April 28, 2013, "What Meets the Eye"

Genesis 50.14-26; Mark 9.2-8

When finally the brothers realize that the powerful ruler of Egypt is none other than the brother they sold into slavery years earlier … the brother they hated … the brother mourned by their father, Jacob … now their lives are held in his hand.

They’re scared out of their wits … and who wouldn’t be?

But Joseph remembers his faith … and when the truth comes out, Joseph says to his brothers, What you intended for evil, God intended for good.

When was Genesis written?

Written during the Exile … a terrible time, a time of dislocation and upheaval … Judah’s dreams dashed on the rocks of defeat … the Babylonians tore down the gates and demolished the Holy City … thousands of Judah’s citizens hauled off to Captivity.

The Genesis stories are an attempt to understand …

Why are we here?

What went wrong?

What do we do about it?

Can we learn anything from this?

To understand what Joseph says, it’s helpful to read Psalm 137 … please open your Bibles …

¹      By the rivers of Babylon—

      there we sat down and there we wept

      when we remembered Zion.

²      On the willows there

      we hung up our harps.

³      For there our captors

      asked us for songs,

      and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,

      “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴      How could we sing the LORD’S song

      in a foreign land?

⁵      If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

      let my right hand wither!

⁶      Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,

      if I do not remember you,

      if I do not set Jerusalem

      above my highest joy.

⁷      Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites

      the day of Jerusalem’s fall,

      how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!

      Down to its foundations!”

⁸      O daughter Babylon, you devastator! 

      Happy shall they be who pay you back

      what you have done to us!

⁹      Happy shall they be who take your little ones

      and dash them against the rock!

The psalmist is consumed with hatred … 

The psalmist dreams of Babylon getting it … that some conqueror will come along and beat the snot out of Babylon.

Many years ago, when living in Pittsburg, we went to the zoo, and had a lovely time, and when we returned to our car, it had been broken into … all of my camera equipment stolen.

I remember laying awake at night planning revenge … thinking the darkest thoughts about “getting even,” “getting back” at the creep who had done this.

Ever been there?

Psalm 137 is full of darkness … “getting even,” hoping that Babylon will feel the pain that Judah feels … more than happy to see Babylon’s children brutally killed.

I’m always grateful for Psalm 137 - it’s about as honest as one can get about about vengeance … the dark stuff of our soul … hatred and bitterness.

Psalm 137 is one option for Judah … 

But the writers of Genesis realize what we all know to be true - live in the darkness, and the darkness only grows darker … give in to the feelings and thoughts of vengeance, bitterness, hatred - poisons in the soul … they eat us alive … and soon, and very soon, we lose our humanity, we lose our soul, we become our own darkness.

If you will, the writers of Genesis choose to live on the sunny side of the street … while telling the truth about how hard it is.

The Joseph stories make one thing very clear - life can be terribly hard, sometimes impossible … when hope disappears, life collapses …

The story of Joseph is the story of Judah … and a reminder: Don’t give up on God … 

Things may be terrible …

But God is at work in all things for good.

What others intend for evil.

God will use for good.

Not even God can stop the evil workings of sin.

Terrible things happen.

Evil has its ways.

Sorrow and suffering.

Tears all day long.

But don’t give up on God.

Choose a better way of living.

Trust God.

Trust God in the morning and trust God in the night.

Trust God in all the in-between places.

What others intend as evil.

God uses for good.

The writers of Genesis appeal to Judah’s better instincts.

Trust God in all things.

What meets the eye may be terrible and sad.

But there’s more to this life than what meets the eye.

Faith reaches above and beyond what we see.

Paul says it well, 2 Corinthians 4:

¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, ¹⁸because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

The eternal hand of God is at work …

What meets the eye is only part of the story … faith reaches beyond what can be seen to the unseen work of God … the majesty of God’s love … the height and breadth and width and depth of God’s mighty love … that whatever comes our way, there is nothing that can separate us from God’s great love in Christ.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Isaiah (40) says it so beautifully to his people in Exile … in the worst of times, in the worst of places, Isaiah says:

²⁸      Have you not known? Have you not heard?

      The LORD is the everlasting God,

      the Creator of the ends of the earth.

      He does not faint or grow weary;

      his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹      He gives power to the faint,

      and strengthens the powerless.

³⁰      Even youths will faint and be weary,

      and the young will fall exhausted;

³¹      but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,

      they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

      they shall run and not be weary,

      they shall walk and not faint. 

