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June 27, 2010
"Faithfulness, Abundance, and Enemies"
Introduction: Our first scripture reading today is from the first book in the Bible—Genesis, chapter 41. It is part of the story of Joseph, whom the children spent the week studying in Vacation Bible School. The story of Joseph is an ancient story from the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the “Old Testament,” dating back hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. As you may know, Joseph is one of the Hebrew patriarchs, the great-grandson of Abraham. (The lineage went: Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Joseph.) We pick up the story more than half-way through the chapter, where Pharaoh has summoned Joseph out of prison to interpret Pharaoh’s troubling dreams. Joseph immediately recognizes that God has been speaking to Pharaoh through these dreams. Joseph tells Pharaoh that God is giving him a glimpse of the future: that seven years of abundance will be followed by seven years of famine, and that Pharaoh needs to plan accordingly to take care of his people. We begin reading with verse 37:
Scripture: Genesis, chapter 41, selected verses:
37 The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. 38Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find anyone else like this—one in whom is the spirit of God?’ 39So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.’ 41And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.’ 42Removing his signet ring from his hand, Pharaoh put it on Joseph’s hand; he arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck. 43He had him ride in the chariot of his second-in-command… Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.
47During the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. 48Joseph gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty* in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it. 49So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance—like the sand of the sea—that he stopped measuring it; it was beyond measure.
53The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt [then] came to an end; 54and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread. 55When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.’ 56And since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses,* and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 57Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.
Here ends the reading, may God bless us as we reflect on this ancient and sacred story.
[Note: I will read the second Scripture in the middle of my sermon.]
Sermon: “Faithfulness, Abundance, and Enemies”
God speaks to and through the most unlikely people.
Joseph did not have an easy life. He grew up in the land of Israel, the youngest of 11 brothers. When Joseph was seventeen years old, his brothers, in a fit of jealousy, sell him into slavery and lie to their father—telling their father that Joseph is killed by a wild animal. In the meantime, Joseph, the slave, ends up in Egypt, where he finds himself managing the household of an Egyptian official. Just when you think things might turn out all right for Joseph after all, he is falsely accused of a crime, and ends up in prison, and not just any prison, he ends up in the King’s dungeon, a place that is also referred to as simply “the pit.” (New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, p. 621.)
At this point, we might expect Joseph to become bitter. We would understand it if he got mad at God and succumbed to some self-pity. But, amazingly, he doesn’t. Joseph remains faithful to God, and God remains faithful to him. Joseph uses the gifts and skills God gave him in the area of management, and soon he is put in charge of the whole prison, working for the warden. He also uses his God-given gift of dream interpretation, and interprets the dreams of his fellow prisoners.
His gift of dream-interpretation comes to the attention of the King of Egypt, the Pharaoh, and this is where our Scripture reading for today picks up. The King of Egypt—the Pharaoh—summons Joseph to appear before him and interpret Pharaoh’s own perplexing dreams. And here is where the story gets interesting. Once released from prison, Joseph, if he had been thinking only of himself, could have said anything to Pharaoh. He could have made up a flattering story—something to make the King happy—and then Joseph could have high-tailed it out of there, looking for a chance to escape, running back to his own people, his own country, leaving Egypt far behind.
Pharaoh, for his part, if he had been thinking only of himself, could have listened to Joseph’s interpretation, and then simply disposed of him, dismissing Joseph back to prison—or even killing him, as Pharaoh did with another person in a previous chapter in the book of Genesis that we did not read today.
Instead, both Joseph and Pharaoh, when they look at each other, see God working in the other person. Both of them recognize God speaking to and through the other. Joseph recognizes that God is speaking to Pharaoh through his dreams; Pharaoh recognizes that God is speaking to Joseph through his interpretation.
Perhaps they are both thinking, “Wow! God speaks to and through the most unlikely people!”
Which is really pretty insightful, if you think about it. Joseph and Pharaoh are as different as night and day. They come from different countries, different cultures; they speak different languages. They are from opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum—one has incredible wealth and power--and the freedom to do whatever he wants; the other has no money, no power--and works as a slave in a prison. And, to top it all off, for all intents and purposes, it looks as if they worship different gods. One worships the God of the Hebrew patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the other presumably worships the Egyptian sun god, Re. Yet both of them are able to see past all of these differences—differences that ordinarily would make them enemies. And both of them see the presence of God, the one true God, whose love encompasses the whole world—in each other. This ability to see past all these differences to see the presence of God in each other’s lives is nothing short of a miracle!
But, even more miraculous, is how each of them act on what they see. Joseph uses his God-given management skills and proposes a plan to save Egypt from the coming famine. Pharaoh recognizes the wisdom of Joseph’s plan and appoints him—a Hebrew slave—to be prime-minister in charge of Egypt’s economy. By the grace of God, these two unlikely people, opposites in nearly every way, are brought together and form a partnership that is faithful to the God they both serve. Their partnership is blessed by God, and they store up food for seven years, food that abundantly blesses and nourishes not only Egypt, but also, as we see in the last verse of our scripture, the whole world.
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So, what can we learn from this story? Many, many things, and, in fact, I invite you to read over this story in your own devotional time this week—Genesis, chapter 41, and see what else may speak to you. For the purpose of this sermon, though, let me suggest one concept to ponder:
God’s love encompasses the whole world, which means, God routinely speaks to and through people who are incredibly different than us. In fact, I would go as far as to say that God speaks to and through people whom we might even consider to be our opposites, our enemies.
Which is where our New Testament Scripture comes in, from the Gospel of Matthew, printed in the bulletin:
43 [Jesus said,] ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
“Okay,” you may be thinking, “So what does this all mean, practically, specifically?
Let me suggest a few things.
- God loves and speaks to and through both Republicans and Democrats.
- God loves and speaks to and through both native-born Americans and illegal immigrants.
- God loves and speaks to and through both Christians and Muslims.
- God loves and speaks to and through both pro-life and pro-choice advocates.
- God loves and speaks to and through both gay and straight people.
- God loves and speaks to and through both oil-company executives and advocates for clean-energy.
I could go on and on, and I’m sure you can think of other examples, but that is probably enough for one sermon, so let me stop there. And let me leave you with a final question to think about. Could God be calling you—calling me—calling First Parish Church--to engage more closely with someone who is our opposite, our enemy? Could God be calling you—calling me—calling First Parish Church—to at least be open to seeing things from a perspective different from the one we usually take?
God called both Joseph and Pharaoh to be open to seeing things from an opposite perspective, and the scripture tells us that because of their openness, abundance was created in the midst of a famine. In the New Testament, Jesus continually called his disciples to be open to seeing things from perspectives they were not used to taking—from the perspective of women and foreigners, lepers and tax collectors--and a new community was created where God’s love could be shared despite differences.
Perhaps God is calling us, also, to see things from a perspective different from the one we usually take. Perhaps God is calling us to a similar openness, a similar abundance, a similar community. As we prayerfully consider this question, may the God whose love extends to the whole world continue to open our eyes, open our hearts, and deepen our faith, amen.
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