We Are Family

Genesis 45:1-15

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Send everyone away from me." So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

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.

Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there--since there are five more years of famine to come--so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.

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; and after that his brothers talked with him.

Matthew 15: 21-28

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." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 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.

According to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, Baptism is the sign and symbol of inclusion in God’s grace and covenant with the Church. As an identifying mark, Baptism signifies

1.     the faithfulness of God,

2.     the washing away of sin,

3.     rebirth,

4.     putting on the fresh garment of Christ,

5.     being sealed by God’s Spirit,

6.     resurrection and illumination in Christ, and

7.     adoption into the covenant family of the Church.

Baptism signifies adoption into the covenant family of the Church.

Being part of a loving family is a beautiful thing.

Families can be wonderful, and loving. People in many families can be counted on to have our backs. They can be the closest relationships we often have in our lives. They can also be the greatest sources of pain and heartbreak.

Some families are dysfunctional beyond belief.

Some people stay in families despite abuse.

Some people disassociate with their families – give up, lose hope.

In our scripture readings today, Joseph and his brothers reunite and reconcile after many years of rocky relations. Joseph was their stepbrother; he was their father’s favorite; he had this terribly annoying “gift” of interpreting dreams; and they were jealous. This is the essence of what led them to try to kill him, many years before the time of our story.

They thought they’d gotten rid of him. Why would he ever want to forgive them, do well by them, save them, for goodness’ sake?

But that is what he did. He welcomed them back when they came, not knowing it was him, begging for help so they would not starve in the famine. He wept with emotion as he revealed himself to them.  He did this all before any of them repented or asked for any forgiveness.

The Canaanite woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter is another family story. She is desperate, for the love of her daughter, to help her to be healed from the demons that possess her.

When she comes to Jesus, she acknowledges him as her Lord, and she asks for healing.

Jesus says no.

Now there is a side issue here, one that is not easily set aside for another sermon someday. Let’s look briefly at this issue. Why does he say no? And then why does he change his mind?

Why wouldn’t a perfectly divine Jesus know exactly who he was and was not there for, right from the start? Why would he first say one thing, and then modify it?

Some theologians think he may have been making a point to the disciples about the wideness of God’s grace and mercy beyond the children of Israel – getting them to first see it from the narrower, law-based perspective so they could then see him shift it, broaden it to others.

Some think this was a case of Jesus’ humanity showing, reflecting the reality that he was fully human and fully divine – and humans sometimes do misunderstand or get things wrong the first time.

I would suggest that this could be another case where God’s mind is capable of changing and being changed, as hard as that is for us to wrap our own minds around.

Abraham changed God’s mind, when in Genesis, chapter 18, God threatened to destroy Sodom. Looking back at this story, it appears that Abraham raised the question to God that we talked about a few weeks ago, the concern about not pulling out the wheat along with the weeds. Abraham says to God, what if there are fifty righteous people; will you wipe out the city including them? God says, ok, if there’s fifty, I won’t sweep the city away. Abraham says, what about 45? or 40? or 30? or ten?  He talks God down, so that God says, for the sake of ten I will not destroy it. That is not where God started from at the beginning of Abraham’s negotiation.

We hear shades of this as the woman engages with Jesus, negotiates with him, as it were.  The woman was not a Jew, but nevertheless, she sees and speaks of Jesus as Lord. But when he dismisses her and daughter, declares them exempt from his healing and mercy, she speaks back to him, acknowledging him as Lord, but also replying almost as if she were talking to her Brother, reminding him, as it were, of the grace he has revealed to all who have heard his words and believed in him.

Even the dogs eat the crumbs from the table.

She refers to the table, calling to mind, perhaps, for Jesus, the words of Psalm 23. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

She makes it clear she and her daughter will be more than satisfied with the crumbs. The crumbs of your grace and mercy will be sufficient, Lord.

Even as Jesus proclaimed that faith as small as a mustard seed would be sufficient, she knows that a crumb of what Jesus provides can save her daughter.

The woman’s love for her daughter and desperate desire to save her enables her to humble herself before Jesus her Lord, requesting only crumbs, but it also emboldens her to have a conversation with Jesus as if he is her brother (and, of course, he is), reminding him, even explaining to him that his living word, is, actually, for all.

Both these people, Joseph and the Canaanite woman, take bold steps in order to save others in their family. They do this despite past hurt and estrangement, despite being wronged, despite desperation, despite great barriers placed before them. Their ultimate mission and purpose is to save.

Jesus understands that desire. God steps in to help when we try to save one another, to love one another. God desires this type of family love from us for each other.

And who is our family?

Well, of course, our family is our family. But wait – there’s more! When we baptize Lisa, John, and AnnMarie, we claim them and their parents, Veronica and Moses, to be part of this church family, and we promise to do what is needed to raise them in the faith, to help Jesus who saves them.

Through our own baptism, we are all already family, here in this congregation as well as in the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ. When one of us is in trouble, or hurting, or hungry, or alone, we do what is needed to help one another as Jesus saves us, to lift each other up. Because we love one another as family.

Just like Joseph and his brothers, that love transcends the times that we sometimes are hurt by one another. It goes straight into the center of desperate situations like that of the Canaanite woman.

But wait – there’s more! Doesn’t our family extend outside the walls of this church, into our neighborhoods, our communities, across this nation, around the world? God desires all God’s children to be saved, not lost. And we are called to participate in that saving work. We are called to serve with Jesus, who came not to condemn, but to save. Just like Joseph did. Just like the Father welcoming the Prodigal Son. Just like God who eagerly desires for us all to be saved.

We are called not to give up but to persevere. Just like the Canaanite woman. Just like the friends who carried their paralyzed friend across town on a mat and lowered him down right in front of Jesus, so that he could receive a crumb of mercy and healing.

We are called to love one another as family, even when we’ve been hurt by one another, or don’t understand one another, or maybe even don’t like one another.

We must get on with loving one another, here in this community of faith, here at New Life Presbyterian, because there is serving and saving and healing work for us to be doing out in the world. Our attention needs to be out there as much or more than being focused in here.

The world is a mess. Conflicts of all kinds are raging, in our own neighborhoods and towns across America, as well as around the world.  Racial and socioeconomic differences divide us. We are killing one another in our cities out of fear. Many people feel unloved and need the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

We are called to love them, all of them, to be a link for them to the saving grace that we know is available for all as God’s beloved children. That love and grace is sealed in our baptism, the sign that we are adopted by God for all time, no matter what lies ahead.

So – let us go forward and do the beautiful and challenging work of loving one another, seeing one another as one family, showing in everything we do and say that we accept and rejoice in the unity that Christ came to bring for all people.