What meets the eye is one thing … but faith reaches beyond what the eye can see …

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen … (Hebrews 11.1)

The Transfiguration of Jesus … shining light … Moses and Elijah … a stunning moment for the disciples … they don’t know what to do … stammering and stuttering … Peter wants to build little huts on the mountain and stay there … 

In that shining moment of light, they see beyond what the eye can see … 

Six days before the Transfiguration ... Jesus said to the disciples, It will end badly for me … I’m going to Jerusalem, and there I will suffer many things … they will kill me, bury me, be done with me … and I will rise from the dead on the third day.

Peter objects - he can’t hear the good news; all he can hear is the bad … No, no, no, it won’t end badly; I’ll not let it end this way … 

But Jesus has no time for Peter … Get behind me Peter; you sound like the Devil. You haven’t a clue what’s important, what matters. You can only think of yourself.

True enough … when times are tough, it’s hard to think beyond ourselves … 

Which is why Jesus gives the disciples six days to think about it … six days to feel the pain and sorrow of what Jesus said, that it will end badly … this is no fairytale life we live … this is not some adventure in the woods … the stakes are high … and sometimes things end badly.

Six days Jesus lets the disciples stew on this … 

And when the time is right, up the mountain they go … it only lasts a little while in the glory of the light … it doesn’t take long at all … nor could they stay there … no, they had to walk back down the mountain to the same old stuff, the same old world, and the fate awaiting Jesus.

But in that moment, they saw something …  

Choose the light!

Choose faith, hope and love.

Choose grace, mercy and peace.

What meets the eye is one thing, what meets the eye of faith is another.

Amen and Amen!

May 3, 2009 - "Living into the Story of the Midwives"

By the Rev. Dr. David Fleer

Audio Version HERE.

Living Into the Story of the Midwives: Strength and Courage for these Days
Exodus 1: 7 - 22

I
A nine month old child sits on his Grandma’s lap with a book opened before them. As Grandma reads he is attentive to her voice, stares at the pictures, absorbs the colors, and leans forward to kiss the lambs and babies and hear the sounds uttered by the cows and horses. Grandma closes the book but he is hungry for more. This baby already loves books, which means he is discovering the worlds and treasures they contain.
One day he will hear Scripture’s most essential stories, the paradigmatic tales of the Hebrews and their beginnings, their enslavement and God’s studied concern for them.
One day he’ll come to know the story of Shiprah and Puah, the Midwives, who protected the Hebrew babies from infanticide. He’ll learn the heroic role of two women who “refused imperial fear” to protect the innocent and helpless. He will learn to say their names, honor their work and understand that they acted with the same moral goodness that motivates his mother and grandmother who will become his models, these women who devote their lives to children.
II
“There Arose a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph” is how our story begins, with an ominous and foreboding tone, which also recalls a time when Pharaoh knew Joseph. When Joseph was known ~ we had entrée’. We had a seat at the table and permission and privileges.
“So, you’re Joseph’s son? Not a finer man in this country than your father.”
“You’re part of Joseph’s family? We have a position at the firm that may be of interest to someone with your pedigree.”
“You say Joseph was your Grandfather? When I first came to work here I remember people speaking with great respect about your Grandfather. We have some photographs in the archives I think you’ll appreciate. Good man. Now what can I do for you?”
When Pharaoh knew Joseph, when our Joseph was known by Pharaoh, they invited us in:
 “It’s on the house,” they said.
“We own an exclusive private school appropriate for your family.”
That’s how it went when Pharaoh knew Joseph. Opportunities would just appear: scholarships! Business deals! Board positions!
Things go your way when Pharaoh knows Joseph. “They were 70 in number and they were fruitful and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty and the land was full of them” ~ when Pharaoh knew Joseph.
III
 “But there Arose a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.” With the passage of time the connections with power and privilege dried up.
“We’re not hiring,” they told us.
“We’re not selling,” they said.
“Nothing available.”
“You’ll have to wait.”
Clerks and colleagues came to ask, “Where’re you from? What’s that red cloth around your neck? What are those dangly things?”
“Just a scarf.”
“Doesn’t look like a normal scarf. Why are you wearing that? You talk funny.” Where’d you say you’re from?”
We were distanced from society, ostracized, alienated, outsiders. When the nation’s headlines read: “plummeting stocks,” we didn’t have stocks. When the city’s “unemployment lines grew,” we didn’t have jobs to lose. When folks cried about the “bubble bursting” and threats of “foreclosure,” we hadn’t invested in real estate, we didn’t own a house.
We began to write new music appropriate for the times. Tunes appeared with lines like these:
‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my cabin door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.
Depression and oppression appear early in the Exodus narrative when “there Arose a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.”
IV

This hard part of our story will be difficult to tell our grandchildren. How we fell out of favor and lived on the margins of society. Because our grandchildren are being schooled and acculturated to gain a secure footing and rise in business and occupation, to marry and contribute to the prosperity of the nation. It will be hard for them to hear
. . . and just as hard for us to tell . . .  stories that challenge the culture: stories of those who courageously resist oppressive powers and refuse authorities who ignore the hopeless and marginalized.

