No Greater Love
Genesis: Foundations of Our Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Genesis has been a book about brothers that can’t get along. But it is about so much more. It is the human story, the foundation of our faith. God created humans in His image to be fruitful and multiply and partner in His kingdom over the earth, to cultivate shalom, flourishing in all creation. And He created a Garden, a place of communion with us. If we would abide in His love and listen to His voice, our lives and our world would be fruitful.
But He gave us a test, the Garden Test. Would we listen to His voice and live? Or would we choose to do what is good in our own eyes, to make our own choices about what is good and bad, and suffer the consequences of brokenness and death? Every generation in Genesis failed the test. We despised God and His love. But with each generation, we are learning a little more about how God will heal us. He will provide the seed of the woman that will break the curse of sin, overcome death, and restore us to union with God. The seed of the woman will come through the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now, which of Jacob’s sons?
Today shows us that critical component in the character of the messiah: love. But not a love that we have known so far. This is a love unknown to human nature. There is no greater love than this, and it comes from God. And to be healed from our brokenness so that we can offer healing to the world, we must first receive this love. Then we can offer ourselves in love so that others can live.
Love Heals through Communion
Love Heals through Communion
In Genesis 43:26-34, Joseph welcomes his brothers with a meal. What do you think is going through Joseph’s mind when he sets this up? Let’s look at the elements.
The brothers have brought a gift of the elements used in burial and some fruit of the ground (honey, pistachios, and almonds). In verse 16 we are told he orders his steward to slaughter an animal. Where have we seen this combination of offerings before? (Genesis 4, Cain and Abel) There is a healing required for death that results from the sin of enmity between brothers.
The slaughter of an animal is the first offering for sin recorded in the Bible. God provided it for Adam and Eve to cover the shame resulting from their sin. Communion is symbolic celebration that a sacrificial, atoning death leads to life through the mercy of God.
He shows concern for their father.
He is obviously emotional around Benjamin. And he shows favor to Benjamin.
He seats the brothers in order of their birth.
The household is seated with the Egyptians separated from everyone else. Joseph is obviously not Egyptian. He sits between the Egyptians and his Hebrew brothers.
Can the brothers heal through communion? The elements of the meal are a bringing together of Cain and Abel’s offerings. All the elements of death that leads to life are there. He has given them all the clues necessary that he is their brother. How else would he know their birth order? Who else would be so concerned for both Jacob and Benjamin? If they were ever going to recognize him, this was their chance.
It was over a meal that they made the decision to sell him into slavery. They did not kill him, but they chose not to be their brother’s keepers. Now they have plenty of time to process. Verse 34 tells us,
Portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of theirs. They drank and became drunk with Joseph.
Their guard was down. I do not condone drunkenness. But take that detail out. Sitting at table brings our guard down. With whom do you commune around your table to share love and healing? How intentional are we about
Joseph had provided space to heal through communion, but they aren’t quite ready to see what they need to see yet. The picture is not yet complete.
A few weeks ago, Joseph interpreted two dreams for Pharaoh. He said the two were one. Two dreams one meaning. But what if Moses was hinting at something else? What if he’s talking about two brothers that symbolize one promised son that would heal our brokenness? Joseph invited the brothers to communion around an animal sacrifice, but it has not healed their brokenness. The sacrifice and communion are coming. But Joseph will not be the central character of this story. So, the story continues.
Love Instructs through Experience
Love Instructs through Experience
Joseph takes a new tack. His brothers have learned through gifts of grace. Maybe an instructive lesson will help. Experience is the best teacher. So, next Joseph recreates a traumatic experience from their childhood that symbolizes not the healing they are seeking, but the brokenness between brothers. He stages another Laban-Jacob chase scene.
Back in chapter 31, Jacob realized he had to get his family away from Laban, that old snake. So, he told them to pack up and set out for Canaan. But Rachel packed something unfortunate. She stole Laban’s little idols that he used for divination, fortune telling. (Actually the word for divination, nachash, is the same word as the word for snake in Genesis 3.) When Laban blames Jacob of stealing these divination idols, Jacob says that whoever stole them should be put to death. Rachel isn’t put to death right then. Her sin is never found out by humans. But she does die eventually, at the birth of Benjamin.
So, here are the brothers, they have brought Benjamin to Egypt in this life-and-death drama that’s been unfolding. Joseph hides a silver cup in Benjamin’s bag, and he tells his servant to reenact Laban’s part in the chase scene from chapter 31. When he catches up to the brothers he is supposed to tell them that Joseph uses that cup for divination.
They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them,
‘Why have you repaid evil for good? Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’ ”
And maybe unknowingly, the brothers reenact Jacob’s part.
Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants.”
Then, weirdly, the servant replies,
He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent (blameless).”
That was not what they said. But that’s the point. Moses, in this narrative, keeps pointing out the trajectory of the story of God with His people is from death to life, not the other way around. And Joseph has been using every opportunity to demonstrate grace toward His brothers.
