- Apr 13
- 5 min read
[Genesis 50:15-21]
“…but God Meant It for Good
“Where charity and love prevail There God is ever found; Brought here together by Christ’s love By love are we thus bound” – we must love as He has first loved us – “Forgive we now each other’s faults As we our faults confess, And let us love each other well In Christian holiness” – let’s forgive as He has forgiven us. [“Where Charity and Love Prevail”, Lutheran Service Book , #845; 1 John 4:19; Colossians 3:13]
The story of Joseph begins when he is just seventeen years old. Joseph is the second youngest of twelve sons. And Joseph is dearer to their father, Jacob, than the older brothers are – as shown, for example, when their father gives Joseph the “coat of many colors”.
Jospeh is also the recipient of dreams from the Lord. Dreams which signified a certain ‘favoritism’ that God would bestow on Joseph. First, Joseph receives a dream in which he and his brothers are gathering sheaves of grain. Their eleven sheaves all bow down to his sheave.
Next Joseph receives a dream from the Lord in which eleven stars, and also the sun and the moon – father, mother, and all the brothers – bow down to Joseph’s star. By God’s design, they will all one day be giving homage to Joseph.
Joseph did nothing for this. It was God’s will. But the brother’s act according to their own murderous nature. They are envious, jealous, and angry.
Jospeh is captured by his brothers – sold into slavery for twenty silver coins – carried off into Egypt - made a servant in a man’s household – falsely accused for a wrong he did not commit – and falsely imprisoned.
His course runs lower and lower. Yet God is with him and prospers him at each point. And, finally, through a series of events, God delivers Joseph from prison and then exalts Joseph to those high heights that God had originally revealed in those dreams.
Joseph is made ruler of all Egypt – second only to Pharaoh – all pay homage to him – and, through Joseph, many nations and people are kept alive during a seven-year famine. Including Joseph’s brothers and family.
Because of Joseph, Egypt has grain. Joseph’s brothers, like countless others, are forced to travel to Egypt to seek out food. They arrive. Joseph recognizes them. They do not recognize Joseph. They have no knowledge of all this that’s happened since they sold him.
But then, after a course of events, Joseph does make the grand reveal. He shows his brothers, who left him for dead and sold him for cash, who he is. After Joseph reveals to them who he is, what does he then do?
He says: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” [Genesis 50:20]. As ruler, Joseph has great power for revenge. But Joseph forgives from the heart and recognizes God’s goodness.
The book of Genesis is fifty chapters long. It starts with creation and continues, chapter by chapter, through the most important events, promises, and people that lay the foundation for the promise of the Gospel, the coming of Christ.
Out of fifty chapters, the story of Joseph gets fourteen chapters! Fourteen of the fifty! That’s more than a quarter of the whole book of Genesis devoted to what happened to Joseph and what he did. And what Joseph did was that he forgave his brothers. Not with bitterness, but from the heart.
“So do not fear”, he said, “I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. [Genesis 50:21]
Joseph wept with joy when he met them; he wept with joy at the sight of his father again; and Joseph wept with sadness when it became clear that his brothers still did not understand that he had forgiven them.
Joseph’s story is a precursor to the cross of Jesus. Jesus, our Lord, is falsely accused by His brothers – his countrymen whom He came to save – is betrayed by a friend, Judas – is falsely tried and convicted – and is put, not in prison, but upon a cross. Put to death. Though He is the ruler of all.
Risen from the dead, and ascended to God’s right hand, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess – all will pay homage to Him. In the meantime, He is taking care of us and our little ones, and has forgiven us.
On the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” And it was our sins which pierced Him. It was for our sins that He was rejected and suffered [Isaiah 53:3-6]. Yet He comforts us. It was for our sake that He suffered, “to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.”
Jesus is in the place of God, and He says to those who pierced Him – by nails or by sins – “you meant evil against me” – but “God meant it all for good”. God used the nails, the whips, the cross, the piercing, the crown of the thorns – His suffering and His death – all for our good.
“All this is from God” who “in Christ was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” [2 Corinthians 5:18-19]. “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose” [Romans 8:28].
Joseph’s brothers never really apologized. They feared because of the wrong they had done. They concocted a made-up story about their father’s wishes to try to get Joseph’s forgiveness. But they don’t actually apologize or express sincere sorrow over what they did.
But Joseph’s heart is not determined by his brother’s wrongs. God’s faithfulness to Joseph throughout his sufferings has shaped Joseph’s heart.
It was God’s provision which kept those brothers alive in the famine, by Joseph’s grain in Egypt. Who then was Joseph to hate those whom God cared for? “Am I in the place of God?” Jesus has died for the whole world. Who are we to hate a person for whom the Savior has died?
And, it must have helped Joseph to know that God used all the wrong that had happened for good, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Why would we hold on to past insults – by our anger – instead of letting them go, since we trust and believe that God does in fact “use all things” – good and bad – “together for good.”
