A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Seventh Sunday after Epiphany- 20 FEBRUARY 2022, by Revd Ralph Lee. The scripture readings that day were Genesis 45: 3 - 11, 15, Luke 6:27 – 38.
Brothers and sisters, we live in a distressful
situation. We live in a very tense time in Hong Kong these days.
Although for months our church services have been broadcasted either in
Zoom or YouTube or radio program, but beginning of last week and now, we have
to close our doors. To say ‘distressful’ is an understatement. In fact,
we are more nervous than before. We are more terrified by the epidemic - Omicron.
However, today this morning, just speaking for myself, being on Sunday
morning when I woke up in the early hours when it was still dark, inside
me, although it was cool outside (I live in the New Territories), I
felt there is some kind of warmth and hope coming into our hearts. Well,
my heart. It’s Sunday. It’s God’s Day. And we’ll be at church or sitting
at home, meditating on the readings of the Bible.
So, although we are fearful and
asking the questions in the last week or two, when all our surrounding
blocks are being counted as compulsory testing or in the place where you
live, one of your neighbours has to be home quarantined, isolated or home-bound,
then you ask yourself, “When is my turn? When will I get it?” We ask
the same questions again and again in the last two or three years out
of our own chaotic life and uncertain life in Hong Kong and in the
world. What have we learned from this situation? Either it’s the society
being in a chaotic situation or the pandemic COVID has made us into such a
difficult and dangerous situation. Have we learned any lesson and have we
become better experienced with more hope to face crisis later in a way
stretching for the Omicron effect to our people in Hong Kong?
I would say no. We not even have learned the basic lesson. We
are going back again to the early days of COVID-19 that other peoples have
suffered. Because today we are advised not even just wearing one mask but
perhaps two. And I’m told some people even wear three masks. But
these are physical, this is environmental, this is outside from the physical effect
of the fears of living in Hong Kong and in the world today. But
what I fear most is inside us in our inward personal life. We have
developed a kind of ill feeling towards others and the society as a whole. Nowadays,
I say we hardly can find trust in our midst. We turned friend into
enemy. We turn our colleagues into opposition for our personal gains and
perhaps power to control others. We don’t mind exposing our dirty linens in
court in the open. Our basic inward life, because of the fears we nurse, we breed
malicious thoughts and sometimes even evil actions these days. Quite
often I feel we ourselves are full of anger now. We hate many things and even
we would like to take revenge on things that we really don’t understand just for
self-glorification, gratification for one’s self-interest and to feel
being in control because physically we are not. We are controlled by
many other things.
But as Christians, we
ask ourselves into such a mess of suffering or difficult situation
and living, can a painful and even hurtful life experience turn into
a life-building and happy opportunity for not only us but for others as
well? Can we make reconciliation, harmony grow into peace and love with hope in such
a difficult situation in Hong Kong or in other parts of the world today? As
a minister of course I do believe we could turn it around, change ourselves,
for it’s not ourselves that we can do it. But it’s the Christian thinking,
the thought that we could become a better person, like the
response we have just read to be changed to a better person and change to
others and perhaps change the whole situation, comes from the power
of God. It’s God’s power at work through us that matters. Saint Paul would say in
Ephesians chapter 3 to do immeasurably more than all we can ask
and conceive is all beyond our imagination and expectation. How
things could be turned around using the difficult situation and make us a
wholesome person. And not because of us but because of the glory of God.
My title today is “From Humiliation
to Glory”. But at the same time my title is also “From Glory to Humiliation”.
But the first title, Humiliation to Glory is from Genesis 45. We all love
Joseph. And Joseph, Genesis 45, tells us about meeting up with his
long-lost brothers, the brothers that he probably had not wanted to
meet again, he wanted to perhaps to forget at the least. And yet situation, circumstances, needs
of personal hunger that brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt, and Joseph at
that moment was going to meet the brothers. Like us today all were
nervous, more so the brothers were more fearful than Joseph. For what
they had done they probably would think that Joseph would take a big revenge on
them.
But Genesis 45 tells us in that
moment at the situation when meeting up with the brothers, with the
siblings, it was a moving and touching story. That encounter is out of the
blue and perhaps Joseph did not expect it. We all know instead of revenge
instead of taking punishment to what the brothers have done by
selling Joseph into Egypt as a slave and to suffer hardship in a foreign
country, losing one’s whole family, not able to meet the parents for years, he
could have taken out his anger, hatred to the sinful abandonment by his
own siblings. Betrayal is the word, by your own people. And yet
somehow, somehow God was in the midst of their encountering and changed
everything. It was kindness, it was embracing, it was longing to meet up
with the family and also not only give food and drink but the
invitation of Joseph to the whole clan, the family to come to Egypt and stay
here so we could be one family again.
What I found in Genesis 45 interesting
and meaningful to us, to me, is Joseph keeps on talking to the brothers
when they were distant like social distancing now because of their
fear at that time could not come closer. And yet Joseph kept on telling the
brothers: Come closer to me. I am Joseph. Come closer to me. I am your
brother. How is the old man my father and your father? Come,
come closer and not moving away. Come and look at me and hear my voice and
feel how I feel today for this long-separated family and relationship.
At that moment, revenge is gone. Instead love shows everywhere.
Emotionally Joseph even cried and the household of Pharoah, the Egyptians heard
it. This high position official in the court, the Lord Chancellor cried, the
touching moment. You wonder as human beings as we are now today, how
could this happen? By what forces was it turned upside down as humans could do?
And Joseph gave the answer: It is God. God has sent me before you. God has sent me
long time ago. Joseph at age seventeen, he was sold. The brothers wanted to
kill him. By mercy or what he was sold as a slave to Egypt. And now aged thirty, 13 years later, he became
the chief of staff, Lord Chancellor of the whole country.
