Where the story is going. February 24, 2019 The Rev. David M. Stoddart

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

There is an old Chinese story about a poor farmer. He lived a very simple life, working a small plot of land and earning just enough money to feed his family. One day a herd of wild horses ran through his field and got stuck in the mud of his rice paddies. They couldn’t get away, and so these horses, worth a lot of money, were suddenly his. His neighbor came to see him and said, “This is such good news! Now you’re rich! Congratulations!” But the farmer replied, “Good news, bad news, who knows?”

A few weeks later, his oldest child, a twelve-year-old boy, mounted one of the horses and tried to ride it, but the wild horse quickly threw him off and the boy broke his leg. His neighbor came by and said, “Oh, no, this is such bad news! Now your son can’t help out on the farm!” And the farmer replied, “Good news, bad news, who knows?”

The very next week, a general came to the village and forced all healthy boys over the age of ten to join his army. He took them all away to war, except for the farmer’s son, because he had a broken leg. His neighbor yet again came by and said, “That is such good news that your son didn’t have to join the army. How lucky you are!” And the farmer said, “Good news, bad news . . . who knows?”

We think we know, but life often surprises us. Look at the story of Joseph, the spoiled brat hated by his older brothers. They sell him into slavery, and tell their father Jacob that he’s dead, which crushes him. Bad news. But Joseph ends up in the house of Potiphar, captain of the Egyptian guard, and he becomes Potiphar’s fabulously successful right-hand man. Good news. But Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph, and when he refuses her advances, she claims that Joseph assaulted her and he is thrown into prison. Bad news. But in prison he correctly interprets the dream of Pharaoh’s butler, who then commends him to Pharaoh, who eventually makes Joseph his premier servant, who basically rules Egypt on Pharaoh’s behalf. Good news. Meanwhile, famine devastates the land of Israel. Bad news. But when Jacob’s sons come to Egypt desperately looking for food, Joseph is in a position to help them, and he invites his whole family to live in Egypt. Good news. With all its ups and downs, with its moments of heartbreak and stunning grace, the story of Joseph is a story of divine providence. And the end of it is breathtaking. Jacob gets to see his beloved son Joseph again, and they weep long and hard. Jacob dies shortly after that. And then Joseph, the Master of Egypt, can wreak a terrible revenge on his brothers for what they did to him. But he doesn’t. For all his flaws, Joseph is spiritually alive and he sees the truth. Right at the end of the book of Genesis he says one of the most important things anyone ever says in Scripture. Chapter 50, verse 20: Joseph, speaking to his frightened brothers, says Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good. You meant it for evil, God used it for good. The Bible in a nutshell. Joseph forgives his brothers. How can he do any less? Even they are instruments of God’s mercy.

Time and time and time again God takes what is evil and transforms it into something good. We humans seem to have a limitless ability to screw things up and cause horrendous damage, but we just can’t outplay God here: God’s ability to redeem anything and everything is infinite. As the prophet Jeremiah said at a particularly bleak moment in Israel’s history: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23). This is what we mean by saying that God is almighty. And that almighty power at work in Genesis finds its ultimate expression centuries later when an innocent young man, the human face of God, is tortured to death on a cross, only to be raised to a new life which he freely shares with everyone: the worst possible news being transformed into the best news ever.

And, yes that means there is no sickness, no loss, no disappointment, no disaster in our own lives that God cannot and will not redeem. But, beyond even that comfort, I think all this sheds light on the Gospel we heard today, the hard Gospel where Jesus says, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Joseph does not forgive his brothers begrudgingly: he doesn’t grit his teeth and do it because he has to. He forgives them easily and freely because he sees the big picture: God has been moving through every moment of the story; the whole arc of the story bends towards love and mercy. Joseph literally goes with the flow of that love and mercy, and forgives naturally. In the same way, to live in Christ, to have the Holy Spirit flow through us, is to enter into the Great Story of God’s love affair with the world. Despite all the horrors that people have committed, God moves ceaselessly to bring forth good. The arc of human history and the arcs of our individual lives all bend towards love and mercy. To love those who hate us and forgive those who wrong us is actually the most natural thing for us to do, because that is how God moves in this world. When Paul is converted on the road to Damascus, the Risen Christ says to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads (Acts 26:14). It hurts you to fight against love. Stop it! During the civil rights movement, some people espoused hatred and violence as the only way to make progress, but Martin Luther King, Jr. rejected that. He saw that God always moves towards greater love and mercy, and he was going to go with that and not fight against it. So he said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

We can and should defend those who are weak and oppressed; we should care for the sick; we should stand for racial reconciliation and justice; we should work towards a world where everyone is equally valued and the whole of creation is honored and protected; we should show kindness to the people around us. And we can and should do all of these things without hatred or anger, even towards those we most disagree with, even towards those who have hurt us, because we know that’s where the story is going. We know we are heading towards greater love and greater life. That’s what God is doing in the world. Why fight against it by clinging to hatred? Why try to swim upstream by refusing to forgive? Our job and our joy is to go with the flow of God’s love and mercy, trusting that in the end the good news of love and mercy will triumph over everything.

One of the people who saw this most clearly was Francis of Assisi. Let me close by inviting you to join in his great prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.