Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 15

Track 1: Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Genesis 45:1-15
Psalm 133
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

In chapters 40 and 41 of Genesis we learn that Joseph is skilled in dream interpretation, and, upon interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, he advises Pharaoh to store up 20% of the harvest in seven years of abundance to feed the land in seven years of famine. He becomes Pharaoh’s second-in-command: “Thus Joseph gained authority over the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:45).

Now everyone in the known world had to buy their food from Egypt. His brothers were sent by Jacob to buy food from Joseph, not knowing who he was. In today’s Old Testament, we read:

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.   (Genesis 45:1-15)

There is much for us to reflect upon here. We see that God had a plan for the life of Joseph, just as he has a plan for our lives. We may not see it or understand what God is doing at first. But we must remember:

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.   (Romans 8:28)

What the brothers of Joseph meant for the ill, God used for good. But to see the good Joseph had to grow in his trust and faith in God. He had to mature through suffering. The same was said for Jesus. We read in Hebrews:

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Is our fallen nature above our Savior?

Returning to Joseph:

And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them;   (Genesis 45:1-15)

A great reconciliation occurred between Joseph and his brothers. This was not a one-way street. Joseph was no longer the same braggadocios younger brother who his brothers were. He had to overcome his justified anger with his brothers, They had to learn how evil their shameful act had been.

In the case of the brothers, it took a great deal of time and suffering before reconciliation could occur. But it did. The psalmist wrote:

Oh, how good and pleasant it is,
when brethren live together in unity!   (Psalm 133:1

Hatred had to be replaced with love. Love is the fuel for forgiveness and reconciliation. The Apostle Paul wrote:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.   (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

We need to begin to see things through the eyes of God rather than our own. We can be judgmental and impatient. Our timeline may be too short. We are often blinded by our ambition and self-importance.

To love and forgive others we must trust and believe in the love and mercy that God has given us. Jesus taught us to pray:

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

In his First Epistle, the Apostle John wrote:

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

God has proved his love for us through the cross of Calvary. Do we know the love and forgiveness of God today? If not, it is time to come to the cross:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.   (John 3:16-17

If we do know God’s love, we are reminded by the Apostle Peter:

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.   (1 Peter 4:8)

 

Track 2: The Children’s Food

Isaiah 56:1,6-8
Psalm 67
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

In today’s Gospel reading we have a strange encounter between Jesus and a Canaanite woman:

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”   (Matthew 15:21-24)

Jesus was telling her the truth. We remember his dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well:

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.   (John 4:20-22)

But because of the woman’s faith, Jesus granted her salvation even though she was a Samaritan. God reckoned Abraham as righteous because of his faith. We remember that God said to Abraham:

“Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.  (Genesis 15:5-6)

Back to the Canaanite woman. She would not give up on the healing of her daughter. She knelt before him and paid him homage:

“Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”   (Matthew 15:25-26)

This was a strong statement that probably would have discouraged most of us. Yet she still would not give up on the healing of her daughter:

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.   (Matthew 15:27-28)

Faith moves God. We remember that the faith of Abraham moved God. The Apostle Paul  wrote:

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”   (Romans 4:1-3)

When we exercise the faith of Abraham, when we believe the promises of God, we become part of the family of Abraham. The psalmist wrote:

May God be merciful to us and bless us,
show us the light of his countenance, and come to us.

Let your ways be known upon earth,
your saving health among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide all the nations upon earth.   (Psalm 67:1-4)

God has chosen to save the whole world. However, we do well to remember that salvation came through Israel. Israel is the root. We are the engrafted branches. The Apostle Paul reminds us, that although many of the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as their Messiah, the Gospel was proclaimed to us by those who did believe:

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted among the others to share the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, but the root supports you.   (Romans 11:17-18)

Faith is paramount, but before faith there was mercy. God demonstrated his mercy towards Abraham by the promises he made to him; We are reminded:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.   (Ephesians 2:8-9)

We are the children of God by adoption:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”   (Galatians 4:4-6)

We have no right to judge the Jews, or anyone else for that matter. Jesus said that healing is the children’s food. As children, we are expected to grow.  When asked about the Mana in the wilderness, Jesus answered:

“Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which^[a] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”   (John 6:32-33)

Are we willing to be fed by the Bread of Heaven? Jesus is that bread. He is the healing bread. We need to feed on him. He is the Word-made-flesh. He said;

“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,

All of us are unhealthy in some way. We have not arrived. We need his healing today, both Word and Sacrament.