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Sermon September 13, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 19, Year A, Track 2
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp19_RCL.html
Audio only: /documents/Worship_Service_Sept_13_2020_audio_only
Video: https://youtu.be/fS8TJVHiy8Y
Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, ‘What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?’ Genesis 50:15
Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:22
So then, each of us will be accountable to God. Romans 14:12
Most of us remember that day in 2001, don’t we? We know exactly where we were and what we were doing when those two planes hit the towers in New York City and one crashed in a field in western Pennsylvania.
We were glued to the news, hardly believing what we saw. It was hard to get anything else done, wasn’t it? Some of us wanted to rush to New York City to help. Some of us just wanted to hear from our family members, even when we knew they were nowhere near any of the crash sites. Some of us living in the flight paths of airplanes, found the outdoors eerily quiet.
We knew our world had changed on that day, but how it would change was not known. Would there be more attacks? How could something like this happen? Who was responsible and how should we as a nation respond?
Should we or would we seek revenge? We are a powerful country, after all, so would we bomb another country that we concluded was responsible for attacking us?
According to a Washington Post article from 2017 on the topic of the science of revenge,
“Evolutionary psychologists believe we are hard-wired for revenge. Without laws and prisons, our earliest ancestors relied on the fear of retaliation to help keep the peace and correct injustices. "Acts of revenge not only sought to deter a second harmful act by a wrongdoer but also acted as an insurance policy against future harm by others, a warning signal that you're someone who will not tolerate mistreatment," says Michael McCullough, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami.”
Yet recent research reported upon in the article suggests that soon after a vengeful act, you actually feel worse. While you would think revenge would make you feel better and bring closure, it really doesn’t. In some cases, it just prolongs your entanglement with whatever harmful act you experienced.
In our readings today, we are cautioned against our inherent desire to seek and to enact revenge.
You may remember the story about Joseph and his brothers. His brothers were so tired of him; he was the favorite, you know, and seemed to make sure his brothers knew that. So the brothers agree to sell him. Joseph goes through some terrible times, but his gift of seeing the future gets him in front of the Egyptian leadership and he saves the people from famine. Joseph’s father, Jacob, sends the brothers to Egypt seeking food during the famine. Lo and behold, it is Joseph in charge. The brothers are reunited and the family relocates to Egypt.
However, once Jacob dies, the brothers are concerned that Joseph will seek revenge. I’m sure we can all relate to that. Someone dies who tends to hold the family together or in a kind of peaceful tension. The brothers go to Joseph, seeking forgiveness for what they had done. They offer to be their brother’s slaves.
What is Joseph’s response, though? It’s not the revenge that their brothers expect. Instead it is a repairing of the relationship. Scientists suggest when we seek revenge, what we really desire is an acknowledgement of the harm done and a way to repair the relationship. That’s what Joseph is able to do. What could have been a legacy of revenge for the rest of time, instead is a model of forgiveness and reconciliation.
In our Gospel, we can tell Peter has been listening to Jesus, yet still in the end wants to be okay with seeking and enacting revenge when wronged. Peter suggests that forgiving someone seven times is enough and then it should be okay to seek revenge. Seven is a lot of times, isn’t it? Yet, Jesus once again upends Peter and all of us when he says we need to forgive at least 77 times! Now there are many nuances to forgiveness that I won’t go into today. I suggest the book we studied a couple of years ago by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Forgiveness.
The point is, I believe, that revenge really is not healthy. Revenge does not help us live with each other or live in peace. Revenge not only is unhealthy right now and during our lifetimes, but revenge can leave a legacy of violence and destruction for centuries.
Will we leave a legacy of forgiveness and reconciliation? That kind of legacy builds peace and health for everyone.
Today we enter our stewardship time, when we prayerfully discern what we will give to this Christian community of Nativity and St. Stephen during 2021. We are the beneficiaries of an amazing financial legacy of sustainability from a number of trusts created many years ago to support our work and mission. This legacy allows us to build upon, expand and strengthen the building of the Kingdom of God here and now.
We are the beneficiaries of the legacy of time and talent that built this church and has sustained it for over 130 years both here in Newport and in Thompsontown. The baptisms, prayers, confirmations, weddings, funerals and good works, known and forgotten in time, that guide us today.
What will you do in 2021 to contribute to and extend the legacy of this Christian community as it seeks and strives to follow Jesus Christ?
In our reading today from Romans, Paul provides important advice to us for building our community; for being in relationship with each other. He ends with this truth: So then, each of us will be accountable to God. Romans 14:12
For 2021, how do you hope to be accountable to God through this Christian community?
Amen
Book on Forgiveness by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter, Mpho Tutu: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Forgiving-Fourfold-Healing-Ourselves/dp/0062203568