Do you know anyone that finds it hard to receive grace? Is that person you? If we are going to know the love that heals us, we have to be able to receive grace. Why do we find that so hard? Grace is contrary to earning, and is therefore contrary to pride. Grace is contrary to merit, and is therefore contrary to self-condemnation. Some of us are filled with pride. We won’t receive grace from anyone. We don’t need help, we don’t take free gifts. We can and will earn everything we get. (And that is true for that person.) Some of us are filled with self condemnation. We also won’t receive grace from anyone. We feel that we don’t deserve any help, and just don’t know what to do with a free gift.
God’s love breaks all of that down. When you realize that He doesn’t love because we deserve it or don’t deserve it, but because it is His nature to love, it takes earning and merit out of the picture. And when you can get over yourself for one minute to truly experience His love, you are ready to receive it. When you come to the table every week to partake in the love of God offered to you, it is an act of faith in the unmerited love of God for the undeserving. It is experiential learning.
People in the story of Genesis are so quick to judge people to death. We saw Reuben last week telling Jacob,
Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring [Benjamin] back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”
And this week, two other brothers speak life into this situation. The lesson through experience draws out a brother who will offer himself so the others can live.
Love Offers One’s Self
Love Offers One’s Self
Where Reuben could only think of death, another brother reenters the story this week to preserve life. At the beginning of chapter 43,
Now the famine was severe in the land. And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.”
But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’
And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.
I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.
You can almost see Judah leaning toward Reuben as he says this. “No one is going to die here. This is about keeping us all alive.” But Judah is willing to bear the cost. He doesn’t offer his sons. He offers himself. This is a critical point. This was the point of Abraham offering Isaac. God, ultimately does not require us to offer our children as they other gods do. God Himself provides the sacrifice. And He will do it through His own son, who will offer Himself freely. And Judah becomes the image of that Son.
When the brothers undergo the newest trial Joseph puts them through, and the silver cup is brought back to Joseph, he tries to drive his lesson home. He brings up the divination again.
Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?”
“Guys, remember Laban and our parents?” But their fear keeps them from seeing the lesson. And God is in this. There is a new lesson to be learned. The second half of Genesis 44 is one long speech from Judah. His whole focus is on preserving life.
We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’
“Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.
For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’
Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.
For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
This is love. He offers himself so that others can live. Now we see the two are one. Joseph is the suffering servant of God. Mistreated and betrayed by his brothers, he is the one who went down into the pit to be raised up to save the world. And Judah is the conquering king, who overcomes sin by offering himself as the atoning sacrifice. He became sin so that the brothers could be blameless, innocent, righteousness. This is Jesus. When we come to the communion table, we celebrate that Jesus offered Himself to bring life out of death.
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
When Joseph sees this love coming from Judah, the same brother that had sold him for a profit in the first place, he can tell the lesson has landed. He finally breaks down and pulls back the curtain for his brothers. First, he reveals himself.
Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him... And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
But then he reveals God.
And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
Love Comes From God
Love Comes From God
Ultimately, the love that heals our brokenness comes from God. It is not a love we have for one another. The love of a husband and wife that remain faithful to their commitment for a lifetime is great. The love of a parent who gets up in the middle of the night to tend to a child is great. But there is no greater love than that someone lay down their life for their friends. But that God, the ever-living One, the One out of whose life our life was created, the One who gives and preserves life, the One who celebrates life, would lay down His life, not just for His friends, but for His enemies...there is no greater love.
That is the love from which those other loves derive. If God laid down His life for me, and He promised to live His life in me. That enables me to love you, to lay down my life for my wife, my child, for you, my friend. Our love is so limited. We, in our own nature, love who and what pleases us. If I am to love the unlovely, the displeasing, the undeserving, those who have injured me, lied about me, mistreated me - to love them enough to offer my life to preserve theirs - that love can only come from God.
I cannot help heal the brokenness in our world, in my relationships, in me. I need help from the One who has the no greater love. God orchestrated Joseph’s life, including the favor of his father, the suffering caused by his brothers, the injustice of Potiphar’s household, and the exaltation by Pharaoh, all to preserve life. He preserved the life of many people in Egypt and beyond. But by preserving life for the line of the chosen people, He preserved life for all of us through the greater Joseph and the greater Judah, the two who are one, Jesus the Messiah, who was betrayed by His friends and suffered unjustly at the hands of his brothers, and who willingly offered His life for His brothers in love. There is no greater love.
Communion
Questions for Discussion
What was a highlight of your week, and what was something heavy you are bearing from this week?
Was there something you were able to apply from last week’s passage, and what did you learn?
What do we learn about God in our passage this week, Genesis 43:1-45:5?
In what way do any of the characters in the story demonstrate the character of God?
What does Joseph say was God’s purpose in his life, in Genesis 45:5? What does that teach us about God, and what does it teach us about our lives?
What do we learn about ourselves in our passage?
Why are both Joseph and Judah necessary to complete the picture of the messiah in the family of Jacob? What part of the picture does Judah complete?
In what way does our passage add to our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
How will you respond to this passage this week?
With whom can you share this passage this week?