It will be hard for them to hear because in the culture where Pharaoh reigns a certain logic dominates, a “common sense” which controls society’s thinking and action.  Pharaoh’s logic works like this:

Given: although the Hebrews have become numerous, they’ve done nothing to harm us.
However, the Hebrews could multiply more and in the event of war, they could team with our enemies or runaway and reduce our free labor market.
Therefore, we should make a pre-emptive strike against the innocent because there is a possibility they may become guilty.

That’s the logic of Pharaoh. That’s the rationale of oppression and the genius of fear.

That is why it will be difficult, but essential, to tell our grandchildren this hard part of our history and the challenge of our future.

V

Ours is a story even more difficult to tell because everyone thinks alike. No one challenges Pharaoh’s common sense.

Pharaoh commands the Egyptians to “deal shrewdly with the Hebrews,” to obtain the greatest possible benefit from this ethnic minority, while at the same time exhausting, reducing, and controlling . . . them.

So Pharaoh appoints task masters to carry out his orders. He appoints lieutenants who salute Pharaoh and inflict hard labor,

    and stand guard, like at the work camp at Dachau,

    and crack the whip, like a plantation overlord,

    and demand unreasonable hours, like foremen in a sweatshop.

This is the climate of the system, where if something goes wrong the lieutenants excuse their behavior:

“I was only following orders”
   
“I was doing as commanded”
           
Like Abu Ghraib, taught in the schoolyard and enacted by playground bullies. “I did as I was told, or I would have been victimized.”

The strategy was effective on the one hand. The Hebrew work force built storage cities Pithom and Raamses which helped secure Egypt’s homeland security.

But as shrewd as Pharaoh’s plan, his motive is foiled. Although Egyptian strategic sites are enhanced: the Hebrew population increases. Although task masters inflict hard labor and make Hebrew lives bitter from the strain of work, grinding out bricks, plodding in the fields, lifting and pulling, straining and pushing: the Hebrews multiply.

And Pharaoh’s logic multiplies to the masses. And now all the Egyptians are in dread of the potential threat of the Hebrews.

VI
When Plan ‘A’ does not work, Pharaoh’s fear explodes into violence and he concocts Plan ‘B,’ the Final Solution, and calls the Midwives before him.
The Midwives’ profession demands a toughness and gentleness to assist new mothers in the delivery of babies, time the contractions, prepare the water, cut the cloths, and initiate life into the world.
Pharaoh orders the women, “kill the Hebrew’s baby boys.”
The prison guards and police, the plantation overlords, the shop foremen, and the task masters all did as they were told. They obeyed the oppressor’s command.
Into this landscape step Shiprah and Puah ~ and stand before Pharaoh who instructs them, “Accelerate the oppression.”
But, unlike the task masters, the Midwives don’t do as they’ve been told. 
They don’t fall back on Romans 13:1 “Be in subjection to the governing authorities.”
They don’t recall I Peter 2, “Submit yourselves to every human institution.”
They don’t recite Titus 3, “Be subject to authorities and to rulers. Obey.”
There is no submission to the state from these women. No obedience to Pharaoh and the governing authorities here. “The Midwives fear God and do not do as Pharaoh commanded. They let the boys live” (1:17)
They violate orders. They risk their lives to save the helpless.
Pharaoh orders, “Kill the babies.” Shiprah and Puah refuse.

VII
Which does not get past Pharaoh who confronts them and demands an account, “What have you done?”
The midwives look Pharaoh in the eye and tell him a big fat lie. A whopper! “The Hebrew women are so vigorous . . . we can’t get there in time. We can’t outrun them, these pregnant women are just too fast.”
To speak in the face of the oppressor with such calm resolve is like plucking a hair from Hitler’s mustache or bonking Bull Connor on the head with his billy club. They pull a fast one on Pharaoh.
The wit of the oppressed, preserved through the ages, begins with the Midwives, who when out muscled and with no resource but their integrity and wit, out fox the Pharaoh.
Like when Br’er Bear and Br’er Fox capture Br’er Rabbit. The two argue between themselves, “I say we skin ‘m and then eat ‘m.”
“I say we boil ‘m first.”
To which Br’er Rabbit interjects, “Boil me, skin me, I don’t care. But whatever you do, don’t throw me in the briar patch.”
Outwitted, the Fox and Bear attempt to torture the rabbit and throw him in the briar patch.
Once safe in the confines of the patch Br’er Rabbit raises his head and taunts his oppressors, “Born and raised in the briar patch, yes indeed. I told you not to throw me here.”
And God witnesses the exchange and God sees the Midwives’ faith and courage and God blessed the Midwives.



