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5^th Pentecost Sunday

June 27, 2010

Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church,

Sioux Falls, SD

Rev. Norman F. Seeger

Genesis 39:6-12,16-23

⁶ So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

⁸ But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. ⁹ No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

¹¹ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. ¹² She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house…

¹⁶ She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹ When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Genesis 39:6-12,16-23

"Following Christ, We Willingly Carry a Cross”

1. Joseph ‘Can Not’ Sin Against God

2. Humanly ‘suffering,’ Joseph is Guided, Guarded & Used by God

Dear Disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ,

“The Son of Man, Jesus said in our gospel reading, referring to himself; reminding us God the Son was born of the virgin Mary as the Son of Man – the Divine became Human -- so he could live the law as our perfect replacement before he would die sin’s death as our Substitute. “The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected, must be killed & on the third day be raised to life,”[LK 9] Jesus reiterated, leading his disciples toward Jerusalem, toward his cross. Salvation is so easy. ‘Too easy,’ some say, wanting to contribute at least a couple good works to take a little credit for winning eternal life. In fact, we do nothing to acquire eternal life. Jesus gets all the credit for only Jesus suffers sin’s hellish separation from his Father on his cross. Jesus alone obeys every command; resists every temptation. Without any hint of help, Jesus wraps us in his righteousness. Salvation is so easy for us. Forgiveness is our Savior’s purest present. Eternal life; a glorious home in heaven is God’s unadulterated gift for each & every one of us in whom the Holy Spirit solely creates faith in our Savior as we hear the good news about Jesus Christ.

Salvation is truly as simple as it sounds. Being a Christian is absolutely easy. God does all the work. We get all the benefits. Simply trusting Jesus’ death for our redemption; trusting Jesus’ life for our righteousness, eternal life is ours. Skeptics warn us to read the fine print, of course. Satan’s tempters tell us, ‘If it sounds ‘too good to be true,’ it is a trick, a trap.’ Who can believe the Bible? Free forgiveness? Full forgiveness? God’s promises of eternal life in Christ, Satan tries to convince us, are empty words; as worthless as ‘Madoff money.’ Following Jesus, the devil warns, we will be left ‘holding the bag’ the last day -- we will find our eternal ‘retirement fund’ a fraud. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit, confirming faith with his inspired, inerrant Word, will not let us be fooled. “The Devil is a liar; the father of lies.”[JN 8] Jesus is “the Truth, the Life, the Way.”[JN 14] Our final judgment – heaven or hell -- will not be based on ‘What did we do or not do?’ but on ‘Whom do I believe? Whom do I trust as my Savior, my Substitute?’

Without a doubt, salvation is simple. “What must I do to be saved?” God’s inspired spokesman always answer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus; you will be saved.”[Acts 16] Being a Christian only seems difficult as Jesus tells us, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily & follow me.” Is carrying a cross simple? Christian living, imitating Jesus; living like Christ in an unchristian world is certainly not ‘as easy as eating pie.’ Yet God expects no other response when the Son of Man suffers as our Savior. Please keep this point clear. Carrying a cross is our reaction, our response to God’s gift of forgiveness & faith in Jesus Christ. Our cross is not where we will be separated from God our Father – not where we will suffer our sins’ penalty. Sins’ death penalty was completely paid by Jesus, our Savior, on his cross. Our guilt is gone…gone forever!

‘Crosses’ we will willingly carry as we faithfully follow Jesus refer to conflicts we encounter when Christ lives in us. Is it hard to talk & walk like a little Christ? We Christians know by experience, as we are able to observe in Joseph’s life today, it is not necessarily easy to imitate Jesus while our sinful nature points & pulls us different directions, yet Joseph ‘can not’ “sin against God.” It is not necessarily easy to imitate Jesus as our sinful world promotes evil & possible punishes righteousness, yet Joseph, while humanly suffering, is guided, is guarded & will be used by God who promises he will “in all things, work for the good of us who love him.”[ROM 8]

Joseph is blessed in many ways, but blessings bring particular problems. The eleventh of twelve sons of Jacob, whose name the Lord changed to Israel, Joseph is, in fact, his father’s favorite, the first son of Rachel. Dad’s obvious approval -- evident in a ‘coat of many colors’ Joseph is given – also evident in two God-given dreams Joseph too proudly boasts about, dreams showing his brothers, showing even mom & dad bowing down to him – raise resentment to a point where his ten older brothers first plan to kill but finally settle for selling Joseph as a slave who will be taken down to Egypt. As good as dead when his brothers drop him into a pit to starve, Joseph is probably happy just to be alive when he is sold as a slave. Surprisingly, Joseph is apparently not plotting to get even. Bought as a slave by ‘Potiphar, captain of the guard’ for Egypt’s king, Joseph, living as a child of God, does not attempt to escape but faithfully serves the Lord by serving his human master. Joseph is blessed. Seeing how “the Lord gives him success in everything he does, Potiphar puts Joseph in charge of his household.”

