Who’s in Charge?
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
First let me say thank you for allowing me to be your intern here this year. I consider it an honor and joy to be able to serve you in this capacity. And from what I understand, you are forgiving of the mistakes that interns make. This is good, as I know that I will probably make many of them this year. Already the issue of names already comes to mind. Believe me, the pictorial directory has already gotten a lot of use.
Now you might think it bold of a raw intern to come in and ask, “who is in charge?” And in one sense you would be right. After all I have not been a part of this faith community. I do not know how things work around here yet. Still I do think that the question needs to be asked from time to time, whether it is an intern, the senior pastor, or from those of you sitting in the pews asking the question. Who really is in charge here? As you may have noticed from the children’s sermon there are differing viewpoints in determining the chain of command of this community of believers.
In our Old Testament lesson from Genesis today we hear, that for Joseph God is really the one in charge. But what has brought him to this point of declaring to his brothers “even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today”. Many of you might know of the story of Joseph. Andrew Lloyd Webber made Joseph’s story into a musical called “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat”. All of this can be found in the last 15 chapters of Genesis. Joseph was the youngest of twelve brothers born to the patriarch Jacob. As the youngest he also happened to be the favorite of Jacob, which caused his brothers no end of jealousy. And it wasn’t just because Joseph was the favorite of Jacob. Joseph also boasts of the dreams that he had where 12 were bowing down to one. It was the jealousy and the boasting that caused the brothers to want to murder him. We know Joseph was not murdered but was sold into slavery. It was in slavery that Joseph became the head of Potipher’s household because God’s hand was with him. Then Potipher’s wife attempted to seduce him. In her failure she accused him of rape, causing Joseph to be thrown into prison. It was in prison that Joseph again was raised into leadership, because God’s hand was with him. Joseph then successfully interpreted a dream for the pharaoh, resulting in Joseph becoming the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt, because God’s hand was with him. It was because of Joseph’s leadership that Egypt was spared a crippling famine in the Mediterranean basin. It was this same famine that caused Jacob and his sons to migrate to Egypt in search of food. Which brings us to our text today. Joseph, believed to be dead, has been revealed to his father and brothers. Jacob, the patriarch of the family is dead. And now the brothers, wracked with guilt over what they had done to Joseph when he was younger, now bow before Joseph, wondering what their fate will be.
We don’t know if Joseph had heard tales of the mighty Yahweh at his father’s knee. But as we have heard here, Joseph knows that he is not God. Joseph knew something about God’s power in the midst of his circumstances. “Fear not” he tells his brothers. This is a salvation language. Joseph is inverting the situation the brothers find themselves in. Joseph makes the proclamation “…in order to announce that the purposes of God are much larger and more powerful than the grip of guilt” . In essence he says, this is not about you, stop thinking of yourselves, and start thinking of what God has accomplished, despite your intentions and your plans.
Throughout the bible we see that God’s intentions, God’s plans are greater than the intentions, the plans, and the evil of man. Pharaoh planned to kill the Israelites, but God raised Moses up to deliver them. Saul, the first king of Israel planned on killing David, but God raised David up to be the greatest King in Israel. The evil Kings of Israel were intent on oppressing the poor of the land, but God used the other nations to destroy the kings, and in the process spread Judaism further into the known world. The Pharisee Saul was intent on murdering and wiping out the newly formed Christian community, but God met him on the road to Damascus, converting him into the great Apostle Paul. And finally, the Pharisees and the Romans crucified Jesus on the cross. But God raised Jesus from the dead providing hope and salvation for the entire world.
So who is in charge? Well the pat answer, the easy answer, the Sunday school answer would be God. And we would be right. But do we truly recognize that in our daily life? As sinners we are also intent on evil deeds. We may not want to admit it, but it is true. Think about our confessions on Sunday morning; “We have sinned against you in thought word and Deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone.” The apostle Paul himself identified that in his letter to the Romans chapter 7: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do but what I hate to do…for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this is what I keep on doing.”
I experience this in my commute up here every day. Rather than recognizing a child of God in the car next to me, there are times when I get mad and curse that person, if they don’t drive the way I think they should drive. Maybe you have experienced something similar. You may be dealing with a young child who is not behaving, therefore punishing that child far beyond what the actual mis-deed was. Or you may have a co-worker who says something that is considered offensive or rude and so you might end up ignoring them or spreading gossip about them. Maybe it’s your parents, whom you think are treating you unfairly and you begin to think murderous thoughts. You and I become like Joseph’s brothers inflicting pain on others for our own selfish needs and wants.
Then there is the flip side. You might be like Joseph having pain and/or suffering inflicted upon you. You may be going through a difficult time in your relationship with a spouse or sibling. You may be experiencing sickness or disease. You may be grieving over a recent loss in your life. And then there are those in the gulf coast that have had a hurricane upend their lives. These are also evils over which we have no control. These are evils in which we feel like we are the only ones going through them. These are evils that cause us to ask whether God is with us or even if God exists. It is tough to see God if you are deep in the valley of despair, loneliness, or pain. Even Jesus on the cross cried out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”
In chapter 8 in Paul's letter to Romans he says this: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called to his purpose.” Did you here that? In ALL things God works for the good of those who love him! What a great promise. Does that mean our suffering or our tendencies towards hurting others will end? No! We repeatedly hear in the NT that there will be suffering in our lives and in the lives of others. But we have a God who is faithful. We have a God that has plans for our lives, both here on this earth in haven afterwards. Listen to what God tell the OT prophet Jeremiah: “‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a future and a hope.’” Some might think that this is a Pollyanna view of life as we live it here. But this is what faith is about. It is about a hope and a promise.
Joseph knew of God’s sovereignty even in the midst of his trials and tribulations. At the end of the text he gives his brothers and their families a promise: 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. Jesus came to earth to have a monstrous evil inflicted upon him, namely the sins of the world placed upon him, so that numerous people; you, I and the whole human community would be saved. And with Jesus’ resurrection we have the promise that our lives are preserved fresh daily. So I ask you one more time, “Who is in charge here?” And more importantly, will you ask that question of yourselves in the days, weeks, and year to come.
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