IIX

How do we tell this story to our grandchildren? The narrative by itself will entice, engage, and satisfy in so many literary ways:
Our grandchildren will be taken by the quick and ingenious transition from power to slavery, this essential and radical move beautifully told with an economy of words. They’ll enjoy the story’s rapid plot reversals and engaging ironies: Slavery benefits the state with buildings erected and land farmed: good for Egypt. Yet Pharaoh wants his workers eliminated? Midwives represent the source of life, yet they are being ordered to become the bearers of death?
This story nearly tells itself.
Even so, when you read the narrative to your grandchildren, you must work to capture the characters’ voices. Pharaoh is not the voice of Yule Brenner. Jack Nicholson can’t touch this villain. Pharaoh has a even more sinister voice that embodies evil and reveals the fear that envelops him, “Kill them! Kill them all.”

But most important, practice the voice of the Midwives. Their tone is intelligent: they calculate their civil disobedience. They resonate with moral depth: they are loyal to God and their own integrity. Their voice is full of courage: they stand before the powerful and deified Pharaoh, who can crush them or torture them to death.

And in this setting their words shield the innocent.

Practice that voice before you read this story to your grandchildren.

And then, show the story in its recent enactments. Take them to the Ford Museum and sit in Rosa Park’s Montgomery bus, where she defied a system of oppression. Make the Lorraine Motel an essential visit when passing through Memphis and Ebenezer Church a stop in Atlanta where civil disobedience gave voice to the marginalized.

Grandparents trace out the moral code of faith so that grandchildren will know how it means to live in this family. “It is the work of grandparents to transform the remembered past into the present tense”  which means that when we tell this paradigmatic story, we live into it ourselves, identifying current systems of oppression  remembering God always sides with the poor and abused. Always.



IX

And our grandchildren will watch us and listen to us, even as we pray, with this text as our script:  “God of justice and compassion, we give you thanks for turning the world up-side down by uplifting the poor and powerless and turning out the powerful. Forgive us when we lust for power or acquiesce to schemes of the oppressor. Forgive us for participating in this world’s systems of domination. Give us strength and courage for the living of these days, for our children and grandchildren and for ourselves. Amen. “

Joseph: What Now? - December 7, 2008

Audio Version HERE.

Matthew 1:18-25

Welcome to Advent, week 2 …

Last week, it was Mary …
This week, Joseph … next week, the Inn Keeper, and Advent 4 – the Shepherds …

Let me ask a question:
Is there anyone here who ever had to change plans unexpectedly?

Of course … live long enough, and unexpected changes are required … that’s living 101 …

A friend cancels lunch …
The boss wants us in Tupelo instead of Paris …
The car breaks down …
A thousand little things that require unexpected changes.

And sometimes big things … serious things …
Job loss …
Illness …
The death of a loved one …
What I call, A hard twist in the road …

What now?

Such was Joseph’s situation …
Engaged to Mary …
Wedding plans in hand …
Customs honored …
Things as they should be …

But, then, one of those “oh, oh” moments …

Joseph, I’m pregnant.

Let’s take a look at the story … please, open your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 1, verse 18 – p. 1 in the New Testament … ….

As I speak, “oh, oh” moments all over the place …

The auto industry reeling …
Wall Street stumbling …
Jobs lost …
Tens of thousands in foreclosure …
Consumer confidence - way down …
Retail sales – way down …
Vacations on hold …
College delayed …
Fewer gifts under the tree …
Less entertainment …
More meals at home …
Hot dogs instead of steak …
Even for the comfortable, the pinch is real … investments have taken a huge hit …

All kinds of “oh, oh” moments …

A friend of mine enrolled in seminary … a second-career guy with a calling – he had to make a lot of adjustments just get into seminary.
But then it wasn’t long after getting into the swing of things, that he developed heart problems … the road ahead suddenly filled with obstacles … what looked simple now became uncertain …
A tough transition …
Anger, frustration, fear …
Why did God call me? Only to put me through this?

