Grits and the Gospel - September 13, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and it is good to be with you on this 16th Sunday after Pentecost We are Moving quickly to All Saints Sunday and Advent and it is good to be in the fall of the year Hopefully the weather will remember that it is fall very soon Let us come together now in a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you Today's Old Testament lesson is actually an alternate Old Testament lesson for the election area It's from Genesis chapter 50 verses 15 through 21. It is Joseph's reconciliation with his brothers Hear now the word of the Lord Realizing that their father was dead Joseph's brothers said what if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him So they approached Joseph saying your father gave this instruction before he died Say to Joseph I beg you Forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you now therefore Please forgive the crime of the servants of God of your father Joseph wept when they spoke to him Then his brothers also wept fell down before him and said we are here as your slaves But Joseph said to them do not be afraid Am I in the place of God? Even though you intend to do harm to me God intended it for good in order to preserve a numerous people as He is doing today So have no fear I myself will provide for you and your little ones in this way he reassured them speaking kindly to them Thus ends the first reading Let us come together now and remember those parts of our faith That are the foundation of our beliefs That we are a forgiven people of God Friends, what do we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day He rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit The Holy Catholic Church the communion of Saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen Would you pray with me to Lord? We are so thankful that you forgive us That you set that example in our own lives so that we can go out and forgive others Hear us now as we pray in silence those things that need to be forgiven so that we can move forward in love Here's now as we come together and pray those words that your son The ultimate example of forgiveness and love taught us to pray our father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come I will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen as you come together today Let us read these familiar words of Christ with new and fresh ears as we look to Forgive our brothers and sisters and live in harmony together Here now the words of Matthew 18 verses 21 through 35 And Peter came and said to him Lord if another member of the church sends against me How often should I forgive as many as seven times and Jesus said to him not seven times But I tell you 77 times For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves when he began the reckoning one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him and As he could not pay the Lord ordered him to be sold Together with his wife and children in all his possessions and payment be made So the slave fell to his knees before him saying have patience with me and I will pay you everything and Out of pity for him the Lord of the slave released him and forgave his debt But that same slave as He went out came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii and Seizing him by the throat said pay me what you owe Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him have patience with me and I will pay you But he refused and he went and threw him into prison until he could pay the debt When his fellow slaves saw what had happened they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their Lord all that Had taken place Then his Lord summoned him and said you wicked slave I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave as I had mercy on you and In anger his Lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt So my heavenly father will also do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart The Word of God for us the people of God Thanks be to God Would you pray with me? Dear Lord some lessons are easy to hear but hard to do help us to forgive easily and Be forgiven with patience Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh Lord our strength and our Redeemer I Try not to hold a grudge But there are a couple things in my life. I just cannot let go of I Have a list For instance when I turned 15 that my father made me get the booklet from the DMV Remember back in the day there was a booklet that taught you how to drive for all of you youngins And I had to take his test before he would even think about teaching me how to drive a car But when my brother turned 15 dad just tossed him the keys to his truck and said go for it Which is completely unfair Or there was a time when my brother put a squirrel tail in the foot of my bed Or when my brother used to get my phone number out to random men and tell them I was looking for a date Or there was the time when I was staying with some dear friends and their kid thought it would be funny to put all My shower stuff on the top ledge of the shower so I couldn't find it and because I'm so short It took me a while to find where he'd put it Or when his father who I call my younger brother I never wanted used to put my favorite coffee cup on the top shelf where he knew I couldn't reach it Or where another when another brother that I never wanted but seemed to have found Constantly picks on me for being an Auburn fan an old lady And short and have short arms Brothers are difficult even the ones that are chosen I Do not want to forgive any of them Jesus has just gone to medlin in the 18th chapter of batty First as we looked at last week. Jesus tells us how to resolve conflict was which is extremely difficult at times And now we are supposed to forgive not just once but 77 times is that per offense or just a general blanket forgiveness because if I have to forgive all of my brothers 77 times for each of their offenses then Wow That seems like it's all I'll be doing And before I even begin to unpack the ideas of Matthew 18 Let me take a minute to say this kind of a