2022.02.20 | Flip the Script
“Flip the Script”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, CA
Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
Every once in a while, when my sister and I were kids, we would get into a little trouble. Shocking but true.
Sometimes we got into fights over who was wearing what to school on a particular day. We had a lot of clothes that were similar, because our family liked to buy us matching things, and we weren’t all that interested in matching.
Sometimes we had trouble sharing, and we would get into a game of tug-of-war over a toy until one of us (or the toy) went flying.
Sometimes we would plan a little “adventure” that resulted in one or both of us--and our play space--turning into a big mess.
Invariably, our tiffs and messes would come to the attention of our mother. When they did, we tended to blame the other one for causing the fight or making the mess.
Our mother was rarely interested in finger pointing or excuse making. She usually just said something like: “I don’t need to know who started this fight. I just need to know who’s going to stop it.” Or, “I don’t care who messed it up. I want to know who’s going to clean it up.”
II
Like our mother, Jesus focused on solutions and invited his disciples to do the same. He didn’t ask how or why people came to be enemies. Instead, he said:
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
Bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
Turn the other cheek,
If someone takes your coat, give them your shirt too.
Give to beggars, and don’t try to recoup your losses from a thief.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“Why take this approach?” we may ask.
Because sinners love those who love them, and lend to those who can repay them, Jesus explained. But Christians are called to a higher standard.
Love your enemies, Jesus said.
Do good, and lend expecting nothing in return.
Be merciful, just as God is merciful.
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.
“And what will we get in return?” we ask.
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over into our lap; for the measure we give will be the measure we get back, says Jesus.
These ancient Judeo-Christian principles are not easy to absorb, and they are even harder to implement. But those who adhere to them, Jesus says, will be rewarded with a generous return on their investment. Moreover, they/we will be transformed, to the glory of God.
III
In case there’s someone listening to this message today who thinks that Jesus was merely rattling off platitudes, I’ll provide a biblical example of a person who implemented these ancient principles, and saved himself and his people from devastation. That person was Joseph, one of the patriarchs of Ancient Israel. We meet him in the Hebrew Bible story (Gen. 45) on this seventh Sunday after Epiphany.
Joseph was the eleventh of his father Jacob’s twelve sons, and the first son of Jacob’s wife, Rachel. Joseph’s oldest brother was Reuben, and his baby brother was Benjamin. Joseph was presumed by his older brothers to be their father’s favorite, and the one destined to receive the birthright that by tradition was owed to his eldest brother, Reuben.
As the story goes, fatherly favoritism begat sibling jealousies which led to—among other things—Joseph’s elder brothers throwing him down into a cistern and selling him to Ishmaelite traders for a bag of silver.
When the elder brothers returned home to their father, Jacob, carrying Joseph’s coat, which they soiled with goat’s blood, they told Jacob that Joseph had been devoured by wolves while they were out tending the sheep.
Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the Ishmaelite traders pulled Joseph out of the cistern, took him with them to Pharaoh’s court, and sold him to Pharaoh. Joseph was smart and successful and rose to the highest rank in Pharaoh’s court. Pharaoh rewarded Joseph with power and authority, a splendid home, and a wife named Asenath, who was the daughter of a temple priest.
Some years later, Joseph’s brothers fled from Hebron (a region located in the southern part of modern Israel) to Egypt seeking relief during a seven-year famine. Pharoah granted Joseph the authority to intervene with his brothers.
Joseph had every reason to turn his brothers away, or to do to them what they had done to him. You remember, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” But instead of seeking revenge, and giving them what they may have deserved, Joseph wept and he gave them what they needed. He offered his brothers respite. He gave them food to take back to their families, and he invited them to settle in the land of Goshen (an eastern province of Egypt).
According to Genesis, Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him at first; but he recognized them, and reminded them of their evil deeds. The brothers were dumbstruck by Joseph’s pronouncement. They could not even form words to make an apology, or to thank him for his mercy.
They just packed up, went back to Hebron, gathered up their families, and returned to Goshen, where they took sanctuary from the famine.
After Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers were terrified that he would retaliate against them for their former deeds. So they gathered around Joseph and begged for his forgiveness. Again, Joseph wept, and his brothers wept, too. Then Joseph said, I am not God. It is not my place to judge you. Even though you intended to harm me, God worked good out of this situation, so that our people could survive and prosper.
The story of Joseph is one of the clearest illustrations of a person who lived up to the highest ideals of the Judeo-Christian faith. It is also a story that illustrates Joseph’s pragmatism.
Joseph knew that in order for things to change for the better for himself and his family he had to change. He had to flip the script. He had to break the destructive cycle that his brothers had started. He had to show mercy toward them, even though they didn’t deserve it.
IV
Very few of us will ever rise to the prominence of a person like Joseph, and be in a position to influence the fate of an entire nation. But most of us have lived long enough to be on the receiving end of a great injustice.
Some of those injustices were issued by complete strangers, but usually, the most egregious and painful are the injustices rendered by a person or people whom we have known well and who should have treated us better--a neighbor, a family member, or a trusted friend.
Injustices such as marital infidelity, the unequal distribution of an inheritance, and the misappropriation of communal property are some examples that come to mind of circumstances that can forge destructive dynamics in close relationships. Countless others could be named.
Each of us has likely experienced a great injustice in our lives that really gets our goat. That’s the example that I recommend focusing on and applying these ancient principles to. In doing so, we can flip the script. We can change the game. We can set ourselves and others free from destructive cycles that have harmed us, and will harm us and others into perpetuity, unless we take charge and become the change we need. Amen.