20th February 2022 (Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany)
Title: Living and Loving as Disciples
(Scripture Readings: Genesis 45:3–11, 15 & Luke 6:27–38)
By Heeyoung Lim
The urgent pleas by Judah on behalf of Benjamin and his father caused Joseph to move on emotionally. Joseph said to them, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living? I am the one you sold into Egypt.” In an act filled with great emotion, Joseph finally reveals his identity to his brothers. Joseph wanted his brothers to know who he was. His brothers were terrified at his presence because of their brutal treatment of him. However, Joseph said nothing about his treatment by his brothers twenty-two years before.
Joseph reframes their experience by seeing the God of liberation at work. He realized that it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of them. He stated four times that God was behind the events of his life. Joseph also revealed to his brothers the knowledge he had that the present famine would last for another five years.
Joseph believed that God had overruled their evil plan to guarantee that the family of Israel would survive. He urged them to bring their father Jacob back with them and to make plans to live in Egypt. Joseph embraced first his brother Benjamin and then all the brothers, kissed and wept over his brothers as he offered mercy to reset their relationship. Afterward his brothers talked with him, and Joseph explained his unbelievable journey of the last twenty-two years. Joseph sets himself and his brothers free with forgiveness and mercy refusing to be imprisoned by hatred and bitterness. He chooses to live by different standards, values, an alternative way of being.
Joseph knew people well enough to realize that there is a difference between repentance and remorse. He exercised great patience and discernment with his brothers. But once he knew their heart, he revealed himself and experienced a joyful reconciliation. Believing God’s Word will come true can help us be patient with the circumstances of life. I believe that reconciliation is possible when people are willing to confess, forgive, and be forgiven in Christ. May we experience a joyful reconciliation in our relationships and communities. God has a plan for all of us as He had special plans for Joseph and His people.
Jesus also has plans and recipes for the disciple’s life. In Luke 6, Jesus’ words call for much more than silent endurance waiting for eternal reward. Jesus invites His disciples to repay hate with love, cursing with blessing, and exclusion with intercessory prayer.
Most people have their own family and close friends, and they naturally love them. However, Jesus leads us not to pick whom to love and invites to love everyone. In addition, He tells us to do good to everyone, even the worst enemy who has put us in the persecuted, impoverished condition we are in. Jesus teaches disciples that it’s not enough to love what is easy to love. Love for others, especially those who oppose us is life’s guiding principle in accordance with today’s text.
Verse 35 says, “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” These words are given to the disciples, not for the general crowd, and it seems to be difficult to put into practice. However, Jesus continually leads His followers to greater depths of compassion and higher visions of love and inclusion. God expects from us good fruit that is shown in obedience to Him and love for others. May we love every person and receive great reward from God.
We must move forward deeper, higher, wider and love as God loves as a gift freely given, regardless of the worthiness or response. As in verse 36, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” is a call to see and reflect our own vulnerability and mutual need for forgiveness, healing, and restoration. He pushes us to move to the next stage of spiritual maturity. Even in our vulnerability, we find holiness together. Holiness can be described as wholeness God has created and allowed, and it needs to accompany divine love.
Jesus relates to the wisdom of the day and interprets God’s command-ments for His time. Jesus understood scripture developmentally. Jesus’ words on the Plain set high standards, but Jesus is not asking us to be perfect on our own. Sometimes the path to holiness, the way to offer mercy, is not by what we do but by what we do not do.
As we strive to grow into the people God imagines us to be, as we follow the commandments and the way of Jesus, let us remember that what we will become is more beautiful than what we can imagine because it is God who has created us. We should not be arrogant, but we must not limit ourselves when God is keeping and leading us in His way at the same time. May we be more merciful and holy in God’s image.
How many enemies do we have in our lives? How many people insulted or mistreated people’s lives without reasons? Of course, we must fight against evil in our society with the power and wisdom that God gives us and try to let God’s justice flow into this land we are in. However, our desires for mission and social justice should be based on our faith and love. We do not need to focus on other’s misbehaves or our painful situations we face.
In today’s text, the question is not how they are behaving but how much we are loving. I hope we can make the enemy list zero by praying for and loving every person in Christ. It is hard to overcome a wound, but God’s love is much bigger and stronger than the wound. May we be freed from all our painful experiences and emotional sufferings with the love of God.
Jesus continues to say, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (37-38)
Every time we find reason to judge someone else for an action or an attitude, may we look inward and see how much of that action or attitude controls our life. Jesus gives us the foundation on which we can build our lives through His living words. God’s ways are different. Forgive! Give! We can use generous measuring cups when we give something to someone else. May we be generous in what we give to others. God will give us the same kind of measure you give others.
May we look beyond sinful motives and actions to see the sovereign hand of God at work. I hope we do not be in such a hurry to make a decision today; discernment sometimes comes over time. Joseph did not require that his brothers make the first move in seeking forgiveness. Even before their repentance Joseph had treated them generously and graciously when he had every right to treat them with bitterness and anger. He wanted to be reconciled and just desired to hold them close and to see his father again.
Jesus was more than an example or a new image. Jesus revealed the merciful God. What are we prepared to do to repair a relationship? What is our desire to be reconciled? What can we do for the broken-hearted? May we seek reconciliation and love one another. Our church is so precious, encouraging, and wonderful, but I hope our church can be a more beautiful faith community. May we move forward to the next stage of spiritual maturity and grow in faith and love as disciples.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
(Ref. Bible, commentaries, theological books, UCA materials)
