“Am I in the Place of
God?”
Genesis
50:15-21
First
Presbyterian
The Reverend
Thomas A. Sweet, Pastor
September 14,
2008
I
was given a book of poems this week entitled Secrets of Chautauqua by Martin Willow.
I am embarrassed to say that I do not know Martin Willow though the
book’s cover informs that he lives year round on
Though
it has nothing to do, really, with today’s sermon, I want to read one of them
to you because, of course, it has everything to do with today’s sermon and our
lives in this paradise of a place in which we live.
Speaking
of paradise, one of my brothers sent a birthday greeting to me this week in
which he said, “By the way, would you do
me a favor? Quit talking about what
a paradise that area is. Steve (my
brother’s daughter’s boyfriend who just moved to the southern tier to take
his first job out of college) is beginning to say the same thing and Allie (my
brother’s daughter and Steve’s girlfriend) saw a whole new
Well,
this talk about paradise is a digression from my earlier digression about poems
that have nothing, yet everything, to do with the sermon.
So, from Secrets of Chautauqua,
here is a poem called
Labor
Day
Labor Day
The turning point of summer
The day vacationers go home
To
And other cities east
Bemus Pops, summer’s last fling
Does not disappoint again this year
Heads full up in music
Bellies full of wine
Boats gather as tables of strangers and friends
Sharing hor d’oeuvres, cocktails, and fireworks
And then they are gone
Year-round inhabitants have the lake to
themselves
A hideaway from workday stress
Trees explode, an autumnal parade
Greens and golds, red purple dance
Boats are nowhere to be found.
Soon docks will be taken in
Shutters hammered shut, flagpoles disrobed
The Yacht Club will hibernate once again
Fish come bigger this time of year
As muskies emerge from the depths
Lingering atop drop-offs to pick off strays
Fattening themselves with fuel to warm
The leanness of winter
Low-flying geese in V-formation journey south
Through thrusting winds that skirt wave crests
As if on skis of their own
Racing Chautauqua to its farthest bank
Dark clouds approach filled with cold rain
Heralding the sleet of late October
When the sun shines it is all mine as it tosses
Sunlight like champagne to the wind
Goblets of gold and platinum onto Chautauqua
Igniting the horizon like a flash fire
Burning the evening sky
Then slipping unseen into trees that fence the night
Extinguished by the black sea above
In early October after Labor Day is spent
Chautauqua retreats to its own place of rest
Natural, pure, honest
And though it poses with a face of slate
It resolves to withstand the fall and harsh winter
Returning in Spring with magic and unexpected life
(1)
On
the surface, the poem has little to do with the story of Joseph, the end of
which we read today in our scripture, except that place, as it was for Joseph with so much of his life centered in the
topography and politics of Egypt, place is
a defining feature of our lives and the poem depicts our
place. Here is where the
particularities of love and grace and hope and sin and mercy and sorrow and joy
get worked out in us and our lives. If
we are not mindful of the geographical and social landscapes around us, we are
not likely to appreciate the emotional and psychological landscapes within us.
Understanding our interior terrain is important for, as Karen Armstrong,
a Chautauqua favorite, writes:
From
the first, Genesis teaches us that a blessed life is possible for
all creatures; we all can find our correct element and thrive therein.
But the inescapable message of Genesis is that blessing and enlighten-
ment are not achieved by acquiring facts and believing doctrines…
Instead, knowledge means self-knowledge and an understanding
of the mystery of our own being. We
also have to recognize the
sacred mystery of (all others with whom we share this life).
Place also can refer to the positions we occupy in our lives.
It was in this sense that Joseph, in response to his brothers’ prior
treachery against him and their fear of him because he had advanced to a high
and powerful position in Pharaoh’s court, said, “Do
not be afraid! Am I in the place of
God?”
In
other words, Joseph was telling his brothers that we, all of us, share a common
humanity. No doubt that is why
Jesus, in teaching about prayer, taught us to say, “Forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Joseph
knew that some of his brothers’ earlier enmity toward him had at least some
basis in his own actions. So it is
to Joseph’s credit that, when he had the power to lord it over his brothers,
he was restrained, perhaps even contrite, and surely compassionate.
“Do not be afraid! Am I in
the place of God?...Have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little
ones.” “In this way,” the
writer of Genesis adds, “Joseph
reassured the brothers, speaking kindly to them.”
How
important it is for us to realize that none of us can stand in the place of God.
All of us experience difficulty in remaining physically, morally, and
spiritually intact through a lifetime. None
of our lives are comprised solely of straight lines from start to finish but
contain also many crooked ones. Life
is difficult. Most of us get
bloodied soon or late, damaged in some way, and do damage. The
genius of the Genesis stories, and the Joseph story is no exception, is that
even their protagonists and heroes have foibles, flaws, and failures.
All share the glorious, dubious, noble lot of human being.
Of being human.
We are not expected to fill in for God.
It is for us to become as truly and fully human
as possible and, in so doing, then it is that our lives will take on the glow
and glory of divinity.
“Am I in the place of God?”
We do well to remember that
question and ask it of ourselves from time to time.
The Old Testament prophet Micah says to God’s people, “God
has told you what is good. What does
God require of you?” In other
words, what is the human task?
What is the place of the human being in the economy of God’s realm?
What is our place in it all?
Micah’s
answer is that our place, our work, our joy is “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God” wherever
we are.
It is not our place
to seek revenge or to get even against those who do wrong to us.
That is as true on the international stage as it is in our dealings in
our own families and neighborhoods. The
sentence in the Bible that makes me sure of that is when
It
is not our place to arrange and re-arrange the verities of the world.
It is not our place to figure out all of the mysteries of God and life
because, mostly, they cannot be figured anyway.
Herb Gardener, in his play entitled A
Thousand Clowns, says,
This is the shape of life.
There is always so much more to any event
than we humans can see on the surface.
Do not ever assume you
know everything about anything. Every
day is a little car filled
with a thousand clowns. Learn
to be humble and a friend of mystery
and who knows how you will be surprised.
Finally
Joseph, because he knew he was not to be in the place of God, learned humility,
became a friend of mystery, and came to savor kindness and thus his brothers
were grandly and wonderfully surprised by his grace, and relationships that had
been torn asunder were reconciled and healed.
Perhaps
Joseph, if he were here today, would say, “Go
and do likewise.” In his
absence, I shall, speaking first of all, as always, to myself.
Amen.
(1)
© Copyright 2008 First Presbyterian Church