Genesis 50 15-21 2005
Pentecost 17
Genesis 50:15-21
September 11, 2005
“Where Is God In All of This?”
Intro: It is September 11, 2005. It is exactly four years after that terrible day of terrorist violence, we are still asking “Why” and “What now?” and “What will happen next?”
It was the worst attack in American history, and it burned into our brains a series of heartbreaking images that will stay with us forever. The Twin Towers falling. The Pentagon exploding. Flight 93 crashing into the ground. A firefighter carrying away a flag-draped victim. The twisted rubble of Ground Zero. And people crried out, “Where is God in all of this?”
Some say they saw God in the bravery of rescuers who rushed into burning buildings after the airplanes hit. Others point to God’s power in the passengers who overcame the hijackers on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania. Still others claim that God was holding up the Twin Towers long enough for most of the people on the lower floors to escape and they saw the face of Jesus in the plumes of smoke. But the question remains, “Where is God in all this?”
Not long ago another jolting disaster took place. This wasn’t by the intentions of sinful men, it was the consequence of living in a fallen world. A Tsunami devastated parts of Asia and India; we staggered at what we saw. Now it has happened again on our own land and in our own country, Katrina has devastated much of the southern coastline and especially Louisiana and New Orleans.
And so many people of our country weep, all of those who suffer from broken homes, broken bodies, broken dreams, and broken hearts. The images of devastation of a city and citizens under water compel us to grieve with them. The looks of amazement and daze-ment on the faces of southern evacuees of every age and color pierce our hearts. Our country is brought to its knees because many of her sons and daughters have been battered, buffeted, bruised, and left bloody. Homes are destroyed; schools, hospitals, libraries, museums, supermarkets and places of employment are obliterated. Many need to be cared for. Much needs to be done.
But first, all we do is grieve. There was a little girl who was late in coming home from her errand to the grocery store for her mother. When finally she arrived home, her mother questioned her about her tardiness. The little girl told how she had seen one of her classmates on the way back from the store. The friend was sitting on the curb because she had dropped a dollar down the sewer drain. The mother then asked her daughter, “So you’re late because you helped her get her dollar back?” “No, Mommy,” said the daughter. “I’m late because I sat down on the curb with her and helped her cry.”
For a time, we too “sit on the curb and help others cry.” But only for a time. We are called to go forward in faith. We who are claimed by the Lord Jesus Christ in Baptism can face the fear of devastation and its aftermath as well as face the future with hope and expected joy. A great hymn reminds us of this: “Let us suffer here with Jesus, And with patience bear our cross. Joy will follow all our sadness, Where He is there is no loss. Though today we sow no laughter, We shall reap celestial joy; All discomforts that annoy Shall give way to mirth hereafter. Jesus here I share Your woe; Help me there Your joy to know.”
Going forward in faith is our Christian response to God’s calling. We can be assured and assure others that because Jesus is in charge, and in control, and in love with us, we have a refuge and sanctuary in the midst of all life’s storms.
King David reminds us of this. In the Psalm, 57:1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in You my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by.” David recognizes that life often holds the dangers of death and destruction, but whatever the storm, our one God has mercy on us and offers us refuge in Him.
So we sit here today, four years after 9/11, only days after Katrina, still wondering about the place of God in these awful events. And as we look for answers, it makes sense to go back to the beginning, to the book of Genesis, and discover how our ancestors in the faith responded to attacks that were unexpected and the things that devastated there lives and we can see where God is in all of this.
In particular, let’s look at the story of Joseph, the favorite son of a man named Jacob. Joseph’s own personal 9/11 occurs when his brothers become overwhelmed with jealousy, and conspire to kill him. “Come now,” they say, “let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him” (Genesis 37:20). There sinful jealousy compelled them to do evil.
Joseph, after all, was the brother who seemed to have everything, who seemed to always get his way, who seemed to have influence over their father. Clearly, whatever the brother would conspire to do against Joseph — he had it coming. So they thought.
Fortunately, one of the brothers intervenes, and convinces his siblings not to take Joseph’s life. Instead, they strip him, throw him into a pit, and sell him into slavery. They smear his robe with goat’s blood, and show it to their father, tricking him into believing that Joseph has been torn to pieces by wild animals. Joseph is carted off to Egypt, where he becomes a slave of one of Pharaoh’s officers.
