Sermon 27. Juni 2021

4TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 27.6.2021 TEXT: GENESIS 50:15-21 I. Many people said after the Second World War: There is no God. If there were a God, he would not allow the wars. There is so much cruelty in the world, people are so angry with each other. I can't believe in God. Even today, we are still asking the same questions.

We see the darknesses of the world, the unbearable burdens of lament that people have to bear and ask: Where is God? Does God even exist?

Our beautiful story of Joseph and his brothers is also filled with these questions. It was written at a time when Israel was annihilated. In 587 BC Jerusalem was destroyed including the temple, and the state no longer existed. A large part of the population had been taken into captivity. After this catastrophic event, the question arose for the believing Jews: Does our God still exist at all, has he ever existed? Weren't all the promises and promises written in the wind? Could a God whose people were at the mercy of the enemies be omnipotent?

Ii. Our narrator gives the answer to this question: he places his illustration in the prehistoric times, the father's time with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Here he tells of the twelve sons of Jacob, who loved each other, but also hated each other, even thought of murder. And yet, whatever happens, it goes well. And it is revealed in this story: God directs all peoples, all people. He directs them as he wants, for the salvation of all of us. Although the brothers wanted to murder their brother Joseph, they eventually had him led away as a slave to the Egyptians.

How this story must have emotionally affected the Israelites, who still knew of the slavery of their people in Egypt - but the message is: God turns everything for good. In the end it turns out: God not only turns everything for good, but he uses the evil will of the brothers to bring about the salvation of the people of Israel, and also God saves the Egyptian people from the famine.

The narrator hereby announces to all readers and listeners of this story: God works above all. No matter how much is broken, in the end God works our salvation, and even the evil forces must serve his salvation. It is not only the famine that is overcome here, but also the wickedness, the affliction, the lies and the selfishness. With this, the narrator proclaims: God makes all forces, even the evil forces, and all peoples to servants, in order to bring about his salvation story. That is the good news.

Iii. The poet tries to explain with this story to his questioning compatriots: “Even if we cannot directly recognize God's power, God still causes our salvation in secret. This also shows us that we are always forced to ask again and again about the truth of God, and to give new answers. At all times, our faith in God must face reality anew and look for answers. Then as now, it was not and is not the case that everything is always clear with God and his salvation. But the knowledge of God develops gradually in every human being, and can become more and more clear, especially through catastrophic events and suffering.

Often only in retrospect, however, do we recognize God's saving movements in our lives. The deepest expression for this knowledge of God is Jesus Christ himself, who embodied this knowledge and became flesh in word and life, and he gave us clarity forever. Even Jesus only gradually understood that the belief in God, which he

proclaimed, was not only for his people, the Jews, but for all people. God is the saving force for all nations and all humans.

Iv. Our story also provides a restrained answer to many of our questions: How can God allow the evils and evil in the world. Our narrator responds as follows: “God allows evil, he has created us to be free people, not string puppets. But he does not allow evil to triumph. He can turn every evil deed into good and in the end his salvation will stand.”

In this context also belongs the speech of Jesus not to resist the evil one nor to repay him or her. It's about giving space to the goodness of God, or in other words: letting yourself be infected by God’s goodness. If God ultimately gives salvation to all human beings, and we can be sure of it, then we can afford to repay evil with good, or even to overcome evil with good. I always have to think of the post-war period, in which, in addition to many bad acts of revenge against the Germans, there was also an infinite amount of goodness and mercy, otherwise Germany would not have become viable again. The fact that there were also possible selfinterests behind it does not detract from the value of the good deeds of many people in America and Europe, with which they helped the German people at that time.

V. And in our story Joseph's brothers now come to Joseph and are afraid of their brother's vengeance. Father Jacob, who had kept the family together, had died. It is remarkable that Joseph weeps when he hears the brothers' lie about what the father supposedly said, namely that he should forgive his brothers. Joseph recognizes and feels that his brothers are deeper in their wickedness than he was aware of. They were haunted by their own deeds. They had

thoughts of murder and finally released him for sale as a slave. And now they think of their wickedness and think: It must be impossible for Joseph to forgive this deed. He must hate us. They infer from themselves onto Joseph and still expect him to retaliate with evil after all that has happened. This is often the cause of many evil thoughts and also deeds, that one trusts the opponent with everything that one is or was willing to do oneself. Anyone who has once violated a person's trust often thinks that other people always break trust. Many marriages suffer, including the upbringing of children, from a parent or spouse expecting that the others would do what one used to be doing. So evil continues to work endlessly.

That is why Joseph weeps. The mistrust among his brothers is still at work.

Vi. And now Joseph says something with which the entire narrative ends: “Am I standing in God's place? You thought you were doing evil to me, but God thought you were doing well. Shall I then destroy that which God has done in good, by transforming your evil deed into blessing? That must not be allowed to happen”. Joseph must also think: Everything that he is now, governor of Pharaoh, the second most powerful man in the state, infinitely rich, gifted with family, all this has been given to him by God. God brought him out of the depths of slavery, out of the depths of prison. Through the difficulties of his story that God challenged him with, his arrogance is broken. Joseph knows: “What he is, he is through God.” And wouldn't Joseph have to even say it like this: Not only You thought to do evil to me, actually: We all thought to do evil. He himself namely had done everything to make his brothers hate him, he had thought of himself as something better, he took shameful advantage of his father's favor. Joseph must be aware of all this.

That is why he can forgive, that is why he can put an end to evil. He himself is in need of forgiveness.

Knowing his own wickedness, he becomes ready to forgive himself.

This is indeed a crucial prerequisite for our cooperation. The knowledge that we ourselves need forgiveness keeps us in a willingness to forgive ourselves first, and then also others. That's exactly what the Lord's Prayer says. The request: Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive those who sinned against us. It is not meant as a condition: “If we forgive, then God also forgives us.” No! But: Because God forgives us, because we need God's forgiveness and have to ask for it, that's why we are strengthened to forgive ourselves and others.

Vii. In this way, we can also recognize where and how God works in us, where and how He is present among us. For the Israelites had asked this: Where is God still effective, does he even exist? The answer is: God works in our struggles to let the good work among us, and not to let the wickedness get out of hand. Even if we are too weak to resist evil – unfortunately, it happens all too often – this struggle is a sign for how much the good stands before our eyes and attracts us. Here God himself is at work with his spirit. What is written in the 23rd Psalm comes true: He leads me on the right road for his name's sake. In the basic knowledge of the good that has to be done, therein lies God's power, here he shows his will that we take this path.

Viii.

One last thing: Joseph then comforts his brothers. Those who have loaded evil on themselves may need comfort. The despair about oneself, about the wrong in one's own life can bring us to the abyss.

The knowledge of God's forgiveness does not take away the pain of one's own wickedness and transgressions.

That is what, by the way, confession is. It is not the humiliation and the crushing of a person who openly expresses his transgressions.

But confession is thought of as inner purification and as comfort.

Purification, because a person knows again by confessing guilt what is good.

“Confession is good for the soul” we say. Good, comforting, because one is granted anew that we are allowed to live in spite of everything and our life is never in vain. For we often intend to do evil, but God will turn it for good.

Our story encourages us to hope for that and in this hope let God strengthen us to be and to do good.

Amen.