If anyone had a legitimate reason to harbor resentment, Joseph son of Jacob did. Siblings had, out of jealousy of him and annoyance with him (he was an insufferable brat for a while), faked his death and sold him into slavery. Joseph had also spent years in prison for a crime he had not committed. Decades later, when he had a position in the Egyptian government, Joseph had an opportunity to take revenge. As one reads in Genesis 45, he chose to do otherwise.
One theme in the pericope from Romans 8 is liberation by God from the power of sin (yet not the struggle with sin) to serve and obey God, to pursue spiritual purposes. The reading from 1 John, with its warning against loving the world, fits well with that passage. That caution is not a call for serial Christian contrariness. No, St. Augustine of Hippo understood the passage well. He asked,
Why should I not love what God has made?
The great theologian answered his own question this way:
God does not forbid one to love these things but to love them to the point of finding one’s beatitude in them.
–Quoted in Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John (1982), pages 324-325
The quest for selfish gain, a theme extant in more than one of the readings for these days, is a journey toward harm of others and of oneself. That which we do to others, we do also to ourselves. There might be a delayed delivery of “what comes around, goes around,” but the proverbial cows will come home. It is better to seek the common god and to forgo vengeance, to retire grudges and to build up one’s society, community, and congregation. One can do that while loving the world, but not to the point of, in the words of St. Augustine of Hippo, finding one’s benediction in it. No, we should find one’s benediction in God alone. As we read in Psalm 27:7-9 (The Book of Common Prayer, 1979):
Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him.
Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers,
the one who succeeds in evil schemes.
Refrain from anger, leave rage alone;
do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.
Here ends the lesson.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 27, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ARTHUR CAMPBELL AINGER, ENGLISH EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT AEDESIUS, PRIEST AND MISSIONARY; AND SAINT FRUDENTIUS, FIRST BISHOP OF AXUM AND ABUNA OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHEDO CHURCH
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH GRIGG, ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
Above: The Triumph of Joseph in Egypt, by Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra
Image in the Public Domain
Serfdom and Liberation
DECEMBER 21, 2021
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The Collect:
Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come.
With your abundant grace and might,
free us from the sin that binds us,
that we may receive you in joy and serve you always,
for you live and reign with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 30:1-24
Psalm 113
Romans 8:18-30
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Who is like the LORD our God, who sits enthroned on high,
but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?
He takes up the weak out of the dust
and lifts up the poor from the ashes.
He sets them with the princes,
with the princes of his people.
He makes the woman of a childless house
to be a joyful mother of children.
–Psalm 113:5-8, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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This is the second consecutive post partially based on an account of God granting the wife of a Hebrew patriarch a pregnancy. This time Jacob and Rachel have Joseph, a central figure (for better and worse) of the latter part of the Book of Genesis. Joseph, whose story illustrates that God can use human perfidious plans for positive purposes, did reduce the Egyptian population to serfdom as the price of feeding them (Genesis 47:13-27). That was negative.
In contrast liberation via God to “obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21, The New Revised Standard Version, 1989) occupies the mind of St. Paul the Apostle in the pericope from the New Testament. There is hope amid suffering, we read, and
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
–Romans 8:28-30, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
That is freedom to become what one can be via divine grace and human obedience. No, that is not serfdom; it is liberation.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 21, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN ATHELSTAN LAURIE RILEY, ANGLICAN ECUMENIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
Pray, my lord, if the LORD really is with us, why has all this happened to us? What has become of all those wonderful deeds of his, of which we have heard from our forefathers, when they told us how the LORD brought us up from Egypt?
—The Revised English Bible
He received his answer and won a victory by God’s power, the subsequent narrative tells us. This saving, delivering deity was the same God of Jacob and of Sts. Mary and Joseph of Nazareth. This deity is the God of the baby Jesus also.
I do not pretend to have arrived at a complete comprehension of the nature of God, for some matters exist beyond the range of human capacity to grasp. Yet I do feel confident in making the following statement: God is full of surprises. So we mere mortals ought to stay on the alert for them, remembering to think outside the box of our expectations, a box into which God has never fit. This is easy to say and difficult to do, I know, but the effort is worthwhile.
The Bible is full of unexpected turns. Gideon’s army needed to be smaller, not larger. God became incarnate as a helpless infant, not a conquering hero. The selling of Joseph son of Jacob into slavery set up the deliverance of two nations. The hungry will filled and the full will be sent away empty, the Gospel of Luke says. Outcasts became heroes in parables of Christ. Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of nascent Christianity, became one of its greatest evangelists. The list could go on, but I trust that I have made my point sufficiently.
So, following God, however God works in our lives, may we walk in the light, for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 7, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS OF THE PACIFIC
THE FEAST OF ELIE NAUD, HUGUENOT WITNESS TO THE FAITH
THE FEAST OF JANE LAURIE BORTHWICK, TRANSLATOR OF HYMNS
Joseph son of Jacob was a twit as a young man. His dreams fueled his out-of-control ego and enraged his (mostly older) brothers. Their reaction was unjustified, of course. Young Joseph did not realize that true greatness is located in service. This was a lesson which old Joseph also failed to learn, for he did reduce the vast majority of Egyptians to serfdom.
