforts, and not upon God’s gracious gifts. 

Then, there is the theme of forgiveness that runs through the Old Testament and Gospel. In the Lord’s prayer we petition God to forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of those who sin against us. Psalm 103 declares the completeness of God’s merciful forgiveness in verses 11-12: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgression from us.” 

God’s completeness and immediacy is a gift to us. He promises that when He forgives us, He forgives us. For this grace, we are grateful. But we are not God. Most of us are unable, and perhaps unwilling, to cast away the hurt, the guilt, the painful memories, the residue of trespasses felt or given. We find that after we forgive the person or persons that sin against us, our brains, our emotions, our hearts, keep circling back. We have to forgive again and again. We have to ask God to forgive us for not letting go as He does. The Lord sets a standard that is downright difficult for us to live up to. 

So we continue to pray generally and with specific instances in mind, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

Forgiveness can be a process for humans. The lectionary today provides a fine biblical example. The brief reading from chapter 50 of Genesis is a beautiful image of a thoughtful and mature Joseph consoling his brothers that, yes, he forgives them. Joseph also provides them with the grand vision of God working to preserve the family. God used their poor decision for the ultimate good of the family.  Because of our position in history, we know that God preserves Jacob’s family so that we can eventually have Moses, David, and the Son of David that we call Jesus. But, that Joseph sees God working through wickedness toward goodness, is an astonishing insight. 

It is good for us to know that the Joseph we encounter in Chapter 50 is not the one we encounter in chapter 42 when famine led Joseph’s brother to first appear before him. By this time Joseph is Pharoah’s right-hand man. Joseph decides if and how much grain foreigners in that drought-stricken region may receive. 

In chapter 42, Joseph recognizes his brothers immediately. They, of course, have not a clue who they are dealing with. If you wish to read some juicy family saga, reward yourself with the Joseph narrative in Genesis 37-50. May you never know such depths of arrogance, jealousy, hatred, betrayal, and deception in your family! Joy comes eventually, but oh! The drama!

The mature, benevolent, wise, Joseph of chapter 50 is not what we behold in chapter 42. Using today’s therapeutic language, Joseph clearly has “unresolved issues.” He puts his brothers through the paces. Joseph does not reveal himself. He talks through an interpreter. Consequently, he understands what his brothers are saying, but they don’t understand him. He treats his brothers like strangers and speaks roughly to them. He accuses them of being spies. He innocently inquires about the family that is not there. He uses that information against them. He sends them back to Canaan, telling them to not return without Benjamin. Then, through his servants, Joseph returns all the money in a way that they can easily be accused of stealing. He jails the brothers. Then releases all but one. They return to their father minus yet another brother. There are more details, but you get the drift. 

Joseph is having a hard time forgiving his brothers. Quite frankly, can any of us blame him? Not only is Joseph sold into the hands of slave traders, his first slave job is in the house of Potipher. He is lied about, betrayed, by Potipher’s wife. He sits in prison for too long. When the dreams of the baker and the cup bearer come true, the cup bearer forgets all about Joseph until sometime later. O how his heart must have seethed at his brothers for the sorry situations he kept having. How many days and nights did he think of revenge? We can only wonder. 

In response to Peter’s question about how many times he must forgive the one that trespasses against him, Jesus told Peter 70 times 7. 490 times. Surely, since the day his brothers appeared before him begging for food, Joseph must have exceeded the 490 times before forgiveness took hold. 

Forgiveness did take hold. Reconciliation, profound reconciliation, within a family disrupted by wickedness, was embraced by all. This is the work of God upon human hearts and minds. Love, God’s love, won the day. God’s peace followed. 

The mature Joseph we encounter in our lectionary reading is a model of shalom. He is at peace with the past, his brothers, and his role in God’s plan to preserve Israel. The Bible testifies that Israel is preserved in Egypt because God intends for Israel in the fullness of God’s time, to bear the light of the world, the Christ, for the salvation of the world. 

Joseph points us to the coming Christ. Through his cross and resurrection, Christ comes to transform hearts and minds. It begins with the gift of faith instilled within you in Holy Baptism.  In faith we receive the declaration, “You are mine. You are forgiven. Your future is with me.” In faith, we grow into the blessing of receiving and giving forgiveness. Christ reconciles the whole world to the Father through his sacrificial death on the cross. We rejoice in His gifts to us!

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.