Human or Divine?

Human or Divine? 

Genesis 45:3-11, 15 : Luke 6:27-38 

“To err is human, to forgive divine. All people commit sins and make mistakes. God forgives them, and people are acting in a godlike (divine) way when they forgive.” This saying is from “An Essay on Criticism,” by Alexander Pope. 

Are you surprised? Is this one of those things that you may have assumed came from one of the Wisdom books in the Bible, maybe buried in Proverbs somewhere? That’s ok if you did. A good line is a good line, wherever it comes from. It is always useful to find inspiration to be the best that we can be. 

In a time when the world has seemingly encouraged us to be hypercritical of others (and avoid self-reflection), one of the things we count on in gathering for worship on a Sunday morning, is being encouraged to shift our thinking. See things with different eyes. 

As a seminary trained, ordained pastor, I am here to confess to you today that my faith in God is wonderfully different than the faith I professed at the conclusion of my seminary degree. Faith is not like a rock that once you have it, you can store it safely under the basement steps, so you can pull it out if you suddenly feel like you need it. 

Faith is actually more like a living thing, like a muscle group. If you want your muscles to be healthy and thrive they need to be fed good stuff, like inspiring quotes; and then regularly exercised. You know, faith exercises, like; forgiving, being generous, showing compassion. 

In the miraculous story of Joseph, he attributes his power and success in Egypt to God, and forgives his murderous, lying, deceitful brothers. I call it a miracle story because, you know, I actually have brothers. We get along ok, but I know there is a line somewhere, and I am sure the line is way before being beaten, stripped, and sold into slavery. Just sayin. 

Luke goes on to quote Jesus as saying we must love our enemies, even the ones who do us wrong. This is the point I want to pivot on. 

In the evolution of my faith, I have been wrestling this past year on the thought about Jesus as being human and divine. In my entire life I have heard the words, but every sermon I have heard - focused exclusively on Jesus as God, suffering the indignity of human form. But if Jesus were only God in human form, then Jesus would not truly be one of us, but only a visitor. 

What if, for the sake of argument, we let Jesus be human, if only for this morning? What if Jesus knew the world, with doubts about his place in the world, that were more in line with our own experiences? What if, everything Jesus was able to do, we are able to do, through the love of God that is still with us? 

We are clearly able to live with integrity. We may have ups and downs like the history of the stock market closing prices, but we can gain a bit more stability with grace and concerted effort. Personally, I have found every small gain in emotional maturity makes faithful living more possible. 

We are able to bless others and be a blessing, just like Jesus was. I am not just speaking as a pastor here, I was 52 years old when I finished seminary. There were times in my life, even long before I changed careers, when I felt the presence of God within me as I sat with people in pain, or trouble, or frustration. Everyone of us can radiate the grace that God gives us. 

The fact that God’s grace is able to live in us does not make us little mini-gods. We are human, but God gives us blessings to have and to share. As we develop that potential for living with and sharing God’s grace, the line between what we can do and what God can do in us becomes blurred. 

This is the goal of contemplative prayer. We see the love of God, spread widely across the whole of creation. We feel the power that is accessible to us. We see the hurts of the world, and we extend what grace and blessings we have to share, and make the world a better place. 

Clearly the power of God’s grace inhabited the person of Joseph, at least at the moment the biblical transcribers captured in this miraculous moment of forgiveness. 

Clearly the love of God is present in the admonition of Jesus to love our enemies and do good to those dirty, rotten, brothers of ours who hurt us. 

The everyday person on the street does not have the tools to understand the message we are preaching in here. It sounds pie in the sky. The world they know is pay-as-you-go. Pay-to-play. Nobody does nothing for nothing. I call that a thin reality. 

In the richer life of a living faith, the presence of God is most evident when we feed and exercise it. We feed on the word of God, and thrive in the loving community, where forgiveness and generosity are more than just a dream, but a way of seeing the whole world. 

In the interest of full disclosure I need to make a few observations before we let go this morning. If you have not read the entire Joseph saga in Genesis lately, you should know that there are several versions, from different points of view, loosely held together in the text. 

The brothers made their first appearance in Egypt a year earlier. The text does not say it explicitly, but I believe Joseph was not immediately moved to miraculous generosity. I have to think he needed to go to God in prayer - for a whole year - before he was ready to make a move toward reconciliation. 

The text goes on to say Joseph pulled a trick on the boys in order to insure that they will hold up their part of the bargain. He knew the kind of people he was dealing with could not be trusted without a show of power. 

And that makes this next observation important. These are the 12 sons of Jacob, the original dirty trickster. God named Jacob ‘Israel,’ which means wrestles with God, or another translation might be - “Antagonizes God.” God does not will the dirty, rotten, scoundrels of this world to do vicious and cruel things, but over the long arc of their lives, God’s grace never abandons either the oppressors nor the oppressed. 

Joseph’s miraculous interpretation of God’s intention within the sinful actions of the boys is best done 30 years later and from a position of safety, if not power. If we try to accept abusive treatment as God’s will, it may well lead to death and worse. Opt for safety in the moment, and let God’s grace change the interpretation over the long haul. 

And finally, we do not need to be so bad as Jacob and the worst of his sons, nor so good as Jesus of Nazareth, for God to give us blessings in our own lives, and blessing to share. The miracle of the incarnation, ‘God with us,’ means God is alive in the very bodies of the living world, and is present in every time and circumstance. I play the guitar as a folk singer. I like to write songs that reflect what is going on in my head and my heart. It takes me a long time to get a song from a wish and a dream to something I can strum and sing to people. I brought you my newest song today. 

I call the song “Living As We Believe.” It is all about seeing the world with confidence that God’s love can make a difference. It is a song about sharing in the power of God’s love, just as Jesus did. It is a song where faith inspires a different way of living, not just a set of things to believe. 

This is of course the challenge of being the church. We need to be good to each other, especially the stranger. But beyond that, we need to create a culture where each of us gets to grow in faith and develop the graces and gifts God gave us. We each are called to use whatever God gives us for the greater glory of God. 

We are in the midst of a terrible time in the history of this young nation. People are screaming at each other over simple disagreements. So many folks are drawing a line in the sand, and condemning all of those on the other side of the line as beyond salvation. There are terrible examples of extreme behavior on the far left as well as the far right. There are church congregations that behave the same way as the least mature people in their faith community. We know we are called to do better.  

It is a hard message we preach here this morning. Love your neighbor, seems easy enough. Love your enemy, that one is hard. Do good to the one who hurts you, makes being a follower of Christ very hard. In order to do that, I would need to be blessed with divine blessings; and doing the best I can to share those blessings. To err is human, but being available to God’s love - is the best part of being human. To truly be human, we must be available to start “Living As We Believe.”