Trinity 4 The Sunday of the Log in the Eye July 9, 2017

Trinity 4
Genesis 50:15-21 and Luke 6:36-42
July 9, 2017

“Do Not Fear; I Will Provide for You and Your Little Ones”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I want to ask you to take a moment to look at the picture on the sermon insert in the bulletin this morning.  Just study that picture for a minute as I point out a few things in there. This is a picture of Joseph and his brothers.  We heard the last part of that story in Genesis for our Old Testament reading this morning.  There is Joseph who has gotten up from his royal Egyptian throne to step down to his brothers.  He’s dressed in the finest Egyptian clothes while his brothers are barefoot and in rags. But you see the love of Joseph for his eleven brothers.  He’s embracing his youngest brother, Benjamin, and reaching out his hand of grace and blessing to his older eleven brothers.  The picture shows us in images exactly what Joseph actually said. He said, “Don’t be afraid, brothers. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. Don’t be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.”

Now for a moment—take Joseph out of the picture.  Take him out and, in his place, insert Jesus.  Now the picture is still absolutely true to life and fact.  Because Joseph is supposed to be a type of Jesus.  By “type” I mean an image of Jesus. A foreshadowing of Jesus.  A precursor of Jesus.  So put Jesus in the picture and it’s perfect. There is Jesus stepping down from His throne to us, His brothers and sisters who have betrayed Him, embracing us, in our rags and bare feet, and saying to us, “Don’t be afraid, brothers. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. Don’t be afraid; I will provide for you and for your little ones.”

That’s what Jesus promises to us.  It’s hard to believe it, but it’s true.  He promises that God will work all things for good for those who love Him. That’s Romans chapter 8, verse 28.  He will work all things for your good and will provide for you all that you need.  How does He do that? We don’t always know, do we?  Sometimes we will never know.  It’s often a mystery.

How is God going to work this divorce for my good?  I don’t see it.  I don’t know.  How is God going to work this depression for my good?  I can’t see any good in it at all.  How is God going to work this sin of mine or this addiction of mine for any good? I find it hard to believe.  How is God going to work this illness of mine for any good? Or this illness of my spouse or anyone else?  How can this ever be good?

Well, like I said we don’t always know exactly.  But we trust God.  And most of the time, one of the good things that comes out of evil is the opportunity to show mercy and forgiveness.  And one of the best examples of God bringing good out of evil in the whole Scripture is Joseph’s story.  At so many points in Joseph’s life, it seems impossible that God would ever be able to work it for any good.  But He does.

Imagine ten of your brothers all hating you so much that every one of them wants to make you pay.  That’s pretty bad.  Imagine a few of your brothers hating you so much, with such a bitter animosity, that they’re willing to never see you again and willing to see you live the rest of your life as a slave.  Joseph has ten brothers willing to do that.  Nine, if you give Reuben the oldest brother the benefit of the doubt because he wasn’t there right at the time they sold Joseph.

How will God work this evil for good?  Joseph wondered that many times. Like when he’s riding all the way to Egypt to be sold to Potiphar.  How will God work this for good?  Like when Potiphar’s wife accuses him of raping her and he’s thrown into prison?  How will God work this for good?  Like when Joseph interprets some important dreams for an important person who should get him out of prison and doesn’t.  How will God work this for good?  Like when Pharaoh drags him out of prison to come interpret one of his dreams. How will God work this for good?

But God does.  And it so happens one day that here show up his ten brothers right in front of him—all asking to buy food from him in Egypt.  And here finally, right before Joseph’s eyes, is the good that God has working all along out of all this evil.  God has used him to save all of Egypt—but not only Egypt—to save his brothers as well.  And he does.  Eventually.  He opens his arms to them, shows them mercy, and forgives their sins.  God works all this evil for good.  Joseph is everything that the other two readings today tell us to be and do:

“Bless those who persecute you.”

“Never be conceited.”

“Repay no one evil for evil.”

