Tag Archives: Brothers

Rejoice – Sermon on Matthew 28:1-10 for the Resurrection of Our Lord

Matthew 28:1–10

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Dear saints, rejoice. Rejoice because God will not allow what is His to be stolen. You’re going to get a little Christmas on Easter because the two go together. The Son of God has taken on flesh. God has a Body. He was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger so He could die and be laid in a tomb for you and in your place. But even though Jesus died, God did not allow death and the grave to claim, take possession of, or keep His Body (Ps. 16:10). That Body belongs to Him. He will not let it be stolen. Christ is risen. Rejoice!

The morning of the Resurrection, the Marys who had watched Jesus’ crucifixion (Mt. 27:55-56) and burial (Mt. 27:59-61) get up before dawn, and Matthew tells us that they are going to see the tomb. That statement is so ominous. The other Gospels let us know that they were returning to finish the work of embalming Jesus’ Body (Lk. 24:1; Mk. 16:1), but Matthew gives us a little insight into their mindset. They are going to the cemetery to see the tomb, the place of the dead.

But when they get there, their eyes are drawn away from the tomb to the angel sitting triumphantly on top of the stone. His appearance was like lightening, and he was wearing clothes white as snow. We don’t know his name, but this angel is quite the character. Most of the time angels pop on the scene in Scripture, they are there to declare something. Only a few times in Scripture do angels actually do things. After the Fall, a cherub guards the way to the Tree of Life with a flaming sword (Gen. 3:24). An angel takes Lot by the hand to save him from a mob (Gen. 19:9-11). And a seraph touched Isaiah’s unclean lips with a burning coal (Is. 6:6-7). But this angel outdoes all of those. This angel puts on a show.

It’s clearer in the Greek than it is in our translation, but this angel descends and causes the earthquake. He then rolls away the stone from the entrance of the tomb – not to let Jesus out. The resurrected Jesus can pop up anywhere anytime (Jn. 20:19, 26). The angel rolls away the stone to show all creation  that Jesus is risen. And then the angel sits on the stone to dance on the grave of death. This angel is playful, rambunctious, and full of rejoicing.

After all of that, the angel settles down a bit and does things we are more used to angels doing throughout Scripture. He starts talking, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus the Crucified One (which is a more literal translation). He is not here, for He has risen.” In other words, the Living One is not found in the place of the dead (Lk. 24:5). The angel then invites the women to see something better than what they had come to see. They had come to see a tomb, but it’s no longer a tomb. The angel directs their attention to the empty, vacated place where Jesus lay while He was dead (Mt. 28:6). What was supposed to be the tomb of Jesus ended up being nothing more than a temporary bed. Death had not won. Death was defeated because, again, God will not be stolen from.

Then, this dazzling, electric angel has some instructions for these women. They are given a task, a job. They are to report, but notice, please, to whom they are to give this report. “Go quickly and tell His disciplesthat He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you [disciples] to Galilee; there you [disciples] will see Him” (Mt. 28:7). So, the women quickly leave the tomb to tell the disciples as they were instructed. But their announcement gets delayed because the Crucified, Risen, and Living Jesus meets them.

Christ greets them with one word, “Rejoice.” Even though that one word was a common way to greet people, the word means ‘rejoice.’ Hawaiians greet people with, “Aloha,” which means, “Love,” Jewish people will greet others with, “Shalom,” which means “Peace,” and the common greeting in Jesus’ day was “Rejoice.” (Editorial comment here: Our common greetings stink. Hi, Hey, and ’Sup? are lame.) Anyway, even though this was the common greeting, it’s hard to imagine that Jesus, on the morning of His resurrection, was simply saying to the women, “Hey; how’s it going?” No. Our Lord joyfully greets them and invites them to rejoice.

Then, Jesus gives these women the exact same task that the angel had given them, but with an important difference. Jesus tells the women, “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Unlike the angel, Jesus doesn’t call the eleven, “My disciples.” Jesus calls them “My brothers.” And there was no confusion for the women here. It wasn’t that they were to go tell the disciples about the resurrection and then go to find another, second group of people who are Jesus’ brothers. No. The disciples are Jesus’ brothers. And this one little change from the lips of Jesus is astounding and should fill our hearts with joy.

When someone upsets or disappoints you, you might try to create distance between that person and yourself by changing how you address them. Imagine that your best, closest friend did something truly horrible, evil, and disgusting, and this thing is known. It’s on the news, in the papers, plastered on social media, everyone knows about it. Someone might come to you and say, “Aren’t you friends with Vinny?” (I’m trying to use a name that isn’t represented here.) “Wasn’t Vinny in your wedding? Don’t you hang out with him a lot?” You don’t want your reputation to be harmed because of Vinny’s bad reputation, so you distance yourself from Vinny by changing how you refer to him. “Ugh, yeah. That guy did an awful thing.”

