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Genesis 32:3-8, 22-30, II Timothy 3:14-4:5, Luke 18: 1-8a
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw
Today we get a snippet of one of the great stories in all of literature of sibling rivalry: Jacob and Esau. So, a bit of background is necessary to understand today's reading. Jacob and Esau are twin brothers, Esau being born first. Their father is Isaac, son of Abraham (the boy who was almost sacrificed) and Rebekah is their mother. (In thinking about Rebekah, think in terms of a Joan Collins type of character.) In fact, I would commend this whole section of Genesis as worthy of any movie or TV soap opera. It is all there! Do read it all.
Jacob has tricked Esau twice into getting the birthright which belongs to Esau as the eldest son. Once he bartered with Esau for a promise of his birthright over a bowl of stew when Esau was famished. The second time, Rebekah helps Jacob fool his old, blind father Isaac into giving him a blessing by dressing in Esau's clothing and lying to his father. Isaac blesses Jacob and only later learns of the deception. But it is too late, a blessing once pronounced can not be rescinded. As a result of all this, Esau swears to kill his younger brother. So Jacob wisely leaves home to live with his mother's brother, his uncle, and to take wives from that tribe (which is another great story of love and deception). Years have now passed and Jacob still remembers the anger of Esau towards him.
So, as we heard today, Jacob has learned that Esau is coming and is rightly afraid. Esau had sworn to kill Jacob for his deceit and lies. So, after sending his families into safety, Jacob is left alone to greet his brother. But then, as we just heard, something happens during the night.
That night a man wrestled with Jacob until daybreak.
The man is generally seen as a messenger of God, an angel.
During the course of their struggles Jacob is wounded, and yet
persists and asks for a blessing. The man blesses him by
changing his name to Israel and sealing the promises made by
God that Jacob will be the father of a great nation.
Later Esau and Jacob, now known as Israel, do meet. As they
approach each other Israel now humbly bows seven times to his
brother, beseeching mercy, for Esau has an army of 400 men
with him. But when they do meet we read that, Esau ran to
meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him,
and they wept,
(33:4). Esau has forgiven him. Esau the
older, the one betrayed has forgiven his younger brother.
Israel will continue on and make a home for his wives and twelve sons, who will eventually represent the twelve tribes of Israel.
The story of Jacob/Israel is a hard story. Jacob was chosen by God to be the father of a great nation. Yet, Jacob never trusted, or had the faith, to believe the promise. So he and his mother plotted and schemed various ways to get what had already been promised. It is a very complex and stunning story.
What does this story have to do with us today and what can we learn from it? This is a wonderfully multi-layered story with many meanings, but here is one lesson I feel we can take from it today.
God will use us to his purpose, regardless of our weaknesses, failures and mess ups. God knows the inner person and sees the real you, despite your carelessness and faults. God will use what is good and right in us for his purpose and to serve others.
But this also means that in this encounter with the divine,
we will be changed. We will be wounded. We will never be
the same. As we read in the Letter to the Hebrews, It is
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,
(Hebrews 10:31).
Yes, it is a fearful thing and we are changed forever. We are wounded with the wounding of the divine in our mortal nature. We are brought to an acute awareness of our weaknesses, our sins, our mortality. And yet still we are also blessed. We are blessed. Blessing always follows wounding. Blessing follows awareness of our weaknesses.
As I look into your faces when I give you Communion, The Body
of Christ the Bread of Heaven,
I see in each of you some
of your woundedness as well as the blessing and grace that
have brought you here. As your priest I am humbled at being
invited into your lives, and to share in some of your joys, and
your griefs, your laughter, and your tears. I give thanks
for my call in this community and for your lives in my life.
There is much to give thanks for at St. Stephen's. Yes, we have had our share of losses and feeling wounded. But we are also blessed in so many ways, especially with the faith and witness of the men, women and children sitting around you.
May we give thanks for the blessings of God in our lives, and
for one another, as well as the lessons of our woundedness.
May we see in one another a beloved daughter, or son, of God and
give thanks for the blessings of all that is St. Stephen's. In
EFM as each person finishes sharing his or her Spiritual
Autobiography we say: For what was, for what is, for what
will be. Thanks be to God.
For what was, for what is, for what will be. Thanks be to God.