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him.”

“Be merciful as your Father is merciful.”

“Forgive and you will be forgiven.”

All of these we see in Joseph.  But, of course, not only in Joseph.  As I said, Joseph is meant to teach us about someone else.  Jesus.  Jesus was also betrayed by his brothers.  One of them, Judas, was willing to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  But all of them abandoned Him.  And so did we.  We all sold him off and betrayed Him and put Him to death on a cross.

How could God work such evil for good?  How could He ever work our sins that put Jesus on the cross—for good?  How could He ever work your greed for good?  How could He ever work your jealousy for good?  How could He ever work your lust for good?  How could He ever work your arrogance for good?  How could He ever work those sins from your past for good?  Well, it all starts right there with Jesus at the cross.  That’s where our evil is worked for good—in the mercy and forgiveness shown to us by Jesus Christ our Savior.

We’re the evil brothers coming to buy grain from the Joseph that we put to death on the cross.  And Jesus is the One there with open arms, embracing us, and saying, “Don’t be afraid. What you meant to evil, God meant for good.  I will provide for you and your little ones.”

None of you here today need to be scared.  Yes, you’ve all done some terrible things.  As I have also.  Yes, we should be punished severely for our sins.  And yes, some awful things have happened to us at times and may be happening to you right now.  But you don’t need to be scared.  You have someone who is even much more powerful than Joseph who was second in command in Egypt.  You have someone much more powerful than any earthly ruler ever.  This one, Jesus your Savior, is able to work all things for your good.  This One, Jesus, is able to promise you that He will definitely provide for you and for your little ones.  This One, Jesus, is here with open arms to embrace you in His Word and Sacrament and forgive your sins.

What evil are you scared of right now?  Some of us may be scared of the evil we see in our Illinois government and scared what really will happen to this state eventually.  But don’t worry.  Jesus says, “I will provide for you and for your little ones.”  What else?  Some of us may be scared of the evil we see in our nation—evil that says it’s okay to give little children hormone blockers that will forever alter his or her life before anyone that age could ever make such a decision like that.  But don’t worry.  God promises, “All things work together for good for those who love Him.”  Some of us may be scared of the evil that our kids are facing these days with so many thousands of temptations so readily available to them at every turn.  But don’t worry. Jesus says, “I will provide for your little ones.”

What Jesus will provide for you and me in every case is His mercy and forgiveness.  He will continue to provide His Word and His promise.  He will continue to forgive your sin.  And He will continue to work evil for your good.  That’s His promise.  Even when you can’t figure out exactly how He is doing that.  You just trust in His mercy and forgiveness.

Now, having said the fact that we don’t always know how God will work evil for good (and that’s true)—you should also know that one of the most important ways that God brings good out of evil is by giving you the opportunity to show mercy and forgiveness.  One of the greatest goods that comes out of evil is when you forgive and love those who have hurt you and sinned against you.

One of the greatest goods that came from Joseph was his forgiveness for his brothers.  The greatest good that comes from Jesus is our forgiveness and salvation.  And so also one of the greatest goods that ever comes from you and me—is when we forgive.  Take the log out of your eye and forgive your brother.  That’s what Jesus commands us to do.  We take the log out of our eye by receiving Jesus’ forgiveness.  Then we can forgive the speck in our brother’s eye.

“If possible,” Paul says in the Epistle, “so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”  Isn’t that a wondrous thought?  So far as it depends on you—you can live at peace with everyone.  By showing mercy and forgiveness.  By feeding your hungry enemy.  By giving your thirsty enemy something to drink.  This, Paul says, is overcoming evil with good.  So see, finally, you also get to be in that picture this morning.  Where Joseph is.  Where Jesus is.  There you can be also—stepping down to others in humility, embracing them with the love of Christ, and saying, “Don’t be afraid. God means all for good.  I will take care of you.”

Jesus. Joseph. And you and me.  Being merciful as our Father is merciful.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.