In contrast to the story of Joseph son of Jacob we have the genealogy of Jesus, son of St. Mary of Nazareth. A very different Joseph raised him. This Joseph did no harm to nobody so far as the Bible indicates. This Joseph spared the life of his betrothed, embroiled in a scandal, fled to Egypt with his family, and built a family life for the Son of God. And in this Joseph’s family history, the only named women were:
Tamar, who seduced her father-in-law by posing as a temple prostitute to become pregnant with the child he owed her according to levirate marriage. She got twins;
Rahab, a prostitute who saved the lives of Israelite spies; and
Ruth, a foreign woman who adopted her mother-in-law’s religion and seduced her mother-in-law’s kinsman, thereby securing her future and that of her mother-in-law.
Unnamed yet referenced was Bathsheba, wife of Uriah then of David. Their affair became the stuff of a major Bible story and a turning point in the history of the Kingdom of Israel. These four, though not as great as people measure greatness, were sufficiently notable to received such posthumous notice.
Through these women God worked great deeds despite their questionable sexual activities and reputations. Rahab was a prostitute, for example, and Tamar posed as one. At least two were seductresses and two were foreigners. All of them violated respectable social customs, and three of them receive positive press in the Bible. And none of them reduced a population to serfdom. All of them were preferable to Joseph son of Jacob.
May we help others–not harm them–and find the greatness which exists in service.
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.
Psalm 37:1-12 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Do not fret yourself because of evildoers;
do not be jealous of those who do no wrong.
2 For they shall soon whither like the grass,
and like the green grass they fade away.
3 Put your trust in the LORD and do good,
dwell in the land and feed on its riches.
4 Take delight in the LORD,
and he shall give you your heart’s desire.
5 Commit your way to the LORD and put your trust in him,
and he will bring it to pass.
6 He will make your righteousness as clear as the light
and your just dealing as the noonday.
7 Be still and wait for the LORD
and wait patiently for him.
8 Do not fret yourselves over the one who prospers,
the one who succeeds in evil schemes.
9 Refrain from anger, leave rage alone;
do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.
10 For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait upon the LORD shall possess the land.
11 In a little while the wicked shall be no more;
you shall search out their place, but they will not be there.
12 But the lowly shall possess the land;
they will delight in abundance of peace.
41 But the deliverance of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
42 The LORD will help them and rescue them;
he will rescue them from the wicked and deliver them,
because they seek refuge in him.
1 Corinthians 15:35-49 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Someone may ask,
How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?
These are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life and the thing that you sow is not what is going to come; you sow a bare grain, say of wheat or something like that, and then God gives it the sort of body that he has chosen: each sort of seed gets its own sort of body.
Everything that is flesh is not the same flesh: there is human flesh, animals’ flesh, the flesh of birds and the flesh of fish. Then there are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the heavenly bodies have a beauty of their own and the earthly bodies a different one. The sun has its brightness, the moon a different brightness, and the stars a different brightness, and the stars differ from each other in brightness. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead: the thing that is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable; the thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; the thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful; when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit.
If the soul has its own embodiment, so dies the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. That is, first the one with the soul, not the spirit, and after that, the one with the spirit. The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven. As this earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. And we, who have been modelled on the earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.
Luke 6:27-38 (The Jerusalem Bible):
[Jesus continued,]
But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.
The Collect:
O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Joseph forgave his brothers who sold him into slavery. God, he said, used that dastardly deed to help many others years after the fact. Nevertheless, forgiving those who had sold him into slavery seems like a spiritual feat under my circumstance. It is possible only by grace. Being better than others might expect–doing more than one must–being as merciful as possible by grace–is the unifying core of this Sunday’s readings. Dong this consists of nothing less than applying to others the same love one has received from God. Thus grace is supposed to beget more grace.
We have a model–Jesus–to follow. We have his ethical teachings and his life. And he have his resurrection. People murdered him. He forgave them. He even interceded for them. Peter denied Jesus, who forgave him. Jesus is the “man of heaven” whose image each of us can bear. Bearing our Lord’s image, forgiving our enemies, refraining from baseless judgments–these are possible by grace and free will, the latter of which exists because of grace. So these are possible ultimately by grace. These can be very difficult tasks, and I have not mastered them. But I have learned them better than before. And I look forward to becoming more proficient at them. Moral perfectionism is quite unrealistic, for flawed beings can never achieve that goal. But we can do better. And God–in Christ–offers to help us do so.
I have known this help many times. During one particular season of my life I detected much sudden grace. It was an extremely difficult time, so the grace was that much more obvious. My spiritual life improved greatly without much effort on my part. I found that my internal reality had changed for the better overnight. I did not object; I cooperated instead. And my willingness to extend mercy to my enemies came in time–not immediately, to be sure; it is still coming. God, I perceive, meets us where we are and carries us as far as we need to go. Our task is to cooperate.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 14, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT FULBERT OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF EDWARD THOMAS DEMBY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOP OF ARKANSAS, AND HENRY BEARD DELANY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT WANDREGISILUS OF NORMANDY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT, AND SAINT LAMBERT OF LYONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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