Bible Study Guide for Sunday, February 20, 2022

• Genesis 45:3-11, 15
• Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
• 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
• Luke 6:27-38

 

 

What do we do when we have been wronged?  Sometimes there are the ordinary annoyances of life that we can choose to just let go.  Sometimes there are misunderstandings that we can resolve just by communicating better.  But sometimes that isn’t it.  Sometimes people do real, serious, deep harm and they perfectly well knew what they were doing.  What do we do then?

In the first reading, Joseph reconciles with his brothers.  In Genesis 37, Joseph’s brothers plotted to kill him, but then decided to sell him into slavery instead and tell their father Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.  Joseph had been an arrogant twerp of a teenager, but his older brothers’ response is beyond the pale.  This was in no way a mistake or misunderstanding.  By the time we get to today’s reading, Joseph’s fortunes have turned around and he is Pharoah’s right-hand man.  But that in no way excuses what his brothers did to him.  After all this, we would totally understand if Joseph used his newfound power to wreak some righteous vengeance.  Some things are just beyond forgiveness.

Jesus, however, doesn’t give that option.  Jesus tells us to love our enemies, to refrain from judging or condemnation, and to always, always forgive.  This can sound vaguely warm and fuzzy, until we think about it from the victim’s perspective.  This is a hard message for the Josephs of the world who have suffered a lot at other people’s hands.

A few things might help.  Sometimes we think that “forgiveness” means overlooking the harm, or saying it was no big deal.  Forgiveness distinctly does not mean that.  If there is no wrong there is nothing to forgive.  A former pastor of mine used to frequently say that “to forgive is to indict, and then decline to press charges.”  Also, for Joseph forgiveness included reconciliation but they are two separate things.  Sometimes we can forgive, wish someone well, and still go our separate ways.  You can pray for those who abuse you while also keeping your distance.  And forgiveness does not mean enabling additional harm.  That enabling would not be loving towards potential future victims nor towards the wrongdoer.

Those ideas might help, but still, none of this is easy at all.  Loving your enemies, blessing those who curse you, praying for those who abuse you, this can be unbearably hard to do.  But through the power of God, it can be possible.  And sometimes this will lead to a beautiful reconciliation, as it did for Joseph and his brothers.  Sometimes it doesn’t end up working out that way, at least not in this life.  But the Psalmist promises that eventually, in this life or the next, the Lord will deliver the righteous and the wicked will be no more. 

– Kristen Filipic

 

Have there been times you have struggled to forgive?  What eventually enabled you to do so?  If that struggle is still ongoing, what might help you to be able to forgive?

How can we distinguish between forgiveness and excuse or enabling?  Do you have stories of forgiveness that didn’t lead to reconciliation?

Have you had significant times of receiving forgiveness?  What was that like?