But look at what Jesus does here. Jesus brings the disciples closer to Himself by calling them, “My brothers.” This is remarkable. The disciples had all failed at being disciples. Just a few hours before Jesus was arrested, He clearly told the disciples, “You will all fall away because of Me this night” (Mt. 26:31). When the crowd came with clubs and swords to arrest Jesus, the disciples fled with their tails between their legs (Mt. 26:55-56). All of them were an embarrassment but think especially of Peter. Three times, Peter denied even knowing Jesus when a couple young servant girls and a stranger asked him if he knew Jesus. Peter even calls down a curse on himself, “God condemn me if I know this Jesus.” And he used more foul, colorful language than that (Mt. 26:69-74). All of the disciples had failed Jesus and fallen away, but the resurrected Jesus still calls them, “My brothers.”

When Jesus calls these eleven failures, “My brothers,” before He sees them, it shows that He has done more than reconciled them. Jesus wants to make sure that the eleven know that they are more to Jesus now, after He is raised, than they were before He died because those eleven are now forgiven, righteous, and given a better status than being followers and disciples. They now have the glory of being children of God. They are His brothers. And the same is true for you. You, like the disciples, are part of the purchased, redeemed, and adopted family of God because Jesus has died and risen to make you His own.

Dear saints, rejoice. Jesus has cleansed you of all your sins. He has made you His holy, redeemed brothers and sisters. He is not ashamed to claim you as part of His family – not at all.

I put two verses on the back of your bulletin that are worth pondering every day of your life. Hebrews 2:10-11. “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

Because He is holy, Jesus is the one who sanctifies you, who makes you holy. He is not ashamed of you. He isn’t embarrassed about your past sins – either known or hidden. Those sins have been dealt with. They have been paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. Christ has sanctified you, made you holy by His death and resurrection. He is your God, and from Him you can expect every good thing. While you were a sinner, Christ died for you. Now that He has made you Hid child, He won’t hold back any good thing from you (Ro. 8:32).

Rejoice! The Crucified and Living One is your Brother and He is not ashamed to have you as part of His family. Not now, not ever.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Fear & Forgiveness – Sermon on Genesis 50:15-21 for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity

Genesis 50:15-21

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 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. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This is a phenomenal text and a beautiful conclusion to a long story of Joseph and his brothers. I know you’re familiar with it, but I still want to review it to highlight some details that are often overlooked so we can see just how dramatic this scene is.

Joseph’s father, Jacob, had two wives (which Scripture repeatedly shows is a bad idea), and his wives were sisters, Leah and Rachel, and this family arrangement poisoned the relationship of these two sisters. Because Jacob loved Rachel but not Leah (Gen. 29:31), God made it so Leah is able to have children, but Rachel isn’t. Without getting too much into the seedy details, only after Jacob has ten sons does Rachel conceive and bear Jacob’s two youngest sons, Joseph then Benjamin. So, of his twelve sons, Joseph was Jacob’s hands-down favorite, and Jacob didn’t hide that fact (Gen. 37:3).

When Joseph was seventeen years old (Gen. 37:2), he started telling his brothers about his dreams where they bow down to him and serve him (Gen 37:5-8). What can you say? He’s the spoiled-rotten, favorite child. Sometime shortly after this, Joseph’s brothers concoct a plan to murder Joseph (Gen. 37:19). But Joseph’s oldest brother, Reuben, convinces his brothers to simply throw Joseph in a pit, and Joseph ends up being sold to a caravan of slave traders. Joseph’s brothers lead their father to believe that Joseph has been attacked by a wild animal and is dead (Gen. 37:31-35). The slave traders take Joseph to Egypt where he is sold to a man named Potiphar who is an officer of Pharaoh and his title is the captain of the guard (Gen. 39:1). Joseph works hard and eventually becomes the overseer of everything in Potiphar’s house.

Potiphar’s wife finds Joseph attractive and tries to seduce him, but Joseph refuses to sin against God and his master. So, Potiphar’s wife makes false accusations against Joseph (Gen. 39:1-19). And just quickly – I’ve mentioned this before – I think there is good reason to believe that Potiphar doesn’t believe the accusations of his wife against Joseph because if he had Joseph would have been executed immediately. Instead, Potiphar puts Joseph into the same prison where Pharaoh’s prisoners are kept (Gen. 39:20), and Scripture tells us that the keeper of that prison is Pharaoh’s captain of the guard (Gen. 40:3), which you remember is Potiphar’s title. This helps explain why Joseph quickly gets put in charge of basically running the prison (Gen. 39:22-23).

