Jacob and Esau
Sermons 2004
On 4th July, thirteen churchwardens from across the deanery joined us at Blackwell for Evensong. Having been unable to attend the Bishop's Visitation in the Cathedral on 27th May, they came to be sworn into office by the Vicar in his capacity as Area Dean. The following sermon, on Genesis 29:1-20, is the one that he preached on that occasion.
Well, for those of us who have experienced the delight of falling in love in this life, was it love at first sight? Or was it so long ago that you can't remember? Some people do claim, don't they, that they fell in love at first sight. You hear of people claiming that after a first date - or walking out - they had made their mind up. Well, it seems to me that we could have an example of falling in love at first sight in this evening's Old Testament lesson.
Jacob, remember, is the son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham and, significantly, the younger brother of Esau. Now, before we pick up the whole saga this evening in chapter 29 of Genesis, there has been all the business of Jacob usurping his elder brother as the one who would be blessed as the rightful heir of his father Isaac. Remember, Genesis tells us that he held on to his brother's heel in Rebecca's womb as they were being born. In fact, they'd obviously been having a good old struggle with each other while they were in there. So much so that Rebecca exclaimed, "If it is to be this way, why do I live?" (Gen. 25:22) And on enquiring of the Lord, she was told, "Two nations are in your womb, and two people born of you shall be divided; one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger."
You probably know how the story continues; Esau was born first, but Rebecca obviously favoured the younger, and when it comes to the dying Isaac preparing to give his final blessing to the hairy older son, the interfering mother gets Jacob organised, gives him food to take into her husband, and puts animal skins on him so that the almost-blind Isaac will assume that it is the hairy Esau. Before we know where we are, Jacob has received the blessing and is fleeing for his life from Esau, he finds himself encountering God at Bethel, and then ends up where his mother's kinsmen are in this evening's lesson.
That is how we normally understand this saga. But it is not quite as easy as that. If we take the text apart a touch, we realise that there is a different version of why Jacob found favour with God and became Israel's third Patriarch instead of his older brother Esau. Esau was guilty of a most horrendous crime against God - mixed marriage! He had not looked for a wife amongst his parents' kinsfolk, but amongst the... well, shall we call them the local girls - the Canaanites.
Now, let me tell you, there may be some wisdom in disapproving of mixed marriages. I should know, I'm in one! Unfortunately, I'd fallen in love with Nicola before I knew that she came from Lancashire. Perhaps, poor Esau was guilty of the same kind of mistake - and so became subject to foreign influences that were not characteristic of those faithful to the God of Israel. Jacob, on the other hand, heeds the advice of his father (Ch. 28:1) and goes off to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, to take for a wife one of the daughters of Laban.
So, what a wonderful moment this must have been then, when his faithfulness to his father, and his consequential faithfulness to God, was rewarded at the end of a long journey by the vision of the beautiful Rachel. He had found a well, and she was coming towards it with her sheep. Love at first sight? Perhaps! Certainly, this showed Jacob was a man richly blessed by God, since the attractive vision before him just happened to be a daughter of Laban. Not that anyone could be quite so fortunate, of course, and stories in the Bible are never quite so straightforward.
Unfortunately, for Jacob, beautiful Rachel was her father's second daughter, Leah was the elder. And what did she look like? Well, the text we have says, "Leah's eyes were lovely..." (29:17) To be honest, that is probably being kind. The adjective in the Hebrew is rak which probably in this instance means 'tender', or better, 'weak'. What's the problem with that? Well, rak probably means that Leah's eyes were lacking in lustre, which, to be frank, would be a real turn-off for an oriental man of that time. He would look at a woman's eyes and want them to be lively, to glow, which is why eye makeup was in common use - to give the promising impression of liveliness!
Well, human nature doesn't change much, does it? It is rather like the schoolchild writing about Lot's wife, she was a pillar of salt by day and a ball of fire by night! Presumably her eyes wouldn't have been described as rak. Well, perhaps we are barking up the wrong tree with all of this, but I don't think so. And neither did Jacob, because when he was tricked by Laban into marrying Leah after doing seven years' service to get Rachel, he was prepared to do yet another seven in order to marry his true love who is described as "graceful and beautiful". (Gen 29:17). And he really must have been smitten because the text tells us that those first seven years "seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her." It's pathetic, isn't it? It's a wonder that Hollywood has never done anything with this story.
Very briefly, the story goes on, of course, with Jacob having twelve sons - some by his wife Leah, some by Rachel's handmaid, because Rachel was thought to be barren, and then by God's good grace, Rachel does conceive and give him Joseph; and there starts a whole new chapter in this long story of God's dealings with his chosen people.
What might all of this have to say to us then, as we meet for Evensong, and as some of us are licensed to serve as churchwardens at parishes within this deanery? Well, the thing about a saga like that of Jacob is that it is full of surprises. If one were to come new to it, one could never anticipate what might happen next. Who could have expected Jacob to usurp his elder brother? Who could have foreseen that Jacob would be tricked by Laban, and so have to serve fourteen years instead of seven, and end up with two wives rather than one? And then who could have expected his true love to be barren, but then in time to be given a child by God's good grace?
With God, it would seem, life can be full of surprises. In the end, however, what makes a difference to his good purposes, is people remaining faithful to him even when everything seems to be against them and confusing. In the end, he always does seem to have a knack of bringing his good purposes to fruition. After all, what is the message of Easter if it isn't that?
As members of God's Church in Western Europe at the beginning of the 21st century, we might be forgiven for wondering what on earth God is playing about at. Why are so many people so indifferent to the good news of Christ, to the message of life and peace, to the God in whom their fulfilment and happiness can be found? Why are our churches so empty? Why can all of this make the role of a churchwarden, or of a PCC member, or of a parson so confusing and hard?
A biblical saga like that of Jacob bids us take heart. From the very beginning of his dealings with his people, God has always remained faithful. What he requires is that those who know him reciprocate with faithfulness themselves. Sometimes that will mean changing, it will mean the inconvenience of going to Paddan-aram to look for a wife, rather than just taking one of the local girls back home in Canaan. And sometimes we might have to wait longer than we think for our faithfulness to bear fruit, working for fourteen years, rather than seven. But in the end, God always remains faithful. That is why we serve him. And that is why we praise his holy name.
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