First of all let me start by saying we, who write these reflections, don’t get to choose which ones to write. I am slotted into the third Sunday of the month for February.
So, here I am writing about ‘Love’ again. That is the word or feeling that jumped out at me when I looked over the scripture readings for the week. Well, it was Valentine’s Day last week so I guess it is appropriate. But I also wondered how many more times would I need to convey to others about God’s love, the effects on us and the need to pass all of that love onto others; all others.
…all this comes in the name of love!
I looked up on the internet; how many times the word love was mentioned in the Bible and the answer was hundreds. It is not the most used word but it is one of the central themes and driving forces of God’s word. And this means that I will need to either write a reflection or preach about love again. But If I tried to preach to others about loving their neighbour, turning the other cheek or forgiving a past, hurtful event, then I had to make sure that I could do it myself. With that in mind, I decided to do an experiment. I sat at my desk and imagined a certain group of people in the room with me. (Don’t worry; none of them were any of you). I looked around the pretend crowded room and asked myself if I ‘loved’ them. For a few minutes I sped through the group without hesitation, very proud of myself of course, but then came one person, who stopped me from moving along. I decided to clear the room, so to speak and focus on why I could not say to myself that yes, I did love this person. After considerable thought and some prayer, I realized that yes I could love this person too, but why was it so hard? What had they done to me that I could maybe not forgive or forget? Oh, that’s it!!! The ‘forgive’ and ‘forget’ part. Forgiving the past and forgetting it may be the only way I can move forward. It is a burden to carry it so I needed to let it go.
And that my friends, brings us to the reading from Genesis and the story of the amazing Joseph, who forgave his brothers for selling him into Egypt. The path that his brothers sent him along would have been horrendous at times. However, just like most of us do when put in a difficult situation, Joseph came to the end of the path different than when he went in. He walked with God. We all know that it isn’t easy to find God in those extremely difficult times, or maybe we tend to forget to look for him. We are too busy, maybe being angry at God or asking why did this happen to us and although a natural response, it is a state that we cannot remain in for long. We must seek out God, pray, walk with him and let him carry us when necessary. Realizing that with God’s help we can get through all things and the faster we allow him on each and every path we take, the faster and easier it is to get through the difficult ones. We are never alone, even though we may think we are. We just need to reach out and grab that helping hand that is stretched out waiting.
Joseph took God’s hand and listened while God sent him back to his brothers to explain why he was there and who had sent him. To “preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors”. God uses Joseph in this way, to continue with his covenant with Abraham that he will have many descendants.
I hear the story of Jesus in this part of the story of Joseph. He (Joseph) is rejected by his brothers, imprisoned falsely, but ended up changing the course of events for many. Jesus is rejected by many, put to death unfairly yet ends up changing the world for ever.
And really, all this comes in the name of love!