While Joseph is there, Pharaoh’s chief baker and cupbearer anger Pharaoh and get thrown into the same prison where Joseph is. They each have a dream that troubles them, and Joseph notices they are down in the dumps. The cupbearer tells Joseph his dream, and God gives Joseph insight to interpret the dream. The cupbearer’s dream means that he will be restored to his position in three days, and Joseph asks the cupbearer to remember him when he gets back to serving Pharaoh his wine (or whatever Pharaohs drink). The chief baker hears that the cupbearer’s dream means something good will happen, so the baker wants Joseph to interpret his dream. The baker, however, doesn’t get good news about his dream. Joseph interprets his dream to mean that Pharaoh will have him executed in three days. The baker is probably even more disappointed when the interpretation of both dreams comes true (Gen. 40:1-22). The only problem for Joseph is that the cupbearer forgets all about Joseph for two whole years (Gen. 40:23-41:1).

After those two years, Pharaoh himself has a couple of dreams that none of his magicians can interpret. Only then does the cupbearer remember about Joseph and the interpretation that God had given him about those two dreams (Gen. 40:8, 41:16). So, Joseph is brought before Pharaoh and hears his dreams about fat cows getting eaten by skinny cows and bad crops eating good crops. Joseph says that God is telling Pharaoh (Gen. 41:25, 28, 32) that seven years of plenty are coming, but those good years will be followed by seven years of severe famine. Joseph suggests that Pharaoh tax one-fifth of the produce during the years of plenty so there will be enough food stored up for when the famine comes (Gen. 41:33-38). Pharaoh basically says, “You’re my guy. You’ve got the Spirit of God in you. You’ll be in charge of implementing this plan.” So, Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of all Egypt, has everyone bow down to Joseph wherever he goes, and even gives Joseph one of his daughters as a wife (Gen. 41:37-45). And at this time, Joseph is thirty years old (Gen. 41:46).

Now, just to sum up: Joseph was 17 when he was sold into slavery (Gen. 37:2). His first 13 years in Egypt are spent partly as a slave in Potiphar’s house and at least two (but probably more) years in prison before he becomes, basically, the prime minister of Egypt at age 30 (Gen. 41:46). For the next seven years, Joseph oversees the storing up of so much food and grain that they stopped keeping track of how much extra they had (Gen. 41:49). So, at this point, Joseph has been in Egypt for 20 years and is 37 when the famine starts. And the famine was so bad people from all over the earth came to Egypt to buy grain (Gen. 41:57).

Joseph’s father and brothers are still living in Canaan, and they have no food. So, Jacob sends Joseph’s brothers to go and buy grain in Egypt. All of Joseph’s brothers except his only full brother, Benjamin, go down to Egypt to buy food. But if you want to buy food in Egypt during this time, the guy you have to see is Joseph. So, when Joseph’s brothers arrive at the checkout counter, Joseph is the one taking the money (Gen. 42:1-6).  And when your life and the lives of everyone in your entire family is in the hands of the prime minister of the only country that has grain and when that prime minister is the clerk, you don’t ask if there are any sales, specials, or coupons. You don’t want to get him upset with you. You show him respect. So, Joseph’s brothers bow down to him fulfilling Joseph’s dream that he had twenty years before (Gen. 37:5-8). But Joseph’s brothers don’t recognize him after twenty years, and they figured he was dead. However, Joseph recognizes his brothers and remembers his dream (Gen. 42:9a).

Now, we need to pick up the pace. Joseph puts his brothers through the ringer for the next 3 chapters of Scripture which span two years. Joseph throws them in jail for three days (Gen. 42:9b-17). He sets them up to think that they didn’t pay for their food (Gen. 42:25, 35). Two years into the famine, Joseph’s brothers return to Egypt a second time to buy more food (Gen. 45:6). And Joseph shows favoritism to his only full brother Benjamin whom Joseph forced to come on this second trip (Gen. 43:34). And Joseph concocts a plan to make it appear that Benjamin has stolen Joseph’s silver cup (Gen. 44:1-2). When his brothers are confronted with this, the brothers all go back to try and save Benjamin from punishment because they know their father will die if they don’t return with Benjamin (Gen. 43:1-14; 44:18-29) whom Jacob thinks is the only living son of Rebekah (Gen. 35:16-20).

