Pope Francis told his fellow Jesuits in Korea just now: Be Jesus people who bring consolation to the people. Great focus! I love this pope! Long ago Joseph, who is a figure or anticipation of Jesus within the larger plot of the Bible Old and New Testaments, brought consolation to his brothers. We all need someone to lean on. Here is my sermon for this morning, on a great passage of consolation: Genesis 45:1-15. Enjoy! Genesis 45:1-15 is pure gospel. The passage builds on an experience of identity recovery after a period of identity theft. At a young age, Joseph’s future was taken away from him. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers and had to fend for himself. For years Joseph put his nose to the grindstone. He forgot who he was. He may have doubted he ever knew who he was. His identity had been taken away from him. Now, in an unexpected turn of events, Joseph’s life is given a purpose. A catastrophe, a famine, reunites him with his family. To the very people who wished him harm, to the very people who wanted to kill him, he is able to say, with great compassion, “I am Joseph, your brother.” Joseph is now able to make his life a gift to others. He weeps and weeps on the neck of his erstwhile brothers. If and only if one aims for reconciliation, is faith in God possible. If and only if one’s life is a gift, will the belief that beauty, truth, and generosity cohere, strike one as the word to live by. If and only if one’s life is given away, will the belief that faith, hope, and love abide, whereas all else passes away, make continuing sense. I identify with the life story of a rabbi in Brooklyn, New York. His name is Andy Bachmann. He grew up in Milwaukee, so he is a Wisconsin boy like me. Andy was raised in a very good Jewish family, but his parents had put aside the faith of their fathers. Perhaps they thought that the only identity they and their children needed was that of a modern, educated human being. But their son, at the death of his father, experienced his lack of a personal Jewish identity as identity theft. Andy was unable to mourn the death of his father with the age-old prayers of tradition, though he experienced a need for them. He did not know the prayers, so he couldn’t say them. Andy had no habits of the heart except those any American might have. Which meant he was a lonely person, a cut flower long removed from any genuine soil that might nourish his life. Andy’s life from that point on became an exercise in identity recovery. He came to rely on the God of Jacob, who wrestled with an angel; on the God of Joseph, who brought good out of the evil Joseph’s brothers intended for him. Like Joseph, Andy came to see the hand of God in the events of his life and the events of the world. And like Joseph, Andy was reconciled to his people. Andy became a rabbi and has been at the helm of a synagogue in Brooklyn for 8 years. His ministry has touched many fellow Jews who, like him, were modern, thoughtful human beings but had lost their faith identity. Andy has a gift, that of revealing, by actions as much as by words, his identity to others. The identity is simple: “I am Joseph, your brother.” I am not your enemy. I am not a person who has no time for you. I am Joseph, your brother. As soon as Andy once again became their brother, they had a chance to once again become his brother and become brothers and sisters to one another. They became a family again. Andy recovered his identity and gave his brothers an opportunity to recover their identity at the same time. Now Andy wants to redraw the lines of family to include Jews and non-Jews. He has resigned as teacher and guide of his congregation. He has left his pastorate if you will. Now, to paraphrase John Wesley, the world is his parish. nytimes/2014/08/16/nyregion/a-rabbis-decision-to-step-down-touches-on-questions-of-jewish-identity.html? For a Christian it is by definition that the world is our parish. This follows from the great commission at the end of the gospel of Matthew. This follows from the fact they we are sent human beings. The life of Joseph is told in the Bible in such a way that the description is close to life as we experience it, without explicit divine intervention. After all, we rarely if ever understand the meaning of the events of our lives as they unfold. But looking back, Joseph detected the hand of God in the events of his life: Do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” “It was not you who sent me here but God.” Elsewhere Joseph expresses his found insight with great poignancy (Gen 50:20): “Even though you intended to do me harm, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” It is now possible for Joseph to say, and here I borrow words from a well-known song, “I wish for you, my friend, this happiness that I’ve found.” My question to you: Can you look back over the years and see Gods hand in your life? Can you say to others, “I wish for you, my friend, this happiness that I’ve found”? No revenge! Joseph does not choose revenge. We live in a world with a gift for storing up anger that sooner or later breaks forth and causes untold pain and misery. Think Ferguson, Missouri. Think the Middle East. Think Russia and its former dependencies. Think Ukraine. The elements that make for reconciliation are clear from the gospel according to Moses (Genesis is part of the instruction God gave to Moses insofar as Moses is the first and greatest prophet). It’s about choosing to discern a plan of grace in the events of our lives, rather than fixating on the bad or miserable intentions of those who determine our lives by thought and deed. It’s about recovering our identity as fellow human beings bound by ties of solidarity. It’s about revealing that identity even and especially to those who have done us harm, who continue to do us harm. It’s about turning, which is repentance; it’s about forgiveness opening up the chance of repentance on the part of the other. It’s about affirming, even in the absence of repentance, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Let us pray.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 13:06:08 +0000
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