Doover

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08.17.08

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

DO OVER

GENESIS 45:1-15; ROMANS 11:1-2a, 29-32

Impulsive Actions

Desiring Second Chances

Have you ever said something and instantly wished you cold take it back?

Sometimes the mouth works faster than the brain and you want to hit “Pause<” rewind a bit, and say the whole thing differently
Is there something you have done that you wish you could undo, some action that at the time seemed harmless, but now you live with the regret of having made that decision?
Of course you have

We’ve all said or done things that were stupid or downright mean and insensitive

In moments of anger or in times of stress we often speak and act too impulsively even though we know that impulsive words and actions often do more harm than good
We allow our emotions to take control over our reason
What we say and do at those times makes an already bad situation even worse

As you look back in your life, I’m sure there are any number of things you would do differently if you had the opportunity to do it over again

Spend more time with your kids when they were little and spend less time working so hard
Say ‘I love you” to your spouse more often and really mean it, and spend more quality time together
Seek to mend broken relationships instead of holding a grudge
Take better care of yourself
Take that dream vacation you’ve always put off while you’re still able to enjoy it

Some Things Are Irrevocable

We can fix some of these things, but some of them we can’t

While we can never go back and change what’s past, we can always reshape the future as long as we have time left to live
But there are some relationships we can never fix because the other person has passed away
There are some circumstances we can never change because they’re beyond our control
While we may long for things to be different, sometimes they’re irrevocable

Irrevocable—what a strong word that is

Done. Final. That’s it. Game over.
It comes out of the mouth with a thud

Is there really anything in life that we can’t do over again?

Is anything really irrevocable?
Some things are

A bullet cannot go back into a gun
Too much toothpaste won’t go back into the tube
A lotto ticket won’t un-scratch

But barely anything in life really seems permanent

In our culture, people always seem to find a way to wriggle out of actions they’ve taken or choices they’ve made

The fact is, we love do-overs
Options, choices, and second chances are one of the marks of our culture
On a consumer level, there’s just about nothing that we can’t throw out and “do over,” or get a new one
In sports, referees’ judgments don’t always stand because football coaches have red flags and extra officials are assigned to video replay every call
Typewriters and white-out have been replaced by the UNDO arrow on the Edit drop-down menu

Even bigger events in life can be reversed as well

Marriages end in divorce more often than they survive
Unwanted pregnancies can be aborted
Unhealthy consumer debt can be erased through bankruptcy
And if you don’t like your name after all these years, you can legally change it

A cute little story reminds us of how quick we are to change our minds and seek to do over choices we’ve made

A flight from Seattle to San Francisco was unexpectedly diverted to Sacramento
The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay and if the passengers want to get off, the plane would re-board in about an hour
One of the passengers on that plane was a blind woman with a Seeing eye dog who was a frequent flyer on that route
The pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, “Kathy, we are in Sacramento for about an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?”
The woman replied, “No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs.”
All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing eye dog, especially since the pilot was wearing sunglasses
People scattered everywhere in a hurry, not just to try to change planes, but to change airlines as well

The Permanence of God’s Love and Grace

Joseph’s Impossible Situation

We’ve read this morning the end portion of the Old Testament story of Joseph, but there’s much more to this story that we haven’t read

The end of the story is a happy one, but the circumstances leading up to this happy ending are anything but happy
Joseph’s story actually begins in Genesis 37
As the story unfolds, we find out that Joseph was the favorite son of his father Jacob and Joseph wore that label with great pride
The mark of his favored status was a richly ornamented robe his father gave him, which caused great jealousy among his brothers
Joseph was also a dreamer, having dreams that, one day, all his brothers, and even his parents, would bow before him, and he wasn’t shy about bragging about his favored status and his dreams of greatness

Tired of his attitude, his brothers threw him into a cistern and then sold him as a slave, then reported to their father that he was dead