Then we fast forward to the end of Genesis. Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, and has become second-in-command to Pharaoh himself. A famine devastates his families homeland so his brothers travel down to Egypt to buy grain, not knowing that Joseph is now the governor of the land. After a series of tests and negotiations, Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, and they are relieved that he does not strike, stab or slay them for their previous offenses. He offers them forgiveness and with the Lord’s help they survive the devastation of the famine. Together they weather the storms of life. Just as God rescued Jacob and his family, God will rescue us from the storm called Katrina. Joseph may have asked the question, “Where is God in all of this?” the answer came as his life unfolded.
Of course the question: “Why did this happen?” will be mouthed over and over again. The answer needs to be stated. We are sinful people who live in a sinful world where death and tragedy happen all too often. Sadly, many will blame God for this crisis but the truth of the matter is that it is our fault for ruining creation with our sin, which causes earthquakes, tornados, floods, and hurricanes. St. Paul writes in Romans 8:20-22: “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,” that is mankind. He says, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning…” Creation is groaning under the havoc we have wreaked with our sin! Hurricane Katrina and her catastrophic consequences have proved this again.
But let me quickly remind you of the truly Good News: we are not left without help, hope, or healing. Because we have Jesus and His mercy we have all we need to overcome. It is as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” Jesus, who has liberated us from our sin, will also liberate us from the destruction our sin has caused. His love, which led Him to die for us, is the same love that causes Him now to live with us. His power, which overcame the devil, death, and hell, is the power that will lift us out of the deeps the hurricane and its aftermath have sent us. As we again see the cross where Jesus died, we are assured that a God who would rescue us from eternal destruction will rescue us from earthly devastation. The wounds Jesus willingly received show the depth and determination He will endure to deliver us.
We can go forward in faith. We can face our fears and face the future because Jesus has claimed us as His own and now goes with us as we continue life’s journey. His presence assures us He’s in charge; He’s in control even as He reminds us in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world!”
I don’t think that I have completely answered the question of “Where is God in all of this?” Certainly it is true that He is with us and we look to Him and our Savior Jesus Christ for refuge and strength. But I think it is important to understand that to completely answer the question of where God is in this we have to look at ourselves. For with God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us we can also say that God is in His people. Through us He is present to the people of the world. Just as God used Joseph to save His family and the Egyptians God uses us now.
Our place is to be active followers of Jesus, and through us God transforms evil into good. Just how God does this is always unpredictable, because God’s ways are not our ways. But we have irrefutable evidence that God is always working to do this — we see it in the story of Joseph, when God takes the evil of the brothers and turns it into good, “in order to preserve a numerous people” And we see it in the story of Jesus on the cross when God takes the evil of the crucifixion and transforms it into forgiveness, new life and everlasting salvation.
The Lord’s plans will certainly prevail, despite our tendency to toss people into pits and even crucify the Son of God. We humans may always be dreaming up evil, we will always be victim to the storms of life, but God is always dreaming up good — coming up with wild and wonderful transformations, and bringing life out of death and replacing tears with shouts of joy.
About the best we can do is to point people to the Lord, and show some evidence that he is alive and well and at work in the world. When the Christian author Philip Yancey was asked, the question of where God is when it hurts, he thought for a moment and then said, “I guess the answer to that question is another question. Where is the church when it hurts? If the church is doing its job — binding wounds, comforting the grieving, offering food to the hungry — I don’t think people will wonder so much where God is when it hurts. They’ll know where God is: in the presence of his people on earth.”
This is our place: to bind up wounds, comfort the grieving, feed the hungry, and work for reconciliation. We can do this as individuals, as families, as a church and as a nation.
As we continue to see the destruction of hurricane Katrina we will weep. But that’s not all we’ll do. We are people with hope and that hope is the Son of God, Jesus the Savior. He is with us so we can go forward in faith, facing our fears and the future. He who loved us enough to die and rise for us is still in charge, in control, and in love with us. Our God is with us, working for good. On 9/11, during the Tsunami and know in the aftermath of Katrina. He is with us every day. Until the destroying storms pass, we find refuge in His mercy, under His wings forever and ever and ever, Alleluia. Amen.