Sermon - October 7, 2012

Genesis 25:19-28 - NRSV

19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. ²¹Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. ²²The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is to be this way, why do I live?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. ²³And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.’ ²⁴When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. ²⁶Afterwards his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. ²⁸Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. 

Last week we talked about the importance of the stories of Noah in the flood and Abraham being chosen by God and how that relates to each person's Baptism. Today, it is a joy to gather together and witnessing these two newly baptized, and thus brought into the Family of God. We witnessed them being washed clean of their evil and brought into the new creation that God has prepared for them. We heard God claiming them as a beloved child. Yet also within this, we are reminded that in order that they may receive this gift, the ram that was caught in the thicket, would be sacrificed in their place. The Lamb of God was killed so that we might live.

After Abraham and Isaac left that place, Abraham decided it was time to find a wife for Isaac. Remember there is a promise from God that through Abraham shall come the descendants of many. Isaac does not search for his own wife, but actually has a servant of his father go and find a wife for him. A wife was selected for him. Now this selection is very interesting. The servant travels with 10 camels carrying gifts to be offered to the family as payment for the woman. When the servant arrives back to the homeland of Abraham, he goes to the town well where all the daughters of the town would go and fetch water. It is here he prays that the Lord will allow him to find the woman this day. For this servant will ask each woman that comes to the well for a drink. The one who offers him the drink and also offers to water the camels, that will be the wife of Isaac.

How long does it typically take for someone to select a wife? Weeks? Months? Years? This servant found a wife for Isaac in one day. For when the woman named Rebekah came and was asked, she offered to give water to the camels also. A camel does not drink everyday but when a camel does drink, it drinks a lot. They will often drink 30-50 gallons when they do drink. But remember there are 10 of them. Therefore, Rebekah has to draw 300 to 500 gallons of water for this stranger, this foreigner. Yet that is how generous she was. She had a kind heart and if that was what she was willing to do for a stranger, imagine what she would do for a loved one. That's who would be the wife of Isaac.

Well indeed they marry and Isaac loves her. But it takes them 20 years before they have children together. When they do have children, they have a set of twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau was covered in hair, he grows up to become a man's man. He was good at hunting and loved to be in the wilderness. Jacob was born second and was grabbing his brother's foot. Jacob grew up to be quiet and enjoyed living in the tent. These two brothers were complete and utter opposites. Yet Isaac loved Esau, while Rebekah loved Jacob. As the years go by, the first son is given a birth rite and along with that, gains all the possessions of their father. However, Jacob offers to Esau a trade, Esau's birth rite for this delicious bowl of soup. Esau takes the trade. Not only that but Isaac becomes old and blind and on the day in which Esau should receive the birth rite, Rebekah and Jacob work together to steal the birth rite. Jacob dresses up as Esau and even puts goat skin on his arms so that he seems more like his brother. Jacob receives the birth rite and more interesting than anything is God actually supports this.

Jacob is scared because Esau is mad that he took his birthright and wants to kill Jacob. Remember he is not exactly the best warrrior and Esau is really good. Jacob runs off to save himself. While running away, he comes to his mother's brother's house. He goes to his uncles' home and there he stays and falls in love with Rachel. Rachel is his cousin. In order to receive her, Jacob must work seven years. After the seven years are up, they were married. However, to Jacob's surprise he did not marry Rachel but Leah, Rachel's older sister. This was the custom that the older daughter must be married before the younger could. Jacob was upset with the deceit that his own family had done to him. Yet how could he forget that only seven years ago he had betrayed his own brother. Jacob wanted Rachel for his wife, so he worked another seven years so that he could marry Rachel. At last he married Rachel. Now during this time, Jacob's uncle became quite wealthy thanks to Jacob. So at the end of fourteen years besides his daughters, Jacob was also given part of the herds that he had cared for as payment for his work.

Now Jacob is ready to head home. Back to the land that he grew up in and to face his brother. One night while on the journey just before he was to meet with his brother, Jacob sends his wives and children and all that he had ahead to cross the stream. Jacob remained alone on the one bank where he encounters a man. The story does not say why but they began to wrestle. They wrestled through the evening and into the night. The man saw that he could not prevail over Jacob, so he knocked his hip out of its socket