No one can make past wrongs work for good by holding on to them. But God can and does use all things for good that we entrust to Him.
Lastly, we are sinners. We have sinned against God by our thoughts, words, and deeds. If sinning against man is worthy of a penalty, then what’s the penalty for sinning against God? We’ve seen that penalty in the cross of Jesus, as He suffered in our place.
Since God has forgiven me my greater debts, I also must forgive those who have sinned against me. Throughout our lifetime – as He did for Joseph, through trials and by His Spirit – God does shape our hearts to be like Joseph’s, so that we can and will forgive from the heart.
It’s not within our ability, but God will use all things for that good purpose within us, to make our hearts more and more like that of His own Son, Jesus our Savior. Thanks be to God. Amen.
- Apr 8
- 6 min read
[Luke 20:9-20] …He looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?”
Gospel, the Firm Foundation
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” The cornerstone is the stone from which all the other stones in the foundation are aligned. With the cornerstone in place, the other stones line up right. Without it, there are cracks and shifting sand. What is the “stone that the builders rejected” which has “become the cornerstone”?
I.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable to the people while the scribes and chief priests listen within earshot.
A man planted a vineyard – where grapes would be grown to make wine – and rented out this vineyard to tenants who were to be its caretakers while he went away into a far country.
At the right season, the owner sent his servants to collect from the tenants the fruits of that vineyard. Instead of giving fruits, they beat the first servant and sent him away. Then they did the same and worse to the second and third.
The Owner of the vineyard then sends His beloved Son, saying, “Perhaps they will respect Him.” But when the tenants see Him, they are full of envy. “Let’s kill Him and make the vineyard ours!” So, they throw His beloved Son out of the vineyard and kill Him.
Jesus stops and poses the question: What will the Owner of the vineyard do to these tenants? “He will destroy them and give the vineyard to others.”
Those hearing exclaim, “Surely not!” – perceiving that Jesus “told this parable against them.” Jesus looks at them directly and says those words we heard at the beginning.
The “stone that the builders rejected” is Jesus – the very ones hearing this parable will soon plot and will cry, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” – but, on the third day, He will rise and “become the cornerstone” of a brand-new house, a brand-new vineyard.
That verse - “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” – is from the Old Testament, from Psalm 118:22, is quoted here by the Lord, and is spoken elsewhere in Scripture, the New Testament, referring to Jesus and also calling Him the “stone of stumbling.”
“You yourselves like living stones” – it says in 1 Peter 2 – “are being built up as a spiritual house” because that “living stone” that “stone of stumbling and rock of offense” which “the builders rejected” has become your “cornerstone”. [1 Peter 2:4-8]
And then, in Romans 9:30-33, the Apostle Paul sums up the whole thing – really applies the Lord’s parable – and makes it clear, in these plain words, in what way Jesus, our Rock and Foundation, is also, to many, the stumbling stone they trip over:
“What shall we say, then?” The answer: “That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel” – our Lord’s audience – “who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law” – they did not attain that righteousness – “Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone…
II.
The stumbling stone, the rock of offense, is the Gospel. That a person is right with God by faith alone in Jesus and not by their works or merit – not by their works or worthiness – is the stone that our fallen human flesh stumbles over. Rejects.
God’s grace is His unearned, unmerited love. His love and favor for you that you did not earn. Faith is trust in what Jesus has done to save sinners – that He offered Himself on the cross as the sacrifice that makes up for all your sins and shortcomings.
You are justified – forgiven and counted righteous to God, made right with God – by His grace alone through faith alone. Faith in Jesus. Not by your works or worthiness.
We say it this way in our Lutheran Confessions: “Furthermore it is taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our merit, work, or satisfactions (i.e. making up for our sins), but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ’s sake” – because of what He did – “through faith when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and that for His sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness in His sight…” [Augsburg Confession, Article IV]
This is the cornerstone of the Christian faith and of a man or woman’s life with God. Yet it’s what our sin-fallen nature stumbles over most. But it’s the source of peace we never knew we could have when we do believe it [Philippians 4:7].
Peace with God through faith alone in Jesus is what we heard about in our Epistle reading today: “…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” [Philippians 3:8-9]
This is our healing when we are crushed. It is the firm foundation on which we stand. Don’t reject it, but accept it. And constantly depend on it in your day-to-day life.
III.
What does this mean for me each day? It means that my value, my worth – and my right relationship with God, my Creator – are not based on my works, merit, or worthiness, but on the value God placed on me when He gave His own Son for me – this means for me, everyday, that I can:
(1) ‘rejoice all the more in my weaknesses’; (2) have the freedom of acknowledging my shortcomings without fear; (3) and have the peace of calling my sins sin – because I know I am forgiven in my Savior.
I am freed from the burden of “What do I measure up to?” – because I can trust in the measure of what God has paid for me: His beloved Son. He might be rejected by many, but in Him I believe.