Now, before the brothers had left Canaan the second time to buy food, Reuben tried to make a deal with their father Jacob by saying, “We’re not going to get food in Egypt unless Benjamin comes with us, and if he doesn’t come back, you can kill my two sons” (Gen. 42:37-38). But Jacob doesn’t agree to this pagan-like, child sacrifice arrangement. But then Judah says, “Listen, dad, I’ll be responsible for Benjamin. If he doesn’t come back, you can kill me” (Gen. 43:8-10). So, when Judah sees that Joseph is going to punish Benjamin for stealing his cup, Judah gives a beautiful speech, which I’d encourage you to read later today (you can find it in Gen. 44:18-34). In that speech, Judah basically repeats the Gospel promises that Joseph had grown up hearing. Judah says, “I didn’t commit this sin, but treat me as the one who did.” In other words, Judah says, “Let the guilty one go free. Give me the punishment that one deserves, so he can return to the arms of his father.”

And you have to realize how impactful this is. Joseph has been the only Christian in Egypt for 22 years now. He didn’t have any fellowship with fellow believers. He had to be content simply remembering the Gospel promises his father had taught him up until he was sold into slavery at age 17. Now, at age 39 he gets to hear his brother Judah preaching that Gospel to him. Judah is living out the Gospel promise that he failed to live out 22 years before when he had a hand in selling Joseph into slavery.

Joseph is so overcome with emotion that he reveals himself to his brothers. He tells them to get Jacob and the whole family and move to Egypt because there are still five years of famine left (Gen 45:6). The family arrives in Egypt and lives in the best land of Egypt. And Joseph takes care of them for the next seventeen years in Egypt until Jacob dies (Gen. 47:28). Which, finally, brings us to our text.

Even though Joseph had forgiven his brothers (Gen. 45:4-15) and provided for them during those seventeen years, they still fear that Joseph is going to punish them now that their father had died. Joseph’s brothers make up this story, “Hey, bro, right before he died, dad totally told us that you can’t punish us for our sin against you 39 years ago.” You see, through those 39 years, Joseph’s brothers are repeatedly haunted by their guilt of sinning against Joseph (Gen. 42:21-22, 28; 43:18; 44:16). And even after living for 17 years under Joseph’s care and forgiveness, they are still afraid that their sin is going to be punished by Joseph.

But look how beautifully Joseph replies (Gen. 50:19-20), “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.” In other words, Joseph is saying, “Listen, I wasn’t just taking care of you because I loved dad, and now I’m going to get back at you because he’s gone. I have truly forgiven you. I love you, and will continue to care for you.” And please notice carefully what Joseph said there, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

Think back to our Gospel reading today (Lk. 6:36-42). Those verses contain every non-Christian’s favorite saying of Jesus, “Judge not.” If any atheist knows a lick of Scripture, it’s probably those two words of Jesus. But the way unbelievers (and even some Christians) twist those words is abhorrent. In fact, the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading today are probably the most misunderstood, taken-out-of-context words of all Scripture. Sinners love to say, “Jesus told you not to judge.”

But when our Lord says, “Judge not,” Christ isn’t saying that Christians are never allowed to point out the sin of others and call them to repentance. Instead, Jesus wants us to not be hypocrites. Christ doesn’t want us judging others unless we recognize that we need repentance too. So, Jesus gives the analogy of the logs and specks in eyes. In short, Jesus wants you to repent of and remove your timbers of sin in your eye so that you can see clearly and help remove the specks of sin in your neighbor’s eye. Jesus is clear that He wants everyone’s eyes to be free of logs and specks.

Now, all of that brings us back to Joseph and his brothers. The brothers feared that the only reason Joseph was being nice to them was because of their father Jacob. Now, their dad is gone, and they figure the hammer is about to fall, so they fear. So, see how Joseph, in such a godly way, addresses the seriousness of their sin by rightly acknowledging that they meant evil against him. He doesn’t say that their sin didn’t matter. But then, Joseph immediately comforts them with the Gospel and forgiveness.

Dear Christians, if we identify ourselves as any of the characters in this story, it should be Joseph’s brothers. We follow their pattern. We sin and fear that our punishment is just waiting to fall, but our brother, Jesus, comforts us with His forgiveness and cares for us for all eternity.

Jesus teaches us that we sinners are right to fear God. Jesus says in Mt. 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” According to Christ, we should fear God. And when we do, God comforts us and kindly speaks His absolution over us. Psalm 130:3-4 says, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Because Jesus, the sinless One, has died in your place, God forgives you and cares for you. Because Jesus went to the cross to shed His blood providing everything you need for eternal life, you are set free to run back to the arms of your Heavenly Father.

When you rightly fear God because of your sin, He smiles back at you and says, “Yes, your sin is terrible, but I have taken care of it. I love and forgive you.” When you fear, love, and trust in God above all else, God says to you, “Fear not, my beloved child.” And when God, the only One who is worthy of your fear does that for you, you are set free from all fears because His perfect love casts out your fear (1 Jn. 4:18) now and forever. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.