He wound up in Egypt, hundreds of miles from home, working as a slave in the home of one of Pharaoh’s officials
All was going well there until he refused sexual advances from his master’s wife
In retaliation, she accused him of rape and had him thrown in prison
There he remained for some time until Pharaoh learned that Joseph had the ability to interpret dreams
Pharaoh had dreams that were troubling him, so he sent for Joseph to tell him what they meant
Those dreams were dreams of an impending famine in the land, and because Joseph was able to interpret them for him, Pharaoh placed Joseph in charge of all the storehouses in Egypt
Thus began Joseph’s rise to power as second in command in all of Egypt, and his management of Egypt’s resources is what brought his brothers there from Canaan in search of food

But in the course of those many years, there must have been numerous times when Joseph wished that circumstances could be different

If he could do over being such a braggart, maybe his brothers would never have sold him as a slave
If he had given into the demands of his master’s wife he could have been spared the agony of prison
I’m sure there were many times that Joseph thought that if he could do things over again, he could have avoided all that hardship, but he never had the opportunity
Yet, if Joseph had avoided all of those negative circumstances in the first place, he never would have been in the position for God to bless him so richly

It wasn’t until his brothers arrived in Egypt looking for food that Joseph realized that his life had a purpose

Everything that happened to him was all part of a bigger plan
The experiences he had been through, both good and bad, were God’s way of preparing him so he could be in just the right place at just the right time
The evil his brothers intended for him God used to bring about good
Even through the worst of times, God was with him, and if he had the opportunity to go back and do any of it over again, it would have changed the course of history and the blessings both he and others received because he was where God wanted him to be would have been lost

Divine Providence

The epic tale of Joseph and the words of the apostle Paul in Romans speak to us about the providence of God

They remind us that God is able to organize the world to bring good out of evil
They invite us to think of God as working behind the scenes, controlling but not forcing the pace of events, permitting things to happen rather than directly causing them to happen, achieving God’s purpose through human actions rather than in spite of them

How often have we had experiences like that of Joseph and his brothers?

Random events, that are sometimes even calamitous, occur in our life that, on the surface, seem to make no sense or have no purpose at the time
And yet, later on (sometimes much later),, we come to realize that those random and calamitous circumstances weren’t really so random at all
Instead, they were blessings in disguise
If we hadn’t travelled that road, we wouldn’t be where we are today, and if we had the opportunity to do things over, we might miss the blessing God wants to give us

Paul speaks of God’s providence in relationship to the people of Israel

Many in Paul’s time (and many still do today) believe that God has rejected Israel as God’s chosen people because of their unfaithfulness
Some go so far as to say that Christians are now God’s chosen people and Israel is no longer because they have refused to believe in Jesus as the Messiah
To this question “Did God reject his people?” Paul answers emphatically, “Absolutely not!”
In the verses between the two portions of our text, Paul argues that God allowed Israel to be unfaithful so that Gentiles could also be included in the chosen people of God
God chose Israel as God’s people and God still loves them as his people, but God allowed them to be unfaithful so that others could come to faith in God, and to teach them that salvation is God’s act, not theirs
They will be saved on the basis of God’s grace through faith, just like the rest of us, and not because of their position as children of Israel

The pivotal verse in this passage is verse 29: “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”

What this means for us is that God’s love for us will never change
Once we become a child of God through faith we become a permanent part of God’s family and nothing we do will ever cause God to kick us out of the family
Understand, though, that God is displeased when we sin and may withhold blessings from us because of our sin, but God never revokes his love and grace from us

It’s because of God’s love for us that, in some circumstances, God does give us the opportunity for do-overs

God wants us to love him and serve him, so he offers us a wealth of second chances
God is always willing to allow us a do-over, to make a new start, when we repent of our sin and seek his forgiveness and grace

It’s also because of God’s love for us that, in other circumstances, do-overs are not an option

Sometimes God leads us through difficult circumstances (just as he led Joseph) to bring us to the place God wants us to be so that we can experience the full measure of blessings God wants to give
To skip the pain and hardship is to miss the valuable life lessons God wants us to learn
Even though we struggle, even though what we’re experiencing is painful, even though what we’re going through makes no sense at all, even though the good isn’t immediately apparent, we must always remember that God has a purpose for what we’re experiencing and that God’s gifts and call are irrevocable
God will never do over what he’s already done for us through Jesus Christ