Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church
The M3 - Monday Morning Mail
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost - September 13, 2026 (Slides)
You Don't Always Get What You Deserve
The Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost actually is based on the reading for Holy Cross Day, September 14: Genesis 50:15-21. This is the account of Joseph's gracious act of forgiveness. He tells his brothers, who are afraid of his potential retribution, "What you meant for evil, God means it for good!" God's grace abounds! We don't get what we deserve. Since the Garden of Eden and the first promise of the gospel in Genesis 3:15, life goes on based on God's grace. Every breath is a gift of grace. Every time we wake up depends on grace! We certainly don't get what we deserve!
I told three little stories to emphasize the point. I first mentioned that sometimes when I pull-up to the stop sign in our neighborhood and look to the care turning left, the driver gives me a dirty look, like, "How dare you pull next to me when I'm trying to turn left!" I don't deserve that. Similarly, but more positively, twice this season my son has gone to the Philadelphia Phillies game and come home with gifts bought and given to him by another fan near him--a new Phillies jersey and a homerun baseball hit by Bryce Harper. He did nothing to deserve these gifts. Finally, I retold the story of my organic chemistry class at The University of Colorado. There were 4 tests in the class for the grade. On the second text I earned a 33%. I was sure that I secured an F that early in the semester. Who can recover from that? Little did I know that Dr. Ellison would grade on a curve, with the highest score on a test being the 100% mark. For that low grade, I earned a B+. I got an A in the class! I didn't get what I deserved!
Joseph does not use his authority to give his brothers what they deserve. He does not return evil with evil. Instead, he forgives them. He sees the bigger picture of the situation, recognizing that his role as the administrator of Egypt helped YHWH's people! Eventually, they would leave Egypt, YWHW continuing to forge this people that would bring Jesus into the word.
All of us experience "bad" things in life. God is in charge of these moments, too. God is doing things in our life that we cannot see or recognize the benefit. Yet, the gift of Jesus on the Cross assures us that he means it for good! Just as the Romans hoped to snuff out Jesus for good with a horrifying execution on the cross, God the Father uses it to work salvation for His creation. He gives this to you! You, I, no one gets what we deserve. All of life is a gift of YHWH's grace because of Jesus' crucifixion!