Also, that you are right with God by that perfect sacrifice Jesus gave on the cross, and not by your merit or worthiness, is why you can have confidence in all earthly circumstances. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” [Romans 8:32]
Many of our daily anxieties are issues of daily bread. About these needs, we say the following in our Small Catechism:
“I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them; He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have; He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me…” [Luther’s Small Catechism; Creed, First Article]
Not because I did good enough, but because He is my Helper and Father. By grace, because of Jesus, He accepts you and navigates your boat through the uncertain waves and winds. Because of His unearned grace and love, you can have faith.
“For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.” [Luther’s Small Catechism; Creed, First Article]
Jesus is your cornerstone. This Gospel of faith alone in Him is the firm foundation of your life with God – in this world and in the life to come. Thanks be to God. Amen.
- Apr 4
- 5 min read
The House of God, the Gate of Heaven
There is a saying, “Home is where the heart is” – Which might mean home is that place my heart is most set on. Others may say, “Home is wherever my family is.”
Jacob, in our Old Testament reading today, was fleeing from home. Home was where danger was.
Jacob was not, in big ways, a great guy. His ways fit his name. When Jacob was born, he came out of the womb grasping the heal of his older, firstborn twin, Esau. So, he was named “Jacob”, which means, “He takes by the heal”, or, in other words, “He cheats.”
And cheat Jacob did. Jacob cheated Esau out of his firstborn-birthright. He cheated Esau of their father’s blessing, acquiring the first-born blessing for himself.
God actually used these events to carry out His will – which would’ve inevitably been done. Jacob, however, was acting according to his nature, with no thought of God nor his brother’s best interest. Jacob cheats. And Jacob is now fleeing for his life away from an angry Esau who was overheard plotting to kill him.
That’s the background. Now here’s the first part of today’s reading, in which Jacob does finally encounter the Lord:
I.
Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! [Genesis 28:10-12]
Sleeping, his head on a rock, and Jacob dreams. He sees a ladder – or, the Hebrew could mean a ‘staircase’. Either way, Jacob sees this ladder which is set up on the earth and reaches heaven. Angels of God are going up and down on it, between heaven and earth.
Next, Jacob encounters the Lord: “And behold, the Lord stood above it – or, in the Hebrew, that can mean that the Lord stood ‘next to him’, next to Jacob. It’s ambiguous, it can mean either thing. When Scripture does that, we often can probably assume that it means both things. The Lord of heaven, who is atop this ladder, is also standing next to Jacob, speaking to him on the ground.
And the Lord says to Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring…” – your offspring will multiply and spread; the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring – And, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Jacob, on this journey, was doing an entirely different thing – his own thing – with no thought of the Lord or the Lord’s plans. But the Lord was thinking of Jacob. Jacob did not know it or think of it, but the Lord was with him on that journey, doing His will and fulfilling His promises to Jacob.
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it”, Jacob says when he wakes from sleep. “And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’” Jacob then set up a stone in that place as a memorial, because that is the place where the Lord came to him, the place where heaven and earth met together.
II.
What is our ladder, our staircase, bridging, for our sake, earth to heaven and heaven to earth? In this evening’s Gospel, Jesus says to Nathaniel that this ladder is He Himself, Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” [John 1:51]
Jesus on the cross is that ladder set up on earth, reaching to heaven. His enemies, who nailed Jesus to the cross and set it up on earth, were doing an entirely different thing. But Jesus, the Lord, was doing His will, fulfilling His promises to you, by giving His life for your salvation. He was thinking of you.
Jesus was crucified on earth but was offering Himself as the one perfect final offering in heaven: “He entered once for all into the holy places… by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” [Hebrews 9:12]. “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all”, and “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” [1 Timothy 2:4-6]
Jesus is the one who is in heaven at His Father’s side, yet is with you always at your side – everywhere you go – who has united us fallen sinners back to heaven. He is that ladder.
III.
Jesus accomplished this on the cross 2,000 years ago. He brings this all into your life through the means which He has set up on earth for you today. Jesus remains your ladder through what we call His ‘Means of Grace’ – the means, or ways, through which He brings heaven’s grace down to you – Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the Word of God.
Baptism, by water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is baptism into the body of Christ – “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” [Galatians 3:27]. The Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of Christ [Matthew 26:26-28].
And the Word of God – the Word breathed out by God [2 Timothy 3:16] and spoken in the Scriptures – is Jesus Himself: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” [John 1:1,14]
The Word of God in your ears at Church – the Word of God in front of your eyes at home, in your Bible, or in your daily Portals of Prayer reading – and the Word of God remaining in your heart, believed. [Romans 10:8-9]
Rejoice, be glad, and be positive – “How awesome is this place!” Jesus is still set up on earth in your Baptism, in the Supper, and in the Word of God.
Wherever His Word is, there is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven.
So have your heart set on this home, your church. Value this house as the very House of God and Gate of Heaven – because Jesus is set up for you here as your ladder down from heaven.
And make your home a house of God and gate of heaven by valuing and spending your time in His Word and prayer. Amen.
