Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. They were half-brothers, and didn't really have much of a relationship. There was a good fifteen years or so between their ages and they didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time together.
Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob, and they definitely had a relationship. That relationship was one of sibling rivalry. Their mother said they were fighting even in the womb and it continued throughout their childhood. At one point it got so bad that Jacob ran away from home. He fled in fear that his brother was going to kill him. He ran off, got married, and had kids. Many years later, a good fourteen or fifteen plus years, Jacob and Esau eventually come back together and are able to reconcile. And the moment when they reconciled was holy. Jacob said that seeing his brother's face was like seeing the face of God. Remember Jacob was the one who had that great dream of the ladder and the angels going up and down. Jacob is the one who wrestled with God face to face in the night. At the end of that, he named the place Peniel, which means face of God. This happened the day before Jacob meets his brother and is reconciled to him. In that reconciliation Jacob says that is also like seeing the face of God. It is a holy, divine moment.
Jacob ends up having thirteen children, twelve sons and one daughter, Dinah. the twelve sons also have a relationship of sibling rivalry. In this case it is all of them against one, Joseph. It gets so bad that they decide to kill their brother. In the end they change their minds and decide not to kill him, but to sell him into slavery. They take the jacket that his dad had given him which they knew their father would recognize, rip it up, slaughter an animal and smear the coat with blood. They took it to their dad and say your son, Joseph, has died.
But we know that Joseph has gone off to Egypt and been sold to a man named Potiphar. There is a series of twists and turns, ups and downs, until Joseph eventually becomes second in charge of the entire country, second only to Pharoah. Joseph's job is to help the people make it through a famine. He has seven years to prepare for the famine, and then seven years of the famine to get them through. Joseph is so successful at this that they have more than enough food for the people of Egypt. They have enough food for people in neighboring countries to come and purchase so they can survive as well.
That is exactly what happens with Joseph's family, Jacob and his brothers. Jacob sends most of the brothers to Egypt to buy food. Joseph recognizes them, but they don't recognize him. Joseph plays a bunch of tricks on them, and in the process of playing those tricks, he realizes that they love their dad, first of all. They do have compassion and feeling. Joseph also realizes they are very sorry for what they had done.
That is what we get in our story today, this moment of reconciliation in which Joseph reveals who he is and the brothers are able to come back together. The brothers are afraid, but Joseph tells them not to worry. "What you intended for evil God has transformed. God sent me here to save you. Go get your spouses and your children, and most importantly, go get our father and bring them back here." There is much weeping as the brothers all come together, reconciled to each other.
We know in these stories that make up the bulk of Genesis that reconciliation is vitally important to God. Reconciliation is holy. It is a part of God's great vision, his dream for this world, that we be reconciled to each other and to God.
It is with that understanding of the importance of reconciliation that we come to our Gospel. We hear the words of Jesus when he says to love your enemy. Striking, shocking words "to love your enemy". Jesus says that because he knows, he understands how vitally important the work of reconciliation is. If we stay in our hate to our enemy we cannot get there. If we do not realize that our enemies are people with dignity and feelings and emotions and people worthy of respect, people worthy of reconciliation, we will not get there. So Jesus says start with love. Start with understanding that your enemy is your neighbor. Love your neighbor and love your enemies. Ultimately this is the same command. That doesn't make it easy. Reconciliation is very hard. Esau's and Jacob’s reconciliation is holy, but they don't spend much time together after it. They each go their own way. Joseph and the brothers reconcile, but there are concerns later on if Joseph really means it. Once Jacob dies the brothers are afraid that Joseph will exact his revenge upon them. So the work of reconciliation is ongoing because they can't believe and trust it immediately.
The work of reconciliation is hard. The work of reconciliation does not mean that we don't need boundaries to protect people. Reconciliation can be used by abusers, urging reconciliation but without keeping the person safe. Reconciliation is not always going to be springtime and roses. But reconciliation is ultimately God's vision, God's dream, God's hope for us in this world. He invites us to help with that reconciliation, to reconcile people, reconcile ourselves to others, and reconcile us to God.
Every week when we gather together we do this thing called the Peace. Before Covid we would shake hands or hug, but now it is with elbow bumps or a bow from a distance. But we are in some way greeting our neighbors in peace. Often we think of it as a fellowship time, but the peace is a Sacramental act of reconciliation. It is to say "peace" to another person before we come forward to the altar to receive the bread and the wine. Why? Because that act of reconciliation is fundamental to God and God's dreams and visions for us in this world, so we enact this little foretaste of that reconciliation in this Sacramental act, an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.
Why is reconciliation so important, so fundamental to our faith and to who God is and what God wants? Because reconciliation is about love, and the God who is love wants us to express that love to each other. The God who is love wants us to be reconciled to each other and to be reconciled to Him. That is the ultimate embodiment of love in this world, in our relationships. The God who loves us more than we can ask for or imagine invites us into that love by inviting us into that holy moment of reconciliation in which we can see God's face.
AMEN.
