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Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 4,
2001
Genesis
41:46-57 Storing up grain for the famine
Joseph
was thirty years old when he entered the service of
Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the
presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of
Egypt. During the seven plenteous years the earth produced
abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years
when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up
food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food
from the fields around it. So Joseph stored up grain in
such abundance--like the sand of the sea--that he stopped
measuring it; it was beyond measure.
Before
the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom
Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.
Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he
said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all
my father's house." The second he named Ephraim,
"For God has made me fruitful in the land of my
misfortunes."
The
seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt
came to an end; and the seven years of famine began to
come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every
country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread.
When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried
to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians,
"Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do." And
since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph
opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for
the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all
the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because
the famine became severe throughout the world.
 Matthew
6:19-21 Storing up heavenly riches
Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in
and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.
Arcana
Coelestia #5276 An abundance of spiritual grain
"An
abundance of grain" means a multiplication of truth,
since it is the opposite of "famine," which
means a lack of truth. The word used in the original
language to express "an abundance of grain"
(which is an antonym of "famine") means, in the
inner sense, a full store and sufficiency of spiritual
knowledge; for "famine" means a lack of
spiritual knowledge.
Spiritual
knowledge is formed out of the truth in our material self
that we have not yet made our own. It is the
multiplication of this kind of truth that this Bible
passage refers to.
Spiritual
knowledge does not become truth dwelling in us until we
accept it into our understanding--which happens when we
firmly embrace it. Even then, the truth dwelling in us
does not become our own until we live according it.
Nothing becomes ours except what we make a part of our
life. When we do this, it does become ours because our
life is in it.
The
seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt
came to an end; and the seven years of famine began to
come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every
country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread.
(Genesis 41:53, 54)
Today's
reading from Genesis is another example of how God's
planning is better than mine. As most of you know, I am
using the readings from the children's Sunday School
lesson as the basis for my sermons each week. Today the
children are learning about the story of Joseph
interpreting Pharaoh's dream, and then becoming
second-in-command to Pharaoh himself. It that position, he
was charge of storing up grain during the seven years of
plenty, in order to tide the people through the seven
years of famine that he had predicted would come after the
seven years of plenty, based on Pharaoh's dream.
How
was I to know that this reading would come up on a Sunday
when we are celebrating communion? Usually, we hold
communion on Worldwide Communion Sunday, which is the
first Sunday in October. However, not only was I away at
the Columbus Day Youth Retreat that Sunday, but I
completely forgot about it! So we scheduled communion for
this week instead--when we had a reading on bread.
Apparently God had a plan.
Sharing
food and drink together always has a deep meaning, even
when we are been aware of it. Those of us who live with
family members or close friends almost take it for granted
that we share meals. Usually we don't think anything of
it--it's just a part of our routine. Sometimes we only
notice how important our shared mealtimes are when someone
dear to us is missing from the table. Then we
realize that eating together is more than just feeding our
bodies. It is feeding our souls, too, with the human,
interpersonal bread of life.
At
the table we share not only food and drink, but thoughts
and feelings. We talk about what happened today, or some
new idea we just had, or how we're feeling a bit down or
confused, or especially happy. We respond to one another,
adding our own ideas and experiences, giving some support,
sharing a happy moment or a sad event.
It
is no accident that when we share food and drink, we share
our thoughts and feelings with one another as well. To use
Swedenborg's term, one "corresponds" to the
other. To us, this correspondence may not be immediately
obvious. But for the angels, it is a part of their
everyday experience. Swedenborg writes:
Heavenly and
spiritual food consists of nothing but goodness and
truth. These are the food with which angels and spirits
are fed, and which they long for when they are hungry,
and thirst for when they are thirsty. This is why
material food also corresponds to these things. Bread
corresponds to heavenly love, and wine to spiritual
love--as does everything else that is a form of
"bread" (meaning food) or of "wine"
(meaning drink). (Arcana Coelestia #5360)
Angels
hunger for the goodness of love, and they thirst for the
goodness of refreshing truth. And so do we! We humans
depend very much on the love and kindness that we share
with one another. As children, if we are not loved and
cared for, we waste away, and even die for the lack of
care. As adults, we search out other people to share our
thoughts and feelings with; to love and be loved by.
Without this, our life has little meaning or joy.
We
also thirst for understanding and truth. When we are
facing a loss or a tragedy, we ask, "Why?" We
seek to understand what has happened. When a friend or
loved one grows cold and distant, we ask, "Why?"
We want to know what has changed, and what we can do to
bridge the gap once again. Even in our simple, everyday
tasks, we are always looking for new techniques to make
our work a bit lighter; new ideas of something to make or
do that will give happiness to those we love; new skills
that will make us more productive and better able to
provide for ourselves and our families.
