The 7th Sunday of Epiphany 2025
Texts: Genesis 45:33-11,15; 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50; Luke 6:27-38
Hear the Sermon on FB HERE
The collect for today says whatever we do without love is worth nothing. The greatest gift of God is his love for us, and every other good thing flows from that, including his justice, mercy, and grace.
Years ago when I was teaching an adult confirmation class, we had a discussion about the differences between justice, mercy and grace. Someone asked how do we know when each was appropriate. This led to a conversation about God’s justice and grace and mercy. How should we seek justice, when do we stand in God’s grace, when should we be merciful?
Somewhere I remembered hearing a wise old preacher who said,
“As sinners, justice is when we get what we deserve, (both the victim and the guilty) mercy is when we don’t get what we deserve, (the guilty) grace is when we get what we don’t deserve, (all of us, the innocent and the guilty)
Today’s lessons present us with an opportunity to consider what it means to be merciful—not just letting something small go, or ignoring something because it takes too much energy to address it—but being justified, yet intentionally embracing a wrong and not holding it against the person. Mercy is withholding punishment and it is related to forgiveness—something we will carefully consider during the Lenten series which begins in a couple of weeks. (Pause)
Mercy seems to be something sorely needed in the Middle East, the place where these biblical stories took place.
Joseph had been presumed dead after what his brothers did to him. It is no wonder that Joseph’s father Israel was reluctant to send Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin. The brothers who threw him in the pit and then sold him into slavery, did begin to feel some remorse. They mentioned it in their conversations with Joseph before they recognized him. In their minds Joseph was long dead and their father shared their belief.
Being merciful to someone who deserves punishment is like giving them a new chance at life, a new beginning, a kind of resurrection. Today’s story from Genesis is bit of a resurrection story. Joseph was thought to be dead, yet he was found alive. He was second only to Pharaoh in Egypt, second in authority, and more importantly, he had compassion on his brothers. He forgave them. What had happened was a long time ago, but God used it for good.
As the interpreter of Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph could see all that had happened as part of God’s plan to save Israel and his descendants. Joseph’s love, his compassion, gave Israel new life. The brothers were not condemned by their actions, but rather, saved by love. Love can create compassion within a person, and compassion can lead to mercy, which is the forbearance of punishment of the guilty.
Joseph then gave to his brothers the land of Goshen, fertile land in the Nile delta, on the way to the land of Canaan, his home country. Israel and his descendants flourished in Goshen. As evidence of the Jewish presence in Egypt, even today, there are generations of Jews in that region, as far south as Ethiopia. Jews have been in that region for over 3,000 years.
In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul expected someone to ask the usual question, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
Paul answered them with an observation from nature. “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” Paul was referring to seeds. In planning your vegetable garden for this year, did you remember to save the seeds from last year? If not, there will be no garden. Future life depends on the dead from the past.
There are seasons of life, death, and new life. This can be seen in the essence of nature around us. Nature, being created and ordered by God, has something to teach us. A body that is useful for carrying life, comes from just a small seed that appears lifeless.
Yet, Paul is not talking about life on earth, but rather, eternal life. There is life beyond what we can see now.
Paul continued, “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.” “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.” Paul is describing the ultimate act of God’s mercy to humanity. In his love for us, he raises us to new life, glorious life, to be nearer to him.
In the meantime, Jesus tells us how we should live in this physical body, loving those who hate us, blessing those who curse us, praying for those who abuse us. This way of life seems to be antithetical to our understanding of justice. But if God is in our hearts, we will live this way, and it will become second nature. God has been merciful to us, and so are those who have God in their hearts.
Because Joseph was merciful to his brothers, the Jewish people survived, and generations came from this family.
In my former parish, we were surrounded by homeless and drug addicted people. We would sometimes we get confused about the right thing to do to help them. Some would say we made it too easy for them to continue in their addictions by feeding them. Most of us thought that if we could not help them overcome their addictions, we could at least be merciful to them by feeding them, and sitting with them and hearing their stories. We were kind to the homeless and drug addicted, trying not to be judgmental, even when we were exasperated with them.
We can be merciful, because God has been merciful to us.
One day there was a gathering by a Narcotics Anonymous group at our church. The leader came into the office to talk about the arrangements. He was about to leave and he noticed the table next to the office door. It was covered packages of day-old donuts which we gave out to anyone who wanted them. He turned around and thanked us for offering those donuts, because he said there was a time when those donuts kept him alive. Sometimes being merciful to people who are difficult to help gives them more time to figure things out. So, even though some of us had be debating whether we were helping or hurting people giving out those donuts—because so many of them also had diabetes, we decided to keep doing it. I think they are still doing that at Good Shepherd.
So, what does the story of Joseph and his brothers, Paul’s letter about death and new life, and Jesus’ teaching about loving our enemy have in common? The story of Joseph and Jesus’ teaching are about God’s people being merciful to one another. Paul’s letter describes God being merciful to us. Being merciful allows for new life, for resurrection, for a second chance.
As followers of the God who came to live among us to be merciful to us, so we are each called to be merciful to others, especially when it is difficult to do so. Amen.
