For nearly seventeen years, Joseph had cared for his brothers and their children. Yet after their father’s funeral, an old fear returned: What if Joseph had only been waiting for his chance to take revenge?
Sometimes we struggle to believe that forgiveness is really forgiveness. We examine every expression and listen for hesitation, wondering whether grace carries hidden fine print.
In this sermon, Pastor Donn reflects on Joseph’s reassuring response, the difference between acknowledging harm and being defined by it, and the religious anxiety that can make us fear we have left something undone. Joseph does not pretend his brothers’ actions were harmless. But neither does he let their wrongdoing have the final word.
“Repentance is not a payment that purchases mercy. It is how we turn toward the mercy already reaching for us.”
The invitation is not to manufacture perfect certainty. That could become one more thing to get right. Instead, we place our fear, as much as we can, into the hands of the God who already holds us.
Even when we struggle to trust grace, grace still holds us.
We’d love to see you in person at Lincoln Park-Lynnwood United Methodist Church, 3120 Pershing Street, Knoxville, TN. Come as you are. We’re not in the judging business. We’re in the welcoming business.
