It Didn't Seem Likely

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’ And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

Luke 6:27-38

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Joseph was the second to the youngest but he was dad’s favorite and dad never made any effort to hide it. As if the coat of many colors wasn’t too much already, there were his annoying dreams as well. Joseph dreamed he would be in charge, that he had all the power, that his whole family would bow down to him. The coat, the dreams, the favoritism… it all came to an end one day with Joseph staring up at his brothers from the bottom of a well. Would the dream make it out of that well? It didn’t seem likely.  

But the brothers had a second thought. Slavery would be just as good at getting rid of Joseph as the well was, AND they’d get some cash, so they hauled him out of the well and sold him into slavery in Egypt. Would the dream make it out of slavery? It didn’t seem likely.  

In Egypt he worked for the captain of the guards… in charge of his whole house. Everything he touched was successful until the Captain’s wife put the moves on him.  When Joseph rejected her, she got mad, told some lies and Joseph got thrown in jail. Would the dream make it out of jail? It didn’t seem likely.

In jail a couple of Pharaoh’s men got thrown in with Joseph and they had some dreams. Joseph told them the meanings of their dreams and what Joseph told them came true. “Don’t forget me,” Joseph asked. But would the dream be remembered? It didn’t seem likely. 

Then one day Pharaoh had a dream. No one could figure out it’s meaning until that guy from jail remembered Joseph. Joseph told Pharaoh what his dream meant. He told Pharaoh there would be seven good years for farming and then seven years of famine. Joseph told Pharaoh he should get someone to manage the country and save up for the next seven years and prepare for the famine to come. Pharaoh told Joseph the job was his. Would the dream ever be free? It didn’t seem likely.  

But life is strange and things that go around seem to come around again, so when the famine hit, it hit everywhere and not just in Egypt, but only Egypt was prepared. Joseph’s dad sent his older brothers down to Egypt to get some food and when they arrived they ended up buying grain from none other than Joseph himself. They didn’t recognize him. After all, who would have thought that the little brother they threw down a well and sold into slavery all those years ago would be running Egypt? Joseph gave the brothers the grain but said they better bring their younger brother back with them if they came back wanting more.  

And OF COURSE they needed more! It was a seven year famine! So they brought back Ben which almost killed their father. Then Joseph told them to leave Ben and go get their dad. The brothers knew that returning home without Ben really would kill their dad and they pleaded with Joseph. In the end Joseph couldn’t take it any more and he told them who he was. Their jaws bounced off the floor. Here was the brother they had put in a well and sold into slavery, running Egypt and in complete control of their lives, just as his annoying dreams had predicted all those years before. So what did Joseph do? Throw them down a well? Sell them into slavery? Toss them into jail? Send them away hungry? Have them killed? The answer to this question doesn’t seem likely, but Joseph chose grace.  

That’s been God’s answer from the beginning. Grace!  That’s the way to care for people. Grace… a way that escaped a well, and slavery and prison… a way of living that made it’s way through jealousy, lies and deception. A way of loving that found it’s way through pain, power plays, and prison. God, it seems, will have Grace survive, and actually, it seems, God INSISTS that Grace WILL not just survive… But THRIVE! Even when it doesn’t seem likely at all!

Grace, is the middle way and God insists on it even to this day! Grace insists we BOTH… not turn our back on, or give in to evil AND at the same time, Grace ALSO insists we not return violence for violence or plot our revenge or try to get even.  Grace, is the “Third Way” a way in-between denial and avoidance on the one hand and getting mired and hopelessly ensnared on the other. Grace is the way to confront the hard, the difficult, the troubled and even the evil of our world without getting drawn into it and becoming difficult, troubled and evil ourselves. Grace is the way to move both the one who is attacking and the one who is being attacked BOTH to a shared place of peace… neither becoming a “winner” or a “loser”… but BOTH ending up in a shared place of peace. 

Grace never seems “likely” to make it out into our world and yet it made it out of a well, out of slavery, out of jail and out of a famine to bring to a place of peace, a terribly divided family. Giving up your shirt as well as your coat, doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you… the world never sees those teachings of Jesus as very “likely” solutions for the real evils of our world and yet Jesus himself made it off of a cross and out of a tomb to bring to a place of real peace, the terribly broken people of our painfully divided island home. 

We will all have times… as individuals, communities, countries or as a whole world… where life feels as if we’ve been thrown to the bottom of a well, like we are have no control of our own future… like we are cursed, abused or condemned… as if we are suffering an endless assault of lies and deceit and treachery… trapped in a place where for all the world, God’s Grace seems unlikely at best, to make it out into the world where we need it most of all. In those times remember this story… Remember that God’s Grace ALWAYS makes it out through that often ignored and always undervalued and perpetually forgotten middle way. Every. Single. Time. Amen.