August 14 Mt. 15:21-28, Gen. 45:1-15 (Communion)
We are in the maelstrom of ethnic prejudice, religious differences, gender bias and address. Outsider rude remark where the tables get turned on Jesus by a foreign woman. In this instance Jesus is taught the boundaries of his mission are wide indeed. This may well set up the Great Commission at the end of the gospel. Jesus is in foreign territory. he is dealing with a woman, in public, but she talks like an early Christian, with the titles she uses for Jesus. She may be well off, as her child is on a couch, real furniture, not a pallet. She is a mixture of bold and submissive, someone perhaps used to dealing with power, as the brothers in the Joseph story are not. Members of our presbytery hosted Peruvians here, and we had two gatherings in Alton. A friend of mine, Jennifer Loeb in Indianapolis wonders if Jesus was tempted with compassion fatigue perhaps? This verbal encounter continues the tradition of wrestling with God.this woman is not going to let go until she does her best to try to save her daughter with the fierce determination that perhaps only god knows as well as a mother.
A rude remark is one thing, but a life upturned is another. Joseph's brothers quake in fear for the retribution, the revenge that is coming their way. The brother Joseph has his dreams fulfilled, and the one sold into slavery now is a ruler in Egypt. They are sure that Joseph will retaliate. Instead he offers them forgiveness. At the end of the book he offers it again, because they fear that only their father's presence is staying his hand against them. Look at what the forgiveness of Joseph is not. Is it forgive and forget. No, in his charade with them, he again shows them the depths of betrayal and the import of being responsible for each other. He has looked for change in their attitude and behavior and has seen it. Is it minimizing the hurt? No, again, they have a sense of the depth of their crime. they do not minimize the wrong done. They do not say that time has healed the wound. Forgiveness is not easy for either party. Both sides need to get a sense of the depth of the offense.
We are in the maelstrom of ethnic prejudice, religious differences, gender bias and address. Outsider rude remark where the tables get turned on Jesus by a foreign woman. In this instance Jesus is taught the boundaries of his mission are wide indeed. This may well set up the Great Commission at the end of the gospel. Jesus is in foreign territory. he is dealing with a woman, in public, but she talks like an early Christian, with the titles she uses for Jesus. She may be well off, as her child is on a couch, real furniture, not a pallet. She is a mixture of bold and submissive, someone perhaps used to dealing with power, as the brothers in the Joseph story are not. Members of our presbytery hosted Peruvians here, and we had two gatherings in Alton. A friend of mine, Jennifer Loeb in Indianapolis wonders if Jesus was tempted with compassion fatigue perhaps? This verbal encounter continues the tradition of wrestling with God.this woman is not going to let go until she does her best to try to save her daughter with the fierce determination that perhaps only god knows as well as a mother.
A rude remark is one thing, but a life upturned is another. Joseph's brothers quake in fear for the retribution, the revenge that is coming their way. The brother Joseph has his dreams fulfilled, and the one sold into slavery now is a ruler in Egypt. They are sure that Joseph will retaliate. Instead he offers them forgiveness. At the end of the book he offers it again, because they fear that only their father's presence is staying his hand against them. Look at what the forgiveness of Joseph is not. Is it forgive and forget. No, in his charade with them, he again shows them the depths of betrayal and the import of being responsible for each other. He has looked for change in their attitude and behavior and has seen it. Is it minimizing the hurt? No, again, they have a sense of the depth of their crime. they do not minimize the wrong done. They do not say that time has healed the wound. Forgiveness is not easy for either party. Both sides need to get a sense of the depth of the offense.
Joseph takes after his Uncle Esau and discovers the capacity to forgive in himself. He is able to let go, release the hurt. He did not let the betrayal define him. He was not going to be the eternal victim, forever hurt. On the other hand, he does not retaliate in kind. Second, he does see some change in them. Reconciliation has not been complete. They will fear for their safety after the protective wing of their father is gone. They are brothers again. Joseph/Increase has moved from hostility to success and family bonds. In large part he has done so by being able to see the hand of god working even through human evil.
Communion is a sacrament of reconciliation. We take in the forgiving nature of Jesus Christ in to our bloodstream, so that it feeds our ability to forgive and to reconcile. To receive Communion we come with hands open, not clench, not closed into a tight fist. This is a meal served family style,for we are brothers ans sisters here. Joseph saw god's hand in his life. "you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." Here God takes the evil of the death of Jesus and works it toward good. this is one place where the barriers that separate and divide are broken all the way down.
Communion is a sacrament of reconciliation. We take in the forgiving nature of Jesus Christ in to our bloodstream, so that it feeds our ability to forgive and to reconcile. To receive Communion we come with hands open, not clench, not closed into a tight fist. This is a meal served family style,for we are brothers ans sisters here. Joseph saw god's hand in his life. "you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." Here God takes the evil of the death of Jesus and works it toward good. this is one place where the barriers that separate and divide are broken all the way down.
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