Free to Be Good

Genesis 50: 15-21 Rev. Marianne Niesen July 3, 2011

Today’s scripture text requires a bit of background. It is taken from very close to the end of the Book of Genesis. Creation has happened, the flood and the building of the ark and the saving of Noah and his family have happened. Abraham and Sarah have trekked from their homeland to the “Promised” Land where they were “promised” a big family. Things ran into a snag when Sarah had no children but, finally, Isaac was born. Isaac eventually married Rebekah and they had Jacob and Esau – two brothers who began fighting in the womb and never quite stopped. Of course, Rebekah didn’t help matters much since she really did like Jacob best and arranged to help him steal the all important ‘blessing’ that was the birthright of Esau. When the marrying time came for Jacob, he fell in love with Rachel but was tricked into marrying her older sister, Leah, first and then had to work and wait an additional 7 years for Rachel. Rachel ended up having a difficult time getting pregnant but eventually did – and had a son they named Joseph. He (of course) was the apple of his Mom’s eye – and the favorite of his Dad. This didn’t sit well with all of Jacob’s other sons . . . you know, the ones he had by . . . his other wife and some servants and, well, they did the whole marriage thing differently back then, giving an interesting slant on the ‘traditional’ marriage that so many want to ‘defend.’ But, that’s another sermon . . .

Back to the Genesis saga… Favoritism tends not to play well in most families and this one was no exception. In fact, as time went on, things were so bad between Joseph and his half brothers that they sold him into slavery and told his Dad wild animals got him. (This was the ultimate dysfunctional family!) Joseph was taken as a slave to Egypt but, with ingenuity, cunning, some luck and the grace of God, progressed from being a slave to a prison inmate to the prime minister of the land. It was quite a rise to power. That ended up being a good thing because, years after they had ‘done him in,’ those same half brothers slinked toward Egypt begging for food and help because the ‘Promised Land’ was in the midst of a famine. Lo and behold, who do they find in charge of charitable relief but – you guessed it - Brother Joe! Who, by the way, gladly helps them. Joe’s Dad, Jacob, was still alive and so lived to once again see the son he thought he had lost many years before. And then Jacob died. That overview of the Book of Genesis is my introduction to today’s text. Let’s listen to Genesis 50: 15-21.

It’s a great ending, isn’t it? Despite all the reasons Joseph would have had to ‘get even’ or at least teach a lesson or two, he does the amazing thing. He forgives. More than once, in fact. He lets go the past hurt and moves on. And because of that, the chosen people survive for another day. They still have lots to face, lots of trials and tribulations ahead. Still, without Joseph’s act of forgiveness, his letting go of his right to revenge, there would have been no future at all. Joseph had the power and the higher moral ground and he chose to use it all for good.

There is a slogan in Alcoholics Anonymous "Let Go and Let God." To the casual observer, it might sound rather trite and cutesy. But, learning when to let go and trust God's action is anything but trite - and is certainly not easy. Letting go is the "stuff" of which life is made. It is the bedrock of growth. At times all of us have had to learn to let go - to let go of a child, of a destructive relationship, of a bad habit. To let go of a tempting opportunity that may be dangerous, to let go of one's youth and learn to age gracefully. To let go of our plans and deal with the latest crisis or opportunity. We have had to learn to let go of things that hold us back or pull us down - like envy, greed or nursing old wounds. And the amazing thing is that when we let go we lose something and we gain something. We open ourselves to the possibility of new life. From the clutching fist to the open hand. It's the experience of real freedom. It's the price of freedom - to know when to hold on (because it's my right) and when to let go because I'm responsible to use my freedom for the greater good, for growth. In fact, freedom is not really a goal of life, it is rather a way of living. In the words of a nineteenth century divine:

But what is freedom? Rightly understood,

a universal license

to be good. [1]

In other words, freedom is not the absence of restraint, it is the ability to make a choice. To let go. And, freedom, rightly used, is the gift of being able to make a difference for the better. In the words of another preacher:

Freedom, as every struggling nation and individual learns sooner or later, is a means and not an end, and the essence of freedom is not liberation, as we so readily suppose; both the essence and the expression of freedom is choice. You are free in order to be able to choose. [2]

The Bible is full of stories of struggling - but free - men and women who had to learn how to live and develop as God's people by freely choosing to let go. Noah let go of dry land. Abraham and Sarah took leave of everything they held dear in their homeland. They even raised their retirement age and agreed to have kids when they should have been taking it easy. Jacob had to let go of his rage at being tricked into marriage to the wrong woman and hang in there until Rachel was available. Moses let go of his comfortable life tending flocks to confront the Pharaoh and lead his people to a home he’d never seen. Ruth let go of her homeland to stand faithfully beside her mother-in-law and so become an ancestor of Jesus. Jesus, let go of equality with God to become one of us.[3] Mary, let go of ordinary life to be the mother of an unusual child. Over and over, throughout Biblical history, our ancestors had to freely let go of something in order to live freely for something. To choose to be good.

