September 13, 2026 · Rev. Dr. James Olson · Genesis 50:15-21; Matthew 18:21-35
Joseph forgives the brothers who sold him and blesses them; the unforgiving servant learns too late what he was given. Rev. Dr. James Olson warns against using 'blessed' as a boast, sets out the three questions that will guide the interim year, and assigns homework: look for the blessings in your life, and be one.
Transcript
We have two stories this morning about. Forgiveness and about blessing. In the first story, Joseph is approached by his brothers after his father's death. And because Joseph is now in a position of high power in Egypt, they are afraid that Joseph will retaliate against them, treat them poorly, as poorly as they treated him. They had come to him from Israel to Egypt because of a famine. Joseph is in a position to help. His brothers had cast him off years earlier and Joseph, being Joseph, actually found good in his situation. If you had not cast me off, I would not now be in a position to help. It is a story of how forgiveness can come from unexpected places.
The second story. The parable of the ungrateful servant. King forgives this servant. Ten thousand talents. That's like ten years salary in those days. The servant had begged for mercy and forgiveness. After the king had planned to sell him, his wife and his children. And he did. And then, just upon going out the front door, the servant ran across another servant who owed him one hundred denari. Ten bucks didn't forgive. It had him tortured until he repaid. It is a story of what happens when we do not extend the same forgiveness that first has been extended to us.
Now, last week we talked about. The liturgical importance of the passing of the peace. Didn't we? That it happens after communion. That it is supposed to be the thing that when you have a beef with somebody in the church, you go and you ask their forgiveness, and then you are prepared to go to communion. It's not, as I said last week, the opening salvo for coffee Hour.
But beyond the forgiveness and beyond the reconciliation, which is really the goal of all humanity, we want to be reconciled with one another. Is then this idea that there is a blessing that comes from it. Joseph, in the next paragraph that we didn't read this morning not only forgives his brothers, but he extends to them God's blessing. A blessing in the Bible is an expression of God's favor, grace, and divine protection towards God's people.
And we bless all kinds of things, don't we? We bless backpacks and children. My worship professor at Boston University said that her first public blessing was of a brand new municipal sewer system. Karen. It was Karen Westerfield. Tucker. We are empowered because we are the children of God, and because as Protestants, we believe in a priesthood of all believers. We are called to offer that blessing to one another. And to the things in our lives.
Now America gets all twisted up about blessing, doesn't it? Oh, I'm so blessed that I was able to pay that tax bill because I got a bonus at work. Implying that somebody who didn't get the bonus was not blessed. We use it as a public virtue signaling, don't we? Oh, I'm so blessed. My grandchildren are such a blessing. Not recognizing that maybe the person who overheard you say that doesn't have grandchildren for difficult, unhappy reasons. We must be very careful with the idea of blessing. We must be very careful with the.
To remember that blessing comes from God first, and God does not withhold God's blessing from anyone. There is not a single human being on this planet that God withholds God's blessing from. Now it might be that it is hard to see. It might be that we are not able to do so. Remember, we're human. It might be that we are unable to even contemplate the idea that somebody who, to us appears so undeserving of any kind of consideration or blessing, is in fact a blessed child of God. And that's why God is God and we are not.
We bless things. We bless people. We bless buildings. We bless new houses. We bless the elements at communion. And we throw the word around so casually.
Joseph, in our Old Testament lesson was blessed. He was blessed to have been to have landed in a place where he was taken care of by people, not his family. Did he have to work hard at the beginning of his journey? Yes. But so were his brothers, And so were the people of Israel when Egypt was able to help them. The villain in our gospel lesson, the servant who had been forgiven ten thousand talents and did not forgive a hundred denarii, eventually understood his blessing.
How are we a blessing to one another? How are we a blessing to Rockport and to the world beyond? Part of that is our neighbors in need offering. We don't always go on the Neighbors in Need website, and there is one to look and see what this money goes to do. Fascinating stories. We heard one this morning. There are myriad. The little bit of money that you put into this envelope that then gets sent to the national church, that then gets distributed out to places in need, places that are ravaged by a fire, a church burns down, or a community that's flattened by a tornado somewhere. How are we a blessing? To each other and to Rockport and to the world.
During this interim period. Three big questions are going to guide our process. Kevin. Take notes. Where have we been? What's our history? What lies unaddressed at the center of our community that we need to address. Who are we right now? What's our structure? What's our budget? What are our current programs? What are the things that we do well? What are the things we don't do well? What can we let die? And what new thing will rise in its place? And the third one. Is what the search committee must focus on the most is Who is God calling us to be?
And the short answer. Is that we are called to be God's people and a blessing to the world. We're called to take the love that God has already extended to us, to this community, to each of us individually and to, if necessary, using words be a blessing out into the community. And I think we do that pretty good.
There was an excellent little concert here yesterday afternoon. And very nearly two hundred people in the room. And just quietly, we were in open place. And folks left happy. Turns out that the performer, Bill coffin, is the son of William Sloane Coffin, who I knew in Vermont because I was his hospice chaplain a long time ago. And Bill and I remembered each other. I told my mother this story, and she laughed. And I reminded her that the United Church of Christ is really only about eight people, and the rest are done with mirrors. It was a blessing to see Bill and to remember the days I spent with his father.
Your homework? Oh, right. I'm going to give you homework every week. Write your homework this week is to look for the blessings in your life, not the things like finding a twenty dollars bill on the sidewalk. That's just happenstance. But to think about your family, to think about the people around you, to think about this community. To think about the place where you live. I still just can't believe that Rockport is real. Where are the blessings in your life? And how can you be an agent of blessing out into the world? Amen.