"What
is Lowered into the Pit, God will Raise Back Up.”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Many in our day view
the trials and temptations of life as something that is to be avoided at all
costs. The ultimate goal in life is to be
rid of all that annoys, bothers, and oppresses.
And when they do come, they are viewed as a great calamity, proof that
God cares nothing for them. Yet, in our
text for this evening, we see how this is not the case. God sends days of sorrow and stress for the
good. And, as Christians, we should
expect days of sorrow, days of feeling that the world is caving in all around
us. Yet, from these trials, God can make
good come from them. Though we, at
times, feel alone, isolated like we’re at the bottom of a lonely pit, God can
and does make what we view as bad work for the good, though we don’t always see
it. What is lowered into the pit, God
will raise back up.
The pit,
especially in the Old Testament, is not a place where a person wants to
be. The pit is a place of despair, death,
separation from God - Sheol.
What
makes going down into the pit even more horrible is when you’re cast down by
your own brethren. Moses records in our
text, “They saw [Joseph] from afar, and
before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this
dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and
throw him into one of the pits...And Ruben said, to them, ‘Shed no blood; throw
him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him; And
they took him and threw him into a pit.
The pit was empty; there was not water in it…” Joseph was cast down into a pit so that
his brothers would end his life in a jealous rage. They coveted the favor their father, Jacob,
showed to him. They were angry at the
dreams he had in which they would bow down to him. They coveted the multi-colored (or long
sleeved) coat that was presented to him by Jacob.
The sons of Jacob
lowered their brother, Joseph, down into the pit and sold him into
slavery. Yet the twenty shekels of
silver they received for him is a minute amount when compared to load that our
brother, Christ, bore into death. Judas
sold out Jesus for 20 shekels of silver, we put Christ into the pit of death by
our many sins. Our transgressions
weighted upon Him. Our countless iniquities
sent Him to the cross. There He was
utterly abandoned by His Father, the many sins our Lord bore upon Himself were
repugnant to the Father. There on the
cross He suffered anguish and He was brought very low, and finally, at the
third hour death over took Him. He was
brought very low into the pit of death, the pit of hell and abandonment. We need not look to the Jews who crucified
Jesus. It was all mankind and its sins
that sent Christ to this pit of death.
Yet, as in our text, what we see as evil, God works
for the good. Though Joseph might have
been left for dead in the pit, he became highly exalted in the land of Egypt. Joseph
rose in rank and stature to become a prominent man within Pharaoh’s house. And, in the end what was meant to be an evil
act, God ordained for their benefit, to preserve his family from the great
famine that had befallen the land.
Joseph tells his brothers, “And
now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for
God sent me before you to preserve life… And God sent me before you to preserve
for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was
not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord
of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.” Though Joseph was lowered into the pit,
he was raised up, out of the ground, in order to bring life to his family. He was sold for twenty shekels into bondage
for twenty shekels of silver that God would work through him to provide Jacob
and his family with their daily bread.
Though the
Jews meant for the crucifixion to be an evil act, and it was, God ordained it for
the good. Christ underwent their blows,
their nails, and underwent His Father’s wrath for you, dear child of God. Your many sins were laid upon Jesus and He
did away with them at the cross.
Christ’s
body, like Joseph, was placed into the bowels of the earth. There our Lord lay lifeless. But on the third day, He was raised up out of
the ground to receive the most exalted position. He now is seated in power at the right hand
of the Father. He has done this, dear
friends in Christ, to bring us life. For
without Christ’s death and resurrection, we receive nothing good. We would be in want and need, we would not
have forgiveness or eternal life, we wouldn’t even have a crumb of bread or a
drop of water. All good things, all
blessing flow from this act that man meant for evil, but God turned to
good. Through the cross we have received
blessing upon blessing. Chief among
these are forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Unless our Lord returns, you too will lie in the
earth for a while. But you have the
certain hope that your body will be raised up to an exalted state. Being with Christ for eternity, you will
never again have to experience the trials, pains, or torments of this
life. This is what Christ has done for
you. This is the promise that you have
been given by God Himself.
However,
while we are here on earth, expect sadness and trials. Yet, we have the comfort Jesus has undergone and
conquered these very things. What the
devil and the world mean for evil, God can turn into our benefit. Though, we can’t always answer the question,
“Why.” The hidden will of God will
always be hidden to us. However, God
doesn’t always give us answers, He gives us promises. Though we can’t always answer this question, God
has promised us eternal life in His Son, He has promised the He will always be
with us in His Word and Sacrament. What has been lowered into the pit, God will
raise back up. Amen.
The
peace, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus, now and forevermore. Amen.