But my friend made it …
He believed in God …
Trusted God …
Put his life into God’s hands …
He swore and cursed about it …
He cried about it …
Didn’t like it one bit …
But he made it …
Faith didn’t make the road easy; faith got him over the bumps and through the woods …

There’s always a way …
Always a way through, around, under or over …

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me …

Basic spiritual principle … God at work in ALL things for good …

But I don’t want God to always be at work in all things for God … I want to grumble and groan, mope and moan … feel sorry for myself … and get others to feel sorry for me … it’s fun to host my own pity party!
If God is really at work in all things for good, then I have to think again about my attitude …
I have to put on my spiritual eyeglasses – to look for God; look for the good … because God is there … and so is the good.

And another spiritual principle: God will keep us in the hard place until we learn to find the good … until we learn the lessons of gratitude and humility …

Like an old gold mine – we think it’s played out; there’s nothing here … but God says, Dig a little longer, dig a little deeper … there’s still gold in this mine.

The truth is this: If I’m not grateful for the grace of God in hard times, what makes me think I’ll be grateful for the blessing of God in the good times?
If I don’t practice kindness right now, when will I do it?
If I’m not a person of faith, hope and love right now, when?
Next month, next year, next job, next marriage, next relationship, next whatever …?
No, it has to be now.
It can be now!

As I was preparing this message, I thought of one of my favorite stories from the Book of Acts …

Paul the Apostle had his plans …
Paul wanted to go East …

Listen to the Tex- Acts 16:

When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so … they went down to Troas … (Acts 16:6ff).

Who hasn’t planned on going to Bithynia?
Who hasn’t been stymied?
But there’s always Troas …

There’s always a way through, around, over or under.

When life hands you a lemon,
Add a little sugar and make lemonade.

A friend of mine reaching back 40 years …
A fellow-pastor …
Lost his wife 15 years ago to a brain aneurysm … a bitter loss that turned his world upside down … the church he was serving at the time couldn’t cope with his grief and asked him to leave … he stumbled and struggled …

But I’ve watched him add sugar …
The sugar of faith …
None of it easy … his lemonade is made with tears and trembling …

Along the way …
Another women came into his life …
She, too, a widow … having lost her husband tragically …

Love blossomed … and both have helped each other grieve the loss of a first love …
They add the sugar of faith to a bitter chapter in life …
It’s still bitter-sweet for them …
But they rejoice in love anew …

There is always a way through, around, over or under …

Poor Joseph … a righteous man …
Not self-righteous … but really righteousness … a God-lover, serious about the things of God … a man of faith …

In other words, Joseph wanted to do it right!

Joseph decides to call it off quietly … “give the ring back” so to speak … no fanfare, no public announcement … just end it quietly … she must love someone else.

Here’s where the story reveals a lot about Joseph:
He could have put Mary on trial …

The law allowed for an adulterous woman to be stoned to death … (Deuteronomy 22:20-21) …
Remember the story of the woman “caught in adultery”?
The mob brought her to Jesus … they were ready to stone her.
But Jesus writes in the dust … wish I knew what he wrote … and then said to the mob, The one without sin can cast the first stone … and with that, the mob melted away …

Jesus had a fatherly example in mind …
Not just a heavenly Father …
His fatherly father, Joseph …

Joseph refused to humiliate Mary and bring her to trial …
The law would have been on his side …

But are some things in this life more important than just being “right” …

Joseph chose the better way …

Only then did God break in …
An angel dream …
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Why did God wait so long to clear things up …?
Was God waiting to see what Joseph would do?
Was God waiting to see what kind of man Joseph really was?
What kind of father he would make for Jesus?
What kind of an example he would be for God’s own son?

Paul the Apostle would write thirty years later to Christians in Corinth … about a way of life … a still more excellent way …

Not law, but love …
Not about being “right” but being righteous …

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gone or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Joseph was more than right, he was righteous …
He chose the better way …
And that’s when God stepped in …

God stepped in to finish the deal … God enabled Joseph to take the next step.
To take Mary for his wife, and be the earthly father to the Son of heaven.

A partnership between a man of faith and a faithful God … Joseph had to choose, and choose he did, the better part … and God helped Joseph finish it …

When things fall a part …
When the unexpected happens …
When there’s a hard twist in the road and we end up in the ditch …

There is always a way through, around, over or under …

But we have a role to play …
A choice to make …
A faith to live …

I can’t think of a better example than Joseph …
Faced with a lousy “oh, oh” moment …
Joseph chose love …
And God’s love finished the deal!

Amen and Amen!