Bible Text: Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28; Matthew 14: 22-33 | Preacher: Rev. Berlin Guerrero | Series: 2020 | Prayer:

In our struggle to hear your word, O God,

bless even our doubts, our wonderings,

our wanderings, our soul-struggles,

life’s deep questions, and deeper mysteries.

Teach us to love our questions

as well as our answers.

Amen.

 

A conspiracy to kill: Causing deceit to themselves

 

Joseph was sent out by his father Jacob, now called Israel, to seek out his brothers in Shechem, but the brothers pasturing the flock of sheep were not there, so he continued to follow them to Dothan based on the information of a man, perhaps another shepherd.

 

There are important aspects that we must look at before this tragic drama unfolds:

 

Jacob come from a family of immigrants into the land of Canaan (verse 1)
Joseph is 17 years old (verse 2)
Joseph shepherds with his brothers (verse 2)
Joseph is a helper to his father’s wives (verse 2)
Joseph is his father’s favourite child (verse 3)because he was a son of his old age. He was given a special long robe with sleeves
Joseph’s brothers hated him and could not speak peaceably to him

So as Joseph approached the place where his brothers were, his brothers saw him and his brothers “conspired to kill him” (verse 18).

 

How is it possible for these brothers, who were supposed to be his guardians, would even think of murdering their own brother?

 

Roger Nam, (Acting) Professor of Hebrew Bible Candler School of Theology at Emory University Atlanta, Georgia, highlighted what seems to be a phenomenon which is very disturbing and discomforting.  He said that in order for the brothers to conceive a plan to murder their youngest brother, they had to “cause deceit to themselves”.[1]

 

“they caused deceit to themselves to kill him.”

 

In other words, they had to consciously deceive themselves in order to carry out an act that is not expected to emanate from them because the act is contrary to all norms and he is their brother first and foremost.

 

This explains in part what a parricide or a premeditated murder is.

 

There are many people in Beirut who believe that the destructive explosion caused by the thousands of metric tons of ammonium nitrate left in storage for 6 years is a crime that needs to be investigated. They say that politicians who did not act on this matter despite so many reminders and calls for them about the potential danger the stored chemicals pose on the city population.

 

There are many politicians in the world who in order to do what they want in contradiction to the interest of the people conspire and cause deceit to themselves so that they will appear unaccountable and free of guilt.

 

Our reflection on the actions of Joseph’s brothers reminds us that at times, we commit the same sin of deceiving ourselves in order to cause harm to others.

 

 

 

Jesus has just fed the 5,000 their evening meal. It was time for them to be dismissed and find spaces in the mountain where they can lie down, rest and sleep.

 

Jesus makes the disciples get into a boat to go ahead of him to the other side of the lake. Jesus needed time to be alone, pray, and rest to renew his strength.

 

To retreat and rest is a basic human need: for reflection, reconnection and rest that can result to reinvigoration and recommitment.

 

Perhaps this was not made available to the disciples who hastily went on board the small boat that is about to sail in a vast lake and confront a brewing storm. Unlike Jesus in the sanctuary of a mountain, the disciples in the boat were in the peril of the storm. The disciples must have been praying hard for rescue. But their terror was doubled upon seeing what looked like a ghost. But it was Jesus walking on water. Immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” (v 27).

 

Peter was afraid that the waves would swallow him and distracted him from his walk of faith towards Jesus.

 

It seems Year 2020 is a year where we are visited by a lot natural and human-made calamities and disasters. People are anxious and feel uncertain of things around them – from COCID-19 infection to being unduly fined; panic-buying for fear of food shortage. In other parts of the world, people are wary of governments who have long been conspiring to consolidate their hold on power and maximize their wealth accumulation amidst and despite the pandemic.

 

It is in these times when we need to be spared from the storms of life that might sink the boat we are on and cause all to drown.

 

It is in these times when we need to be encouraged to continue to fight for what is right in our country and in other parts of the world.

 

It is in these times when we need for someone to tell us “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

 

God’s people must place their ultimate trust in a just and loving God.

 

In NT Wright’s book Simply Christian, we find that it is a natural human desire to seek justice in all aspect of life. We all want to get things right, we want fairness, and this is because there is injustice and inequality imbedded in our social systems.

 

This desire for justice springs from humans as spiritual beings. The pursuit of something noble, something higher than oneself, rather than simply material things and personal comfort, in a way characterise a person’s spirituality.

 

We also know that we are made for one another. Human beings are social beings – a reflection of the social nature of the Triune God. Thus, people are meant to be a community that is capable of exercising collective spirituality amidst diversity.

 

Lastly, we all desire beauty or perhaps in Creation language, we seek what is good. We seek this goodness which reflect back to the Creator when the narrator wrote in Genesis 1: 31: God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.

There is always hope for our world experiencing a lot of troubling and discomforting situations.

 

Let us trust God completely to lift humankind from sinking in the dark waters we are in.

 

Let us allow for the wind to cease, for the storms of our lives to pass.

 

Let us believe in the goodness of humanity and its ability to find its way back to God.

 

Amen.

[1] Commentary on Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28, Roger Nam, The Working Preacher, 9 August 2020. https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4546; accessed 7 Aug 2020.