Serving faithfully where he had certainly not anticipated nor necessarily desired, Joseph is blessed by the Lord. But all his problems do not disappear. Because “Joseph is well built & handsome, his master’s wife attempts to seduce him, saying, ‘Come to bed with me.’” What a challenge! What a cross to carry! A wicked world invites & his own sinful self wants Joseph to enjoy some ‘sins of the flesh,’ but would Jesus commit adultery? “Joseph refuses.” Does Joseph consider what can happen if he refuses, does he anticipate angry reactions from a rejected woman? Does Joseph reflect on pleasures he might enjoy if he consents to her request, does he roll out this future to a point where his master’s wife will grow tired of today’s guilty pleasure? Joseph just notes the fact he is a slave; she is his master’s wife. As a faithful slave, he will not betray his master’s trust. More importantly, as a faithful child of God, Joseph will not – ‘can not’ -- step away from Jesus’ footprints. “How can I do such a wicked thing & sin against God?” How can I possibly pound another nail into my loving Savior who will redeem all my sins as he suffers on his cross?

Joseph’s God-fearing faith guides him to do what is right. Refusing his master’s wife, Joseph refuses to set down his cross, but will walk with Jesus even when his sinful self desires & our wicked world offers falsely promised pleasures of adultery. Joseph’s refuses makes him all the more desirable. His master’s wife tempts him, teases him, tries to attract him “day after day, but Joseph refuses to go to bed with her.” Finally, she physically grabs him, but Joseph wriggles out of her grasp, slipping out of his coat as he runs away. Not surprisingly, this spurned woman tells her husband how his slave attacked her. As expected, without any type of trial, “Joseph’s master puts him in prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined.”

Carrying our cross as we follow Jesus – fighting against our sinful flesh; possibly taken advantage of by a wicked world or a particularly evil individual – justice is not anticipated. We do not necessarily get what we want nor what we think we deserve. I definitely do not get what I actually deserve – eternal death – because Jesus graciously absorbed & erased our sins’ guilt on his cross. More than removing our sins’ punishment & freeing us from Satan’s power, God will guard us, guide us & will use us to accomplish his good purposes as we carry our cross when we follow Christ – just the way he did for Joseph.

God’s intervention is evident as Joseph’s brothers drop him into a pit to die. How many trading parties pass during a day? Yet, at this point in time, traders appear so Joseph can be sold as a slave & taken to Egypt. In Egypt, God’s protection appears -- written between the lines, some say – as Potiphar puts him into prison. Why not simply kill a slave who attacks your wife? Is it possible Potiphar feels trapped -- not truly believing his wife’s accusation – not wanting to lose his faithful household manger -- but unable to openly side with Joseph? Placing him, not in a deep, dreadful dungeon, but in a place where the king’s prisoners are confined – what some today sarcastically call a ‘country club’ confinement for white collar criminals – does Potiphar tell the warden about Joseph’s abilities, faithfulness & possibly innocence?

Carrying his cross – wrongly sold as a slave by his brothers; innocently imprisoned by his master – Joseph faithfully serves the Lord, who is “with him in prison, shows him kindness; grants him favor in the eyes of the warden.” In time, “Joseph is put in charge of all those held in prison; Joseph is made responsible for all that is done there…the Lord gives him success.” Pulling strings we are not always able to observe, God places Joseph into a position in prison where he will come into contact with the king’s cupbearer & baker – will correctly interpret their disturbing dreams, guided by God – will later be asked to interpret the king’s confusing but critical dreams. Forecasting seven years of rich harvests soon swallowed by seven years of famine, Joseph will be placed into position – ‘second in Egypt’ – where he stores up grain during the good years so he can sell it to people in need during the famine, including his brothers. Finally bringing all his relatives to Egypt to keep them alive, Joseph – still not desiring revenge – nor exhibiting any improper pride as his brothers bow before him the way God’s dreams previewed earlier in his life – Joseph explains the good God did when his brothers sinfully sold him as a slave; when his master unjustly put him into prison: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”[GEN 50]

Will we always see the way God is working good in our lives? Not necessarily – not if I am sinfully sold or innocently imprisoned. But my human misperception – my inability to see God’s eternal will at work in life’s daily actions -- is no reason to ever turn our eyes away from Jesus, who continually tells us to “take up our cross daily & follow him.” Focused on Christ’s cross – where we always see salvation completely won for us; where we daily find forgiveness freely given to us (forgiveness for all those times I sinfully fail to turn &walk away from temptation – focused on Christ’s cross, may we respond to our Savior’s gift of eternal life by facing & refusing every temptation with which Satan will try to seduce us today & tomorrow – not worrying what our world might think; not worrying what ‘fun’ we might miss, but always asking ourselves, “How could I do such a wicked thing & sin against God?”

Amen.