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Sermon on the Topic: For what shall this be good, 16.01.2005
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion
of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.
As
announced, I want to lead you through the Bible during this year, and with
familiar and unfamiliar texts take a stand on relevant and hopefully
interesting topics – and in this way, make also our anniversary year a
special one with the Bible.
Last
Sunday, we dealt with the question, what God has to do with natural
disasters. We have attempted to make it clear to ourselves that we live in
a world that is full of threats, that natural disasters, even though we
had forgotten this long ago, can happen, and that the question “Why” is
but little help, because no one can answer it. We have attempted to put
not guilt into the foreground of our contemplation, but trust. The trust
that God can comfort and help also in difficult times. And I think that
this is, in all that can happen to us, very important to know.
For
those, who have no idea what I am talking about, I have brought a few
copies of the sermon of last Sunday, because I cannot really preach that
sermon again today. The reason why I still repeat this once again, has to
do with the topic of today’s sermon, and the point of view which I have
chosen today. Last time we asked, what has God to do with it, for
instance, with a natural disaster. Today, I want to look into the exact
opposite direction and ask: How do we deal with difficult things? How do
we work through the trying and sometimes hopeless experiences of our life?
What happens inside us, when we experience difficulties?
The
reason why I ask this today is manifold.
After
all, following this Service, we celebrate a ninetieth birthday. Mrs.
Schmidt celebrates in the circle of her family, friends and congregational
members, and I simply must wonder about all that a person has experienced
in such a long life. I am certain, Mrs. Schmidt could write a thick book
about it, or recite a long, long poem. Some people ask on the occasion of
such a birthday: ”What is your recipe? How did it happen that you have
grown this old?” – I think, dear Congregation, if you want to know the
answer to this, you must ask Mrs. Schmidt herself afterwards. What I
thought about was this: “No matter how old we grow, still no one asks us
what we would like to experience, nor does anyone promise us that our life
is always only peace, joy and sunshine. And whether we do grow old or not,
whether we may celebrate our ninetieth birthday or not, everything always
depends on the attitude with which we live our life. Even sixty years can
be dreadfully long, when one is always sad, or always despairing or
grouchy. Much of what happens in our life lies not in our hand or is
determined by us, it simply happens. Of course, we ask ourselves often:
Why? – I do not want to ask Why today, but for what reason, and attempt
here to find out what can help us, to accept the hardships too, because,
yes, because some things can also have their good sides.
On
Tuesday, I took part in a meeting, where somebody told the following story
from India:
There
was the prince of a province who, one day, received a visitor of high
rank. As a visitor’s gift, the Maharajah, gave the son of the prince a
magnificent horse. When the people saw it, they shouted: “What a wonderful
present, what a wonderful present!” The prince thanked the guest, but
thought in his heart: “Is it good or is it bad? Who knows?” – Soon after,
the son of the prince rode out on his horse. In the forest, the horse
shied, and the son broke his leg in the fall. When the people heard this,
they shouted:“ What a dreadful thing, what a dreadful thing!” The prince
thought to himself: “Is it good, is it bad? Who knows?” – In the end, a
war broke out and the king gathered soldiers in his kingdom and came to
the court of the prince. He would have liked to have the son of the prince
participate in the war with his magnificent horse, but then he saw that
the son of the prince had a broken leg and could not go to war; the prince
rejoiced in secret.
It is
an informative story, which makes it clear to us that we not always
recognize why things are such as they are. And probably, you know this,
too, that we judge immediately, as the people in the story: This is good –
this is bad. But how do we know what is good and bad?
In the
first book of the Bible we hear of Joseph, the son of Jacob. It is a
story, in which things go uphill and downhill for Joseph, as in a roller
coaster. We are told that he is Jacob’s favourite son and is preferred; in
any case, his older brothers perceive it this way. And in time, they hate
him so much, particularly, after he relates his dreams and sees in a
vision, how others will bow down before him. Which the brothers understand
as utter impertinence, and they want to kill him, but then they sell him
off to Egypt, to a caravan. The invent a story, so that their father
believes Joseph is dead, torn to pieces by a lion, which, of course,
deeply affects Jacob, the father.
Where
this a newspaper announcement, we would say: “That is impossible, this is
an unbelievable story, how can anyone be so bad. This is terrible for
Joseph.
Is it
good; is it bad, who knows? For, after all, Joseph finds employment with
Potiphar, a rich man, who is an officer of the King and the captain of his
guard. Joseph works his way up and becomes the highest servant, which is
the most important trust position over all the possessions of Potiphar.
Joseph’s unbelievable rise, a success story! Is it good, is it bad, who
knows?
Then he
becomes a victim of a nasty slander: Potiphar’s wife, who had cast her eye
upon him, accuses him of sexual coercion, whereupon he is put into prison.
How terrible, isn’t it?
Is it
good; is it bad, who knows?
