Or maybe that s the wrong question.

Transcription

1 Longings Let me begin this morning by asking you to think of a time that you wanted something badly, which you later received. Try to remember what it was like to long for that thing, and then actually to obtain it. I wonder if you eventually discovered that the reality of possessing the object of your desire was more complicated than you had imagined it might be: whether it was a toy you coveted, a job for which you longed, a relationship you craved, or the retirement about which you dreamed. Often we have to reckon with the difference between what we imagine something or someone will be and the reality we eventually confront. To be human is to know desire, to be restless for something more, though that desire takes many forms and the Bible is ever-so-honest about what it means to be human. There are four human actors in today s story from Genesis and each of them wants something which he or she goes on to receive in the course of the story. Isaac wants children, so he prays to God and his prayer is answered. But when his wife Rebekah conceives twins, the pregnancy is so painful and difficult that she wonders if it is worth enduring. In the midst of that difficult pregnancy, Rebekah wants to know what the future holds, so she inquires of the Lord she asks for a prophetic word. Her prayer, too, is answered, but what she learns in that prophecy is that she has conceived twins who will live in conflict with each other and that the natural order of their culture will be disturbed, for the older twin will serve the younger. 1

2 The upshot is that each parent chooses a favorite child. Isaac chooses Esau, because he grows to be a hunter, and Isaac likes the taste of meat. Rebekah chooses Jacob; we are not told why, but it may be that she wants to be allied with the son who will end up with more power. We don t learn what it is that the twins themselves want until they grow up. So the story-teller conveniently fast-forwards to that time, allowing us to witness the predicted conflict erupt on a particular day when Esau, who is famished, craves some of the stew that his brother Jacob is cooking. Esau gets what he wants on that day, but only through an astonishingly costly bargain with his brother, Jacob for Jacob s deepest desire it turns out is to have Esau s place in the family pecking order. So Esau trades away his birthright for the chance to fill his belly, and Jacob betrays his brother for the chance to get ahead. Each craving is answered, but the outcome is not contentment; it is division and discontent. I have a friend who refers to the Bible as the family scrapbook. If you re willing to work with that image, is there anyone on this particular page of the scrapbook whom you would like to hold up as a role model for the rest of the family? Or maybe that s the wrong question. Maybe we re invited to find our family resemblance in each of these characters, and so to trust that if God can use such broken and confused individuals to work out God s purposes, God can use us, too. Maybe by focusing on the human characters in this story, we ve left out the most important actor of all. 2

3 But Jacob and Esau are such interesting twins; it s no wonder they seize our attention. Jacob gets what he wants here and elsewhere but it drives him from the family. Esau, for his part, has to reckon with loss but that, too, separates him from the family. Later we will learn that he chooses to marry outside the tribe. One is driven away by what he s gained, the other by what he s lost. Each ends up threatened with isolation. Each is a picture of the human condition. But God isn t done with either of these brothers, just as God isn t done with any of us. Sometimes I wish there were more pages in this scrapbook. We know a lot more about the adventures that Jacob goes on to have, than we do about the events of Esau s life, but eventually we will circle back to an encounter with the two brothers, where we will have a chance to observe the fruit of what each of them learns in their years apart. But at this point in the story, I wonder if you find yourself identifying with one brother over the other? If there was a hasty decision in your past that has caused you deep regret, or if you have been a victim of forces beyond your control you may find yourself identifying more with Esau. If you have been quick to get ahead, sometimes at the expense of others if your choices have elicited anger from those closest to you then you may find that it is easier to relate to Isaac s story. And the story operates, of course, at a larger, corporate level, too beyond the story of two individuals. Jacob, whose name will be changed later to Israel, comes to represent the whole people of Israel. Esau is said to represent the people of Edom the Edomites. 3

4 When I think of the story at this larger level, I wonder if the institutional church of our day also might see her reflection in this story. Is there a sense in which we, like Esau, have taken our place, our birthright, for granted? Is there a sense in which we have become careless with the responsibility that has been given to us willing to trade what is our holy charge for the satisfaction of our own comfort? If so, can we not expect that God will move outside of the established order to raise up life and leaders in unexpected places? Should it surprise us if we sometimes find ourselves sidelined from conversations about what matters most? There s a video circulating on the internet right now that tells the story of a career football player named Nate Brinkley who has a career-ending injury, but finds a way forward out of that enormous loss. At one point in the video he shares a memory from childhood. He says, It s one of the best memories I have of my father.i was 10 years old, playing Pop Warner football. We were in a championship game. I can t remember the down and distance all I remember is that we had to stop them and my dad pulled me out of the game and put in another defensive lineman in my spot. I was so mad at him, it really hurt that he pulled me out of the game, but that situation humbled me just to be pulled out when it was so important for me personally to be in there cause I wanted to be a part of that. It was a life lesson I ll never forget. The rest of the video suggests that Nate Brinkley finds a way to be grateful even for huge losses, when those losses wake him up to what s most important in life. The book of Genesis suggests that an analogous thing happens to Esau. 4

5 We don t hear much of his voice, but the author of Genesis eventually circles back to Esau s story in the most moving of ways. Years later, Esau comes to the place where he is able to say to Jacob when they meet: I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have. In the end, what Esau desires most is not a birthright, but a brother. In the end Esau is not destroyed by regret or resentment or thoughts of revenge in the end, what Esau longs for is reconciliation. I think that s the prayer we need to have for our families, and our faith communities, for every conflicted part of the world I don t know about you, but I can t read this passage without thinking of the violence escalating on all sides in the Middle East. Yes, we need to take seriously the desires of our hearts and the roles we have been given to play as individuals and as communities but we need to pray in the process that we will worry less about birthrights and more about brothers and sisters. In a few minutes we will gather around this table together. Jesus invites each of us to come as we are to bring our deepest longings and offer them as food for the world. For there is nothing about any of us that God cannot use, if we will ask God to be in the midst of it. What is it you most long for now, friends? Bring that to the table ask God to break it open and give it to the world. 5