Yes,
like the angels, we humans hunger for goodness and love,
and thirst for truth and understanding. These are the food
and drink that keep our hearts and minds healthy, strong,
and growing. These are spiritual food and drink.
And
sometimes we don't realize just how vital they are until
they are missing. As long as we are living in good times,
with our family and friends around us, and things going
well, we take for granted the milk of human kindness and
the bread of mutual love.
When
Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream, this was just the
situation in Egypt. As Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream,
the land of Egypt was about to go into a sustained,
seven-year period of great abundance. And what do we tend
to do when things are going well? We eat, drink, and be
merry, thinking--despite all experience to the
contrary--that the good times will last forever.
Joseph
led Egypt on a more prudent course. While the people did
enjoy the years of plenty, Joseph also put them to work
storing up some of that plenty for the seven years of
famine that God had showed him was on the way. And because
Joseph listened to God's warning, and Pharaoh listened to
Joseph, when all the other lands began suffering with the
severe famine, there was plenty of grain in the land of
Egypt.
The
meaning of this in our own lives is probably beginning to
come clear now. Let's look at it a little more closely,
first as we grow up, and then in our lives today.
In
the course of our lives we go through a stage that can be
compared to the time Joseph and his family stayed in
Egypt. Egypt, Swedenborg tells us, symbolizes our
eagerness to learn and store up plenty of factual
knowledge for ourselves as a basis for understanding the
world around us. We know from history that Egypt not only
stored up grain as in this Bible story; it was also a land
of great stores of knowledge--including spiritual
knowledge. Its scholars were renowned in the ancient
world.
The
time when we are best able to store up plenty of factual
knowledge is during our childhood and youth. Later, as
adults, we will have to spend much of our time and energy
supporting ourselves and our family, and making our way in
the world. But as children, that responsibility is still
in the future. We have plenty of time to learn many things
about the world around us. This is the time when we
traditionally attend school. Our society views the
childhood years as a time of learning in preparation for
our adult years, when we can draw on that store of
knowledge as we make our way through life.
From
a Christian perspective, the greatest knowledge we can
gain is to thoroughly learn the stories of the Bible and
the teachings of the church. Unfortunately, this most
important of all knowledge is generally not taught in
school. But fortunately, one of the reasons the church
exists is to provide people with spiritual knowledge and
understanding. We have our own form of school--Sunday
School--to provide our children with a knowledge of the
Bible and the church's teachings. This is knowledge they
will need in order to do well not just materially, but
spiritually in their adult years. Each Sunday the children
come, they are storing up spiritual grain for times when
their lives will be focused on other things.
Even
children who do not stay with the church through their
teenage or young adult years will have stored away
priceless treasures of spiritual knowledge in their deeper
selves that they can draw on throughout their lives. And
those who do stay through their teenage years--when we can
offer them a deeper knowledge of the Bible's inner
meaning, and a more comprehensive understanding of the
church's teachings--will be storing up such rich stores of
spiritual "grain" that when their times of
emotional struggle and hardship come--their times of inner
famine--they will have the inner sustenance to carry them
through.
And
we adults do have our times of famine: times when we
struggle with the difficult challenges and painful blows
that life deals us. Just when we think everything is going
well, and are relaxing in the goodness of life, something
hits that takes away all our pleasure and peacefulness in
life. We lose someone we love. An inner demon surfaces,
and we are plunged into an emotional battle to keep
ourselves together. Our work or home life changes, and
everything we had taken for granted is suddenly called
into question. Or there may not be a particular event to
trigger the famine. In the ebb and flow of life, we may
simply lose sight of the higher, spiritual goodness of
God, so that our spirit sinks into doubt and depression.
These
are our times of famine when we long for love and
understanding, but find it painfully lacking in our lives.
These are the times when we desperately need those inner
stores of goodness and understanding to tide us over. And
if we have not stored up spiritual knowledge and
understanding, like the stores of grain Joseph laid up in
the granaries of every city throughout Egypt, we will be
find ourselves emotionally and spiritually starving.
We
adults cannot survive forever on the stores of knowledge
that we built up as children. Just as the seasons and
cycles come and go, we must continually store up more
knowledge in our mental granaries to tide us through our
times of winter and famine. Attending church and Bible
Study, reading the Bible at home, learning about the
teachings of our church, learning from other spiritual
perspectives: this is how we store up spiritual food that
we can draw on to carry us through our times of famine and
struggle.
Jesus
said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on
earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break
in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also." Amen.
Artwork:
I AM © Harry Antis and is
used with permission.
Christ-Centered
Art Gallery
Music: Heart
and Soul
1999 Bruce DeBoer
Used with Permission
Color Scroll Bar Script
Courtesy of:
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