Biblical history isn't the only place we see this. As we celebrate Independence Day, we can’t help but remember that our forefathers and foremothers in this country had to let go of the safety and security of life as they had known it to found the nation. We honor their foresight and heroism this weekend. But we do ourselves and our civic ancestors an injustice if our main focus of celebrating the 4th is only a remembering of a past event, an honoring of what they did. Yes, they paid a price for our freedom. But it was part of an installment plan. We too owe something. We have been given freedom so we can do in our day what they did in theirs.

Let me illustrate. The country that let go of the motherland and formed itself as the United States on July 4, 1776 was not a perfect nation. It was a nation that proclaimed "all men are created equal" and meant just that. White men were equal. That's what both church and culture taught. Others were owned or protected by white men. It was a nation, like the church of its time, that considered women lesser creatures and blacks and native peoples less than human. Over and over through the years, our nation - and our church - has had to learn to let go of prejudiced notions and struggle with new ways of seeing humanity. None of that has been easy. We have had to pay the price of freedom. We have had to make choices. Gradually, through the years we have had to let go of bits of prejudice and provincialism. We have had to let go of the cultural and religious biases that blinded our ancestors. Now we say that all people are created equal. Now we protect a little better - though not perfectly - the rights of blacks, Native Americans, women and children. Oh, we don't always like this letting go - we fight it and we stand on our rights. But the price of freedom is the pain of letting go - and, as people of faith, we believe that in this letting go we let God in. As people of faith, we believe that God will help us learn to "form a more perfect union." And that is hard work indeed.

Fred Craddock tells this story:

I used to go home to west Tennessee, where an old high school chum of mine had a restaurant. I called him Buck. Go home for Christmas, “Merry Christmas, Buck,” and I’d get a piece of chess pie and cup of coffee free. “Merry Christmas, Buck,” I’d say. Every year it was the same.

I went in, “Merry Christmas, Buck.”

He said, “let’s go for coffee.”

I said, “What’s the matter? Isn’t this the restaurant?”

He said, “I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder.”

We went for coffee. We sat there and pretty soon he said, “Did you see the curtain?”

I said, “Buck, I saw the curtain. I always see the curtain.”

What he meant by curtain is this: They have a number of buildings in that little town; they’re called shotgun buildings. They’re long buildings and have two entrances, front and back. One’s off the street, and one’s off the alley, with a curtain and the kitchen in the middle. His restaurant is in one of those. If you’re white, you come off the street; if you’re black, you come off the alley.

He said, “Did you see the curtain?”

I said, “I saw the curtain.”

He said, “The curtain has to come down.”

I said, “Good. Bring it down.”

He said, “That’s easy for you to say. Come in here from out of state and tell me how to run my business.”

I said, “Okay, leave it up.”

He said, “I can’t leave it up.”

I said, “Well, then, take it down.”

“I can’t take it down.” He’s in terrible shape. After a while he said, “If I take that curtain down, I lose a lot of my customers. If I leave that curtain up, I lose my soul.”[4]

The point of freedom is to choose to be good which is not - and has never been - an easy proposition. When we let go and let God we put ourselves in difficult positions. Nothing is ever the same. The reason that Israel told and retold the story of Abraham and Sarah, Joseph, Moses and Miriam and Ruth and the others, was not just to provide history. It was a challenge to those who would come after to pay the price of freedom. To let go and be open to what God might do. To let go and imagine new life and possibilities for growth. The Bible is filled with those stories and those lessons. Our ancestors in this country were not biblical heroes and heroines but their stories too echo the message - we must learn to let go in order to be free and it will cost - and we must do it again and again and again and again.

As we struggle to keep our balance in the world, as individuals, as a church, and as a nation, the question is before us. Are we willing to be free? What are we being called to let go of in order to form a more perfect union? How will we be a church for the 21^st century - open, hospitable, committed to the gospel? It has a cost. And how are we as individuals being challenged to let go and let God? Let us celebrate Independence Day as the day to remember people throughout our history - Biblical and national - who let go and gave us the freedom and the challenge to do the same. Here. May we have the courage to let go and let God. May we have the courage to become the church God is calling us to be in this time and place. May we have the courage to be free enough to “choose to be good.”

Benediction

But what is freedom? Rightly understood,

a universal license

to be good.

May we choose goodness

and work for peace. Amen.

[2] Ibid., p. 25.

[3] Philippians 2:6