A cross for our good

5th Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany on June 27, 2010

Genesis 39:6 So [Potiphar] left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" 8 But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." 19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

A cross for our good

It had been a difficult few days leading into months and years. A young man removed from his home. A strange world without family, without close friends. The temptation to give up and give in was very real. Loneliness loomed large. Tears were his common companion. Depression was within reach. There was certainly the seduction to fill the void with ungodly pursuits.

A heavy cross was laid upon Joseph’s back. What good could possibly come of this?

It has been a difficult few days for us that will lead into weeks, months and years. A beloved friend and church family member has been removed from her home. It is a strange new world without one of our family and close friends. The temptation to give up and give in is very real. Loneliness looms large. Tears are our common companion. Depression is within reach. There is the seduction to fill the void with ungodly pursuits.

A heavy cross has been laid upon our backs. What good could possibly come of this?

As we look at the story of Joseph and add in Jesus’ words from today’s Gospel: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23), we learn the difficult but important truth that a cross is for our good.

Joseph’s life was certainly not turning out as he had planned. He had been the favorite son, dressed in a Technicolor dreamcoat and given visions of grandeur. But man proposes and God disposes. Joseph’s brothers trapped him in a pit and sold him as a slave to Potiphar, one of the Egyptian Pharaoh’s royal guards.

In that world a slave was considered little more than a piece of property. In the Lord’s eyes, however, Joseph was vastly more. He was, first, a dearly loved child, and second, a valuable and chosen instrument through whom God was going to bless His people.

With every setback in Joseph’s life, there was an accompanying blessing. And after every blessing it seemed like there was a crushing setback. God was leading Joseph along a very perplexing and difficult path.

Joseph was an attractive, well-built, intelligent 17-year-old when he arrived in Egypt. He was not bitter about his new life as a slave. He didn’t give his master only sullen obedience. The Spirit of God had created an attitude of humble service and a God-pleasing work ethic within Joseph. The Lord’s hand of blessing was on this lonely teenager in a foreign land. Joseph received one promotion after another – he was permitted to live in his master’s house instead of in the slaves’ quarters; he became Potiphar’s personal attendant; then he was in charge of the household; until Potiphar made him manager of everything he owned.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see God’s hand in Joseph’s life. This was God’s way of building and honing Joseph’s administrative skills, his patience and trust in God in difficult times.

It is estimated that Joseph spent 10 years in Potiphar’s household when he suffered another serious setback. Things had been going unusually well for him and it seemed a comfortable life in Potiphar’s employ lay ahead. But then Mrs. Potiphar accused Joseph of attempted rape.

Joseph may have lost his cloak in her hands, but he retained his good conscience. A few years later the ruler of Egypt would clothe Joseph in robes of the finest linens. If God chooses, He may compensate us for what, in loyalty, we gave up.

Joseph is thrown in prison. But again we see God’s hand in this. For if Potiphar really believed Joseph was guilty of attempted rape, this slave would have been executed immediately. Instead Joseph was placed in prison – but not assigned a cell on death row or left to rot in the dungeon. He was actually put in charge of the prisoners, two of whom, in God’s plan, would be Joseph’s ticket to freedom. For God would eventually use one of these political prisoners to bend the ear of Pharaoh when weird dreams needed to be interpreted. When Joseph was called upon to deliver God’s meaning, Pharaoh promoted Joseph to second in command of the mightiest nation in the world.

God used Joseph’s position of power to rescue whole nations from 7 years of famine, to move his family to Egypt, so 400 plus years later, God could demonstrate His power over a new Pharaoh with a Passover and mighty Exodus. But none of that would have been possible without a pit, slavery, false accusations and imprisonment. Joseph could look back on his life and say, “That was tough, but thank you God for what you put me through. God has done all things well.”

Sometimes our lives, like Joseph’s take unexpected and unpleasant turns and detours. To remain faithful under temptation, to remain trusting under crushing weight of personal tragedy, we must be convinced that our Savior has a good plan for us and that He’s committed to carrying it out.

It is tough to remember, but God gives us a cross to bear for our own good.

Like Joseph we may have to bear all kinds of crosses – crosses that God places upon us like caring for a sick spouse, mourning the loss of a dear friend, scrambling to make ends meet, suffering damage from a storm, struggling with a stubborn child or dealing with your own old age, failing body parts and multiple ailments. Sometimes the cross is about timing. It is God piling one thing on top of another. God often leads us along a very perplexing and difficult path. But it is a path that ultimately, eventually leads to the doorway of heaven.

There’s a lot we don’t understand about what God allows us to endure and carry. But we don’t give God the benefit of the doubt. We trust Him outright. He won that much from us when He saved us.

In the middle of our daily walk with our cross we may tire and ask “Why.” But as we continue on with our godly burden, Spirit-borne faith teaches us to ask better questions. Like Joseph we ask, “What good purposes can God be working out through this cross?” We ask, and then the answers start to come. Suffering reduces us down to our need. Pain turns our faces around if we had forgotten Him. Perhaps God is teaching us to look forward to conquer a new challenge instead of looking back at a personal tragedy. God never closes a door without opening another. We grip the Word because we have to … or is the deeper fact that God’s Word grips us?

“Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

It is glistening words like those by the Holy Spirit that make all the difference. It is an example like Joseph that reminds us that God has done this before. Without these Spirit-given words and examples of the saints, we are prone to make suffering a cause of bitterness and to give in to despair. When we embrace the Word of God and grip it with all the energy that pain provides, we receive only good for all our tears.

We learn more of God and the mystery of His love when we are in the dark, when that Word is the only light, than we ever could in worldly daylight. Faith refined in the fire of suffering is better than gold (1 Peter 1:7). It is our ticket home.

Pain tells us that we aren’t home yet. The aching keeps us from being satisfied with this world. We aren’t in Eden anymore. We won’t be right until our feet touch heaven. Indeed, suffering has a way of keeping us awake and longing for the only things that will satisfy us, the One person, the only place. Then we arrive at the goal of our faith, we stand in heaven and call out in joy, “God has done all things well.”

The pain now is part of joy then.

When confronted with suffering and pains and crosses to bear, we can learn to ask, “What is my response?” Our faithful reaction to pain is the blessing that is ours only through faith in Jesus Christ. When suffering poses the eternally significant question, “Is God worthy of my faith even now?” all of heaven awaits our answer. I say He is. When I am confronted with my small share of this world’s pain, let me hear the words of Joseph looking back on his life and explaining it to his brothers: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). Let me hear the words of my Savior looking ahead to my daily walk with Him, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

When we start to wonder about what good could possibly come from this cross, we merely look out from under our little tear-stained cross and look up at the blood-soaked cross of Christ. When we are in the midst of painful suffering wondering, “Where is God when I’m hurting?” we look up to see exactly where Jesus was when we are hurting. On the cross. On the cross He chose to bear. We shed tears. He shed blood. We suffer pain. He suffered hell. We cry out, “Why?” He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We feel small under the weight of the cross. Jesus became small as God became man, as the Lord Almighty came close enough to get hurt. To bleed. To bear. To die.

Jesus’ cross was most certainly for our good! God worked out that cross pretty well. The stable, the tempting by Satan, the betrayal by friends, the scourging by enemies, the false accusations, the crown of thorns and cross of shame. All brought forgiveness of sins, renewal of spirit, opening of paradise, the closing of hell and the saving of many lives.

Jesus bore our cross to save us. Sometimes we must bear our cross to refocus us on the salvation He won for us.

When we arrive at the goal of our faith, when we are standing in heaven, we can call out in joy, “God has done all things well. Thank you for the cross you gave me to bear … for my good.” Amen.