Fourth Sunday after Trinity (2023)

Genesis 50:15-21; Romans 12:14-21

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, in our Old Testament Lesson this morning we hear a remarkable confession from Joseph, that reminds us of the great trust that we ought to have in God in the midst of all challenges and trials and points us back to the work that God accomplishes for our sake.

Joseph’s Life

Joseph’s brother had planned to murder Joseph.

Joseph was the son that Jacob had longed for with the wife that he loved. Jacob had given him a special coat, and Joseph had also been given dreams that his brothers didn’t like, so they planned to murder, but ended up selling him into slavery, and covering the coat his father had given him with blood to convince Jacob he was dead. That’s some evil. This wasn’t the end of his troubles, he was bought by potiphar

Potiphar’s wife lied to have Joseph thrown in jail.

Well she wanted him dead too, and if he had slept with her, then it would have resulted in his death, and instead he was put in Pharaoh’s prison where he rose to prominence yet again.

Two men asked for Joseph’s help, and the one forgot about him.

They both had dreams, and one man was restored to his position in Pharaoh’s court and the other executed, and it wasn’t until a long time later, that Pharaoh had a dream that Joseph came to interpret for him and finally was raised up to save the land of Egypt and many around. There was much evil that came from his brothers actions, but worked it to the Good.

Man’s Temptation

Who wouldn’t want revenge?

Here before Joseph are the men who had thrown him in prison, cut him off from his father and his mother, and put him through great hardship. His brothers think like most men, the only reason they are alive is because their father is keeping them safe.

It is tempting to repay evil for evil.

Who amongst can say that we have not done this, when someone wrongs us, we wrong them back. If they take me from me, I will take from them. If they hit me, I will hit them harder. If they slander or name call me, I will do the same right back and fight fire with fire.

What did Jesus teach us to pray?

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. We ask God to treat us in the same way that we treat others. Which is why Jesus says right after the Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

How do you treat those who sin against you?

Do you seek vengeance? Do you make sure they pay for their sins? Do you fight fire with fire? For God will do the same to you, but the fire He uses will never go out.

Vengeance Belongs to God

If Joseph had done this to his brothers, he would become like them.

He had the upper hand. Joseph was second to pharaoh in the land of Egypt. If he wanted to, he could have repaid his brothers by selling them into slavery, cut them off from their families and send them to a different land.

For if you match your enemy in evil, that makes you evil.

Evil is evil and if you are committing it that makes you evil in turn. We try to justify it by claiming that they did this to me, and that makes my evil good. No, it doesn’t. You’ve just shown what exists in your heart, and it isn’t love, it isn’t mercy, it isn’t goodness. It’s evil.

Rather, you ought to persuade your enemy through good.

When you treat your enemy kindly, their justification for evil actions falls apart. It will be harder to pull people to their side and keep them on their side if you cannot convince them that they are deserving. Especially if they see that the people they are going after are people that do good to those who wrong them.

The world thinks this is ridiculous, and it will accomplish nothing.

That is the justification that the sinner inside of us cries out. How can you let them get away with this, how can you stand to let them do this, you’re weak, foolish, stupid, a moron if you do not repay evil with evil. They will mistreat you, indeed they will. But I would rather strive to do good instead of committing evil.

The Good that Changed You

Consider Jesus who showed you mercy.

The Son of God descended who descended from the realms of Endless day entered into this world for your sake. Now in the Bible there is a special study the fancy word is Typology. What it means is that in the Old Testament there are events, things, and people that point ahead to Jesus.

Like Joseph, He was betrayed, mistreated, and suffered.

He was betrayed by one that he considered a brother, he was mistreated by his people, and suffered at their hands as he was handed over to death.

Who were the brothers that sinned against Jesus?

Joseph had 11 brothers, but who were the ones that sinned against Him? What does Peter say on the day of Pentecost? It was you, who crucified the Lord by your sins. The evil that is in your hearts is why He was nailed to the Cross and suffers for you. For sin is the rejection of God’s Word, and Jesus is that Word made flesh.

But God worked through the cross for our good.

Even though you were evil towards him, He loved you, bled for you, and gave up his life for your sake. God has done all of this for our good, while we are the ones that were evil towards him. It is this great love that we refer to as the Gospel.

The Gospel Changes Hearts

The Law terrifies all of mankind, but doesn’t change our hearts.

Punishment doesn’t change the heart, it just convinces us to not get caught. In fact, it increases our desire for what we are not permitted to have, for we don’t like being told what we can and can’t do, even if it is God Himself. It increases sin.

Hearts were changed by the love that Jesus has for you.

For when you see your sinfulness, when you realize that here is the Son of God, who has been so horribly mistreated by us and by our sins, that He is left dying and even in his final hours still asks that the Father forgives you, because you didn’t realize what you were doing. That he isn’t crying out for vengeance, or treating you like you treated him, he isn’t repaying evil for evil, but showing you love. That softens hearts that are as hard as stone and brings us to life.

Joseph’s brothers didn’t believe how much he cared for them.

He had broken down weeping in front of them and rejoiced that they had been found and invited them and his families down. But it was too good to be true, and so they concocted this plan because they thought it couldn’t be real. Many think of the forgiveness we have from Christ in the same way, it sounds too good, that God is really that gracious, that loving, that merciful after we have been downright awful to him? That Jesus would show us love, when our sins are before us? That is why He gave us Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper.

What about when we are wronged?

God has appointed governments to protect people.

In fact the book of Romans speaks about this in the very next chapter, that there are those authorities that exist to intervene on our behalf, and keep good order.

They are God’s servants, who carry out His wrath.

For He does watch out for the widows and the fatherless, for the weak, and all of those who have been wronged. Some may think this is incompatible with what Christ does on the cross. If there were no consequence for sin, if God had no wrath towards sin, then the Cross doesn’t make sense. What makes the Cross so beautiful is that Jesus suffers for our offenses.

What happens when they(Governments) sin?

God raises up other governments and figures to bring down those who commit evil. You find this throughout the Scriptures that he raised up the Israelites to deal with those who were wicked in the Promised Land, and when the Israelites strayed into wickedness he raised up the Assyrians and Babylonians. But do not avenge yourselves, Vengeance belongs to God.

So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Joseph was a type of Christ who foreshadowed what Jesus would do for you on the Cross. For we committed great evil against Him, but God used it for good. For despite the sins we committed against Jesus God saved us by the Cross of Christ, and there we witnessed His great love and mercy that He loved us while we were yet his enemies, and brought us to life. Let us share that wonderful message, and do good to all even those who wrong us, for that is what Christ did for you. In Jesus name. Amen.