Love Your Rival Like a Sibling!

Lawbreakers deserve punishment. Enemies must be fought against. The guilty spend time in jail. Rebels will face judgment. These outcomes are the result of a fair society. These scenarios even play out in families as sibling rivalries seek to undermine one another in the eyes of their parents trying to get one another punished.

Those who do wrong face consequences. Joseph’s brothers knew all too well that those who do wrong face consequences, which is why they were terrified to be standing before their brother after what they had done. Twenty years had passed since sibling rivalry drove Joseph’s brothers to plot to kill him, throw him in a well and then sell him as a slave. Twenty years had passed since they lied to their father about Joseph being killed by a wild animal. Twenty years they had held on to their guilt. Twenty years gave Joseph a lot of time to think about what he would do to his brothers if he ever saw them again. Now after twenty years, Joseph’s brothers were before him, and he was one of the highest-ranking officials in the world power of Egypt. Two worlds were colliding as Joseph considered what to do to his brothers. Not the two worlds of Joseph’s political and family life, but the way the sinful world would have Joseph treat his brothers and the way God would have Joseph treat his brothers.

You know how the sinful world would have Joseph treat his brothers. You have been in similar situations like Joseph where someone has wronged you. You have people in your life whom you could call your enemies. You have treated your enemies accordingly by punishing them with your own words and actions. You have worked through others to get revenge on those who hurt you. You have spread rumors and lies, or even just stated the truth to destroy reputations. You have given the silent treatment to someone for a few days and even for decades. You know these were all options for Joseph because you have found yourself using them. You know these sinful responses do not work, but you keep using them. These are the responses that separate you from God and make you one with the world. These are the responses that you and I cannot save ourselves from. These are the responses that lead to judgment and hell.

Jesus addressed what comes naturally to your sinful heart when you are wronged by someone in our Gospel reading from Luke 6. Jesus said, 27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Jesus taught the opposite of what comes naturally to you. Instead of hatred or opposition to your enemies, he calls for love. He furthered his point with three illustrations to show how far you are to go to show love, not expecting you to follow these examples to the letter, but to show how radically different showing love to your enemy is. Jesus went on to explain how different from the sinful world you are to live, 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” Jesus calls you to show love to those who have proven they will not show it back. He calls you to show love to someone who you do not expect love from in return. The only way you are able to do this is because God already showed this kind of love to you.

  God loved you when you were his enemy. Joseph’s brothers were terrified to stand before him because they had wronged him. When you think back on your life and consider those cringe worthy moments when you slapped someone in the face for slapping you with dark thoughts of revenge, hurtful words or even physical assault, standing before God is terrifying. Yet, we hear in Romans 5, 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! God took your fear away through Jesus. God treated you with mercy. Mercy means not treating someone how they deserve. In our New Testament reading for today from Romans 12, God inspired Paul to write, 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. God will take care of vengeance against those who wrong him and others. More than that, Jesus faced your terror on the cross. There on the cross, God took out his vengeance against your sins. Your sins were left buried in the tomb. Through Jesus, you have been reconciled or brought back together with God. You and God are at peace. You are his own family as we hear in Hebrews 2, 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Joseph’s brothers faced very different consequences for their actions than they expected. We read in Genesis 45, 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Joseph had seen the love of God in his life. He had been mistreated by his own family in the worst possible ways. He even faced time in jail for a crime he did not commit when he denied the advances of his slave master Potiphar’s wife. He also watched God work through him to bring him to the right hand of Pharoah and to save many people by gathering bountiful harvests for seven years to have enough food during seven years of famine. Joseph was filled with the love and mercy of God when his brothers arrived, so he did not treat them how they deserved. He treated them like God by showing mercy. Joseph forgave his brothers and invited them with their whole family to come to Egypt. And when they questioned him about the supply chain shortages of the last two years of famine, Joseph assured them that they would have toilet paper, chicken wings for the super bowl and computer chips for their chariots.

When someone becomes your enemy, love them. You are not called to love others because God promises that every time you do, you will be put you in a high position of power or there will be a great family moment of hugs and kisses. Instead, we hear Jesus say in Luke 6, 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. The heart that seeks to love does so because it knows God has not judged or condemned them. The heart that seeks to love forgives because it knows God’s forgiveness. When you love someone who has not loved you, who has wronged you and expects you to fight back like the sinful world, you allow the Holy Spirit to work. Your actions and words may be the greatest sermon a person ever hears. It may give the Holy Spirit the chance to work in their heart to begin their new life in Christ. Or you may suffer more for showing love. Showing love to your enemy, those who wrong your, even your sibling rival is not about who the other person is, it is about who God made you to be through Christ.

You expect lawbreakers, enemies, the guilty and rebels to face consequences. God uses all those words to describe you, to describe sinners throughout Scripture. Yet, he chose to love you. God chose not to judge, condemn or punish you. He showed you mercy and punished Jesus. Filled with that love you are called to be like Joseph and love your rival like a sibling. Amen.