Finally, he is the only one who interprets the dreams of the Pharaoh
correctly, wins his trust, for, in this way, he warns him of a murder in
the palace.. He saves the life of the Pharaoh, and out of gratitude and
because of his competence; he becomes the second highest man in the state.
There is a happy end, even though, after some complications and detours,
when Joseph and his brothers finally face each other. For one moment,
Joseph thinks of revenge and gives them a scare, but ultimately, he is
overcome by joy to see his family again, most of all Jacob, who resettles
in the end, comes to Egypt where he can die in peace, because the enigma
of the assumed death of his sons is solved like a miracle.
Joseph
says the following sentence in facing his brothers, who traveled to Egypt
to escape the famine in Israel:
20)
As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring
it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
(Genesis 50, 20)
This is
more than astonishing, because it leads the whole story to this point:
What you have done, even though it was evil and you had very different
things in mind, has contributed to my being able to save my people from
famine.
This is
not an excuse for evil deeds. Not that someone gets the idea that this
leads to the conclusion: “When I get busy doing evil, something good will
come of it in the end!” Evil remains evil and is named so here. The
brothers do have the deepest regrets and are ashamed in this story of
their treacherous and brutal deed. They even fear for their lives, because
they realize that this would have been a deserved punishment, and Joseph
would have had the power to punish them.
What I
truly find impressive in this sentence is, that some things, that are bad
from a personal perspective, can still be brought to a good end. That
means, that God does not do the evil, but in his power, he is able to
correct human errors. What does that mean, applied to our life? Please
listen carefully now, because the differentiation which I now make, is
very important:
1. What
I said up to now does not mean that the evil which we experience or which
happens, always makes sense. The evil is always senseless. People die
because of reasons which one can only condemn, and sometimes there is no
explanation why it has to be this way. But remember? The question this
morning is really not, why something happens, but for what reason. And
that can be an indication that, in spite of the things that are senseless
for the individual or for his family, for others, here for all the people
of Israel, something positive can come from it. Of course, it would be
desirable, that things change not only after something has happened,
however, so many good regulations have arisen from bad experiences. Many
laws have this background.
2.
Sometimes we are, also with the bad things in our life, still a part of
the whole, which we, perhaps do not at all see or realize, but yet, others
make something good out of it. When, let us say, 2 million people suffer
from an illness, then this, no question, is not good for an individual,
but
then the mere fact, that there are so many sick people, is the cause for
research and, perhaps, for healing the illness, or, at least, for
developing more effective medicines.
The
flood: Of course, we all do not want people to die and to drown, lose
their children, and on top of that, all that they possess. But when the
peoples come together, when suddenly political and religious differences
no longer play a role and people work together so the damage can be
removed, the people and children cared for, that is, in itself, positive,
yes, a sensation, hopefully an example for the continuation of the other
aid measures.
3. This
week, I sat down with leaders of all possible religions, and we have
discussed these questions about the effects of the flood. It is
interesting that we talked at length about what we can learn, how we can
grow in faith, also through the theological problem that has been laid
down before our feet.
How
often have we, dear Congregation, emerged strengthened from difficult
times? Life experience does actually come about when we have made it
through difficult things, and in retrospect we are quite amazed how all
this was possible, or how we have come through again or how, in then, like
a miracle, things went on. 20) As for you, you meant evil against me; but
God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept
alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50, 20)
4. I
wish for us, that we could also react like Joseph. Even though people have
done something to us, wanted to do us evil, that we manage to do two
things: To forgive and to trust.
That is
what Joseph does, and which intrigues me so in this story. It is not a
bitter stock taking which Joseph makes here. He does not remain in the
past, he looks into the future. He does not regret missed opportunities
but he takes advantage of new chances. One could still say much about
this, like, that one can learn from Joseph to be free for the new, when
one can leave the old behind. One can only forgive when one manages to see
the person behind, and not just the villain. He sees in the men who kneel
before him, as predicted in his dream, not enemies, but his brothers.
Joseph
does not give up on God. How many people turn their backs to God when
something evil happens to them. I think the reason also lies in this, that
people assume that their misfortune puts the relationship to God in
question. And this impression comes about because one asks Why, but
actually one does not search for the What for. Here I mean that sometimes
it can truly be a long search, until it becomes clear for what something
is good. One does not always have an answer to this. With Joseph, this
also lasted decades.
However, I do not want to end the sermon, dear Congregation, and letting
you go on your way without adding the following thought: Even though we
often ask ourselves, as the prince did:” Is it good, is it bad? Who
knows?”, it does not change anything in the fact that God never gives up
his relationship with us. As he held fast to Joseph the entire time, even
though others did bad things to him, so has God also decided in our
favour, and he also does not give up on us.
Jesus
says a sentence which clarifies the relations in strong words. I hope,
that you will remind yourself of this sentence when your life is difficult
or a total enigma: He says (John 10, 29)
My
Father…is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father’s hand. Amen.
And the Peace of God, which passes all understanding,
may keep our hearts and our minds in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
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