August 7, 2011 Kingdomtide 8
Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28, Psalm 105, Romans 10: 5-15, Matthew 14: 22-33
Like a Toxic Mold
It's really good to be here in the air-conditioning this morning because it's really been hot and muggy this whole week. If your house is like mine, this time of year is the time when we must combat that dreaded growth of mold and mildew. One of the places that it tries to grow at my house is in the basement. Actually anywhere there is moisture, organic materials and any temperature above freezing black mold can grow. I know we've all seen it on our bathroom tile, under the mat, the stuff is really prolific.
Not only is black mold prolific, it can make you sick. The mild symptoms include sneezing, sniffling, runny noses, like you have an allergy. For those people who are very young, or elderly, black mold can be a very serious, illness producing toxic. The best thing to do for black mold, is to get rid of it, and prevent it from growing at all. So what does having mold in your house have to do with our Bible story today? Well, let's see.
Over the next few weeks, we're going to be revisiting stories from the Old Testament. This week's installment is the story of Jacob and his family. Jacob was a direct descendent from the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. As you probably recall, Abraham and Sarah had a son whose name was Isaac. When Isaac was grown his father sent back to the homeland to obtain a wife for Isaac. Abraham's servant brought back Rebecka, and Rebecka and Isaac had twins, Esau and Jacob.
You probably remember the story of Jacob and Esau. Esau was the firstborn son and was due to inherit the rights and privileges of being the 1st born. But Jacob traded for his brother's birth right for a bowl of lentil stew. After that horrid episode in the family, Jacob feared for his life and left the family, fleeing to the home of his mother's brother Laban.
Jacob lived with Laban and worked so that he could obtain Laban's beautiful daughter Rachel in marriage. Which, after some shenanigans from Laban, he was able to do… Along with her sister Leah. For many years Rachel was barren but eventually gave birth to 2 children, Benjamin and Joseph. Jacob also had 11 other son's by 3 other women, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah.
Here is where our Scripture takes up today, telling this story of how Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. The story goes that Jacob loved Joseph more than his other brothers. Joseph was the child of his old age, like the baby of the family. Jacob, apparently showered Joseph with attention and affection, giving him a very special gift, a coat of many colors.
Joseph's brothers were jealous of how their father doted on the baby of the family. Their perception was that Joseph could do no wrong in the eyes of their father. What made matters worse, was that Joseph was a tattletale. Apparently, one day when the brothers were up to mischief, Joseph came home and told his father Jacob all about it. Joseph's brothers got to the point that they would even speak to him peaceably.
When Joseph became a teenager, his father would send him out to check on his brothers. One day, as the brothers saw Joseph approaching, they decided to get rid of him. Now I know this seems a little rash for a family such as this to despise one of their own so much that they would plot murder against him. But these men were ruthless. I can make no excuses for them and what they did. So what if Joseph dreamed dreams, was a tattletale, or was loved by his father, that was no reason for them to hate him enough to kill him.
Fortunately for Joseph, the oldest brother of the family, Ruben talked them out of killing him. Instead they threw him into a hole in the ground and I suppose planned on leaving him there to die. When Joseph got near to the brothers, they stripped off of him the beautiful coat of many colors his father had given him and threw him in the pit.
I have often thought about this gang of brothers who had such little love for family. Unfortunately, even today, there are families where such hatred develops. It is like the black toxic mold that grows in our basements. It grows slowly, as the ingredients for its growth are maintained over time. Perhaps over the years the many rivalries in the family caused hurts, disloyalty, arguments and fighting. The same kinds of things happened today.
The toxic mold of hatred within a family can develop over something as simple as a pretty coat. It can begin with a sarcastic word which develops into a grudge. As grudges live the darkness they begin to spread to a new area, hurt and bitterness add to the grudge. Anger develops, hatefulness, and lack of forgiveness begin to spring up, and before long a family who once loved one another begins to despise one another.
Just like a toxic mold can make people sick, grudges that lead to dislike and disgust in a family can make the people in a family sick...heart sick. People get depressed, lonely, some act out.
Even in a church family, these issues can occur. The devil loves for us to make a sarcastic remark, a snide comment, or display an attitude of arrogance. The devil knows that these are the spores of toxic mold being blown around in the house. We have to be careful with our words, our actions and our attitudes towards one another to prevent the toxic mold taking hold within our church family.
Our families are way too important to allow them to be taken over by any kind of mold. Our families which includes our family here at Pisgah has to be protected from discontent, anger, grudges and the like. I've seen the smallest issue destroy some of the greatest families. You probably have too.
This story from the Old Testament gives us a stark reminder of what can happen within a family who allows the toxic mold of hate to develop. For Joseph the mold of hate meant that he was sold into slavery. His father Jacob was nearly emotionally destroyed from the lie that Joseph's brothers told him to conceal what they had done to their brother. Another horror that the toxic mold of hate develops, as we see in this story, is a lack of remorse for what they had done.
It is so important for us to guard against issues that develop in our families (which includes our church family). Maybe you're here today and you've noticed a mold has begun growing in your family. You've seen the evidence, the cold shoulder, the wisecrack, the silence, the look of hurt. Today I want to say to us all, it's so easy for mold to grow, for discontent and anger to develop and spread. We need to become aware of it and stop it in its tracks.
For that old black mold that grows in my basement, I take a mixture of one quarter water to 1 tablespoon of Clorox, and give it a squirt. No more black mold. And for that toxic mold of discontent and anger that begins to develop in our families I suggest 1 tablespoon of us "I'm sorry" to 1 quart of forgiveness applied liberally to all situations. Amen.
©2011 Judy H. Eurey