As humans, we often nurse resentment
and plot revenge plans and to punish those who don’t agree with us or
don’t listen to us. Or even make any voices. Noises that we
feel uncomfortable and take opportunities or create an opportunity
whereby those enemies we think should take a heavy hitting while we
are in power. But Joseph who had that kind of absolute power in the court
did not do it that way. It was so opposite. It was forgiveness, it was
love not only for the family but for others, for the descendants and that made
him a better person, a good man. Joseph was totally humiliated when he was
young. Totally abused, distressed, jealousy of the brothers. But
at that moment in the court, he was in glory. But to him it was not his own
personal glory but it was God being glorified. Because God had used
Joseph’s difficult and stressful and hard life experience to show the
world what forgiveness could bring and with hope. So, in fact,
in truth God was glorified.
I’m old enough to say these words:
Life is full of bitterness and sometimes occasionally sweetness. Sweet
and sour. We taste more sour than sweet in our food. But can we turn
enmity into friendliness? Can we turn from pursuing personal individual
greatness, and even sometimes to sacrifice that to one’s little power and
wealth and strength we have for the betterment of others and
whole society? Can we turn the individual personal interest into a
cooperation with all others so that all can live a better life? It is not
easy. But somehow life experience has told me, yes, it all works together,
it could happen. To everything, in Romans, it says he cooperates for good
with those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
In my years of experience in the ecumenical
world I have come across a number of people whom I find it very
difficult to relate to. And one of those was a church leader, a
powerful church leader from that time years ago from China. I
was with the Hong Kong Christian Council and at one time, we are all
the executive members of a delegation going to Shanghai to meet two church
leaders of that time, because Christian Council in Hong Kong prior to that had
agreed to something privately. And when we in Hong Kong discovered that we
found we could not oblige with that agreement as a whole. But it was
on paper. So somehow we were sent to meet them, the church leaders. It was one
of those most difficult encountering and meeting up of these two most powerful
church leaders. To say the least, we were lectured for one
morning session particularly by the minister whom I had come to know for
years. He was one of the biggest clergy of a church in Hangzhou years ago.
I still remember my family went to church in the early 80s when it just
started. And the church was fully seated. We had no place to stand even.
So he came from that church this minister. So we did had a difficult time,
meeting up and be lectured and somehow it was agreed privately to put aside the
issue.
But it was years later, one
morning in Bangkok when we were at the ecumenical conference
this minister, church leader was one of them. Somehow we got up early in
the morning and had breakfast together. So we had a breakfast meeting,
had a long conversation. When I listened to his life experiences, he had
in short suffered a lot during the Cultural Revolution. When in the 80s,
when the church began to open again and to the world as a whole, he used
that hard experience to show others. But
at the morning breakfast table, he had changed to me. He had changed. He softened
up. I think it was that power of God working in him. And I still remember
once Bible message he gave to me was all things work together. He became such
a humble person, very sincere. It’s good to listen to his life experience.
I think God works mysteriously, using us, using the circumstances, using
dangerous situations to glorify him. This person passed away not long ago having
lived to age ninety-four.
We as humans if we continue with that
kind of hate, anger, revenge in mind, probably we could be in a glorious
situation. And then we fall down disgracefully into a humiliated person. One phrase
came to my mind when I was writing this sermon – stupidity and arrogance.
This came from a British news describing how a senior royal family member
had to go through recently. It’s because of stupidity, because of
arrogance. We lie to both ourselves. We think even sometimes we are God.
What we believe is God has
a purpose in us, each one of us for giving us life even with difficulties
and challenge and hardships but he also gives us the power to transform
adversity into strength with courage and genuine love for others so that
in spite of everything we find it difficult, God eventually will be glorified.
One of the Bible messages
today is not only just be changed but to love others, love
your enemies even. Even pray for them. I find it not easy.
Although I sometimes try hard to pray for those who I
think probably have made us into such a miserable situation, I
pray for them. But the Bible also tells us to return your
enemy with kindness, with kindness and love, kind to the ungrateful, Luke chapter
6 tells us. Can we do that to the ungrateful people? One of the
difficult bible passages or sentences that I find sometimes, it’s from Paul
in Romans: Heap live coals on his head. Could you imagine we like to have a
fire with coal today? But put that burning coal onto your head. That would
be cruel. That would be taken as a revenge. But what it means in the
whole sentence is if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If your enemy, those
whom you don’t like, is thirsty, give him drink, if naked, clothe him. It
comes from Proverbs chapter 25. It says it’s the coal fire to rekindle his
lost conscience, takes away the unhealthy emotional feelings and wakes
up his person deep as God has intended the person to be with kindness and
hope and love. It’s because God loves us all, so encourages us and
teaches us to love others as God has forgiven us. We have been the ungrateful
one, and not others.
Let me conclude the story of Joseph. Joseph
had two sons. And the names he gave to the two sons in a way can help us
today to face the difficulties of life, the fear about the future. After
abandonment by the whole family, after living alone for Joseph as a Jew in
an Egyptian land, he had two sons. And the names he gave him to them, to
the elder one, he said, it’s Manasseh and the Bible tells us what it means
– ‘God has made me forget all my troubles’. God has made me to forget
all my troubles. To the younger one he called him, he named him
Ephron – ‘God has made me fruitful in the land of hardship’.
Forget your past. Whether it’s good or bad, God is providing us in the
land of hardship fruitful opportunities for growth. May God use each one
of us as we are in this crisis as we are not quite sure about the future. But
be sure Joseph’s two names for us let us forget the past. It could be
troublesome and difficult. Let’s not keep that in our minds and
hearts, and be mindful that God is forgiving us and taking us further.
Be fruitful to others. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, February 20, 2022
