Proper 15(A) + The Choice + 8.17.14

M. Campbell-Langdell+

All Santos, Oxnard

(Genesis 45:1–15; Ps. 133; Romans 11:1–2a, 29–32; St. Matthew 15:(10–20), 21–28)

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, ‘O me! O life! … of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?’ Answer: that you are here; that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”[1]

You may recognize this. It is a scene from the 1989 movie “The Dead Poets Society” which starred Robin Williams and inspired many to live much fuller lives. We mourn him this week, even as we also mourn Mike Brown and long for a life of meaning amidst moments of violence. We all have a verse, and we all have a choice. Some choices lead to destruction and some to building up.

Reading the passage from Genesis today, I am struck by the fact that Joseph had a choice. As we heard in last’s week’s reading, Joseph was done wrong by his brothers. At first they wanted to kill him, and then they sold him into slavery. He had every reason to hate them. And then his story gets more complex. He rises to esteem, then suffers a fall from grace that is not his fault, followed by a turn at dream interpretation that once again places him in the Pharaoh’s good graces. And he uses his gifts to successfully manage the harvest in Egypt such that all have plenty. Now I call that using the gifts God has given you. So many lives saved because Joseph interpreted God’s guidance in the situation and used his skills for economy.

But the challenge of managing an entire nation’s food supply was nothing next to being confronted with his brothers yet again, with the choice of whether to forgive or whether to punish. Now here’s the thing, before today’s scene we see Joseph testing his brothers before he reveals his identity to them. One commentator I read sees this as manipulation.[2] But I see it differently. When someone has deeply wronged you, you may use careful methods to rebuild your sense of trust with them. If you have a goal to get to forgiveness, this is not manipulation, this is peace-building. This is what we need to do as a country in the midst of all our mutual distrust. Allow others to build peace.

Joseph could have judged harshly and he was in a position to ruin his brother’s lives; his father’s life. After all, he holds the power. But he was merciful. He forgave, after seeing that they had changed sufficiently to be able to be in relationship with him. And that forgiveness leads to unity.

That unity that our psalmist talks about—oh how good and pleasant it is when brethren live together in unity!

And it is.

I was struck by another sound bite this week. I heard a pastor, I think it was the Rev. Al Sharpton, talking to the folks in Ferguson, MO. He said, yes, Mike Brown’s death was outrageous. But he said, violence is not the answer. He appealed to the people’s better nature even when faced with the worst nature of another. Sharpton appealed to the forgiveness of the people or at least their non-violence in the face of what they perceived as a fear born of hatred. He said violence wasn’t going to change that. He said it might even hurt the fight for justice. He asked for unity and he asked for peace.

Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *
when brethren live together in unity!

Or, you might say, something that comes right after this passage in Romans today: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom 11:33). You might think of this, yes, because what Joseph found inside himself and what the pastor found inside himself and was asking the people of Ferguson to find inside themselves was the spaciousness of God. He was not saying it is OK what has happened, but he is saying that God has a wisdom that is greater than ours. And, we pray that those who would commit violence against another would also have the courage to hear God’s wisdom, to find a bit of God’s spaciousness in their hearts for their brother or sister.

Do we have the courage to hear God’s wisdom, too?
I know Jesus did. We sometimes forget that as an Israelite man, Jesus of Nazareth grew up in a context with the same kinds of racial and ethnic biases we have today. Unfortunately, xenophobia is nothing new to the human race. Jesus had learned from a young age that the Gentiles were outside the covenant, and the Canaanites were a group that was even considered to be a cultural enemy of the Jews, because the Canaanites felt that the Jews were occupying their territory (sound like anything?) Of course it wasn’t simple, these things never are. But when the woman in today’s gospel asks Jesus for help, it is so outside of his worldview, you can imagine he would have been less surprised if an actual dog had come up and talked to him. Yes, he calls her a dog, a derogatory term. I don’t know what to do with that except imagine that Jesus was human as well as divine. Some folks have said he was caught with his compassion down. Do with that what you will. But to me it is what Jesus does next that is important.

He is open to God’s grace working in this woman, able to see her incredible faith that will claim just the crumbs of the glory of God, since she knows better than the man who talks about mustard seeds at the moment that God’s grace is enough in any quantity. God’s speck is more spacious than our wildest imaginings. And in this conversation, Jesus has the courage to hear God’s wisdom, a wisdom deep in his heart. Just as Paul tells us in today’s passage from Romans that although not all Jews accepted Jesus, that Israel will not be excluded, this Canaanite woman shows that Gentiles are included, too. Which is good news for most of us!

Unity is possible.  Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *
when brethren live together in unity!

What can we do to build a more compassionate world, in honor of our Savior who had the courage to hear God’s wisdom, and in honor of this special woman who reminds us that God is so much more spaciously loving than ourselves?

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[1] “Dead Poets Society,” 1989.

[2] Cameron B. R. Howard, “Genesis 45:1-15 Commentary,” http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2168.