disclaimer Forgiveness Does not mean that you should still live in a place of harm Forgiveness does not mean that you should remain in an unhealth healthy or abusive situation Forgiveness Does not mean that you should not set boundaries You do not have to be in the situation to forgive the person who has done real and intentional harm to you and If you were in that place and you need help getting out if you need a way to find forgiveness get away from this situation There are many people in this world Including myself that will help you you are not alone in your journey Please reach out to me if you need that in any way at any time If you need help getting out of a harmful situation, we can help you Things in the scriptures today that are really convicting for me, maybe they will be for you, too The first is from the Genesis text this is an alternate like sherry text But for me, it's the one that hits home the most when it comes to forgiveness Joseph's brothers have sold him into slavery For decades he had suffered and been held captive But in the end after everything that his brothers caused They initiated that they initiated and put him through he is able to forgive them Joseph's brothers were so jealous of the love their father had for him that they decided to get rid of him Today's text is the end of the story. But in Genesis 37 we hear about how Joseph was the favorite son Remember that technicolor dreamcoat his father made for him and Then he had this dream that all of his brothers would bow down to him Which if you have a brother, you know, how well that went over All of that jealousy did not go over well with his brothers And in verses 19 through 24 this happens They said to one another here comes this dreamer Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him and We shall see what he what will become of his dreams But when Ruben heard it he delivered him out of their hands saying let's not take his life Ruben said to them shed no blood Throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him That he might rescue him out of their hands and restore him to his father So when Joseph came to his brothers They stripped him of his robe the ornamented robe that he wore and they took him and threw him into a pit The pit was empty. There was no water in it Eventually, they would sell him to the Ishmaelites. I mean Good for Ruben for speaking up and not killing him. I guess but otherwise Wow This is not what I would consider brotherly love This is jealousy and hatred in its purest form So if Joseph can forgive them for selling him into slavery, I guess we can forgive our brothers today But he didn't just forgive them he saved them after they chose to abandon him Verses 19 through 21 of chapter 50 even say he was kind to them But Joseph said to them do not be afraid. I Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me God intended it for good in order to preserve a numerous People as he is doing today So have no fear. I Myself will provide for you and your little ones in This way he reassured them Speaking kindly to them. We are called Even from the beginning of Bible storytelling To forgive even the most harmful of sins We are called to do it with kindness The second thing that convicted me this week is the notion that we are called to forgive others as God forgives us and If we can't forgive why should we expect God? To do the same I don't know about y'all, but there's a lot of things I need forgiving for there are times when I'm jealous and envious There are times that I use the Lord's name in vain there are times when I'm judgmental and spiteful I'm human. I am fallen. I am not perfect in any way, but I'm moving toward perfection through God's grace and If that is what I truly believe and work to live out then forgiveness is what I should practice Because God forgives me He does that for me Because I am a reflection of his love and grace. I Should do it for others What I have found When I do the hard work of forgiveness is that it lightens my own burdens that I carry forgiving others helps me and I'm sure Jesus knew that doing that hard work would do just that for people Which is the lesson for us all? Forgiveness releases us from carrying around the anger and resentment and hurt that can come when we choose not to forgive I Have forgiven my brothers related or otherwise for all the dirty tricks. They played on me over the years Jesus says I should do it 77 times I may not quite have gotten there with the squirrel tails or the short jokes, but I'm working on it The harder work of forgiving those who have truly done harm to me is an ongoing process Just When I'm thinking I'm past all of that trauma something bubbles up to remind me of the things I have survived It may take 77 tries to fully forgive some of the things I've been through But I am called to do just that I'm sure it's not just about the person that caused the harm But it's for my own heart Jesus knew that the disciples would have Judas that would betray not just Jesus But the rest of his friends. He knew we all would have our Judas's in our lives Jesus knew that Forgiveness would be the way that his disciples Would be able to move forward and go on to minister around the world And he knew that for each of us when we forgive we can be a help to others in similar situations That is only possible When we learn to put down our anger and hurt So that we can show others how to do the same God has done it and will continue to do it for us And I have a lot to be forgiven for Thank goodness. God does that for me. Thank goodness Jesus showed us how to do it for others And thank goodness I have learned even if it was a really hard lesson How to forgive so I could move forward and love Hopefully without a squirrel tail on the foot of my bed I'm in as you go throughout your week. It is my hope That if harm is done to you, you will find ways To learn to forgive not just for the person To learn to forgive not just for the person that needs the forgiveness but for your own self Because in life and death and life beyond death God is with us We are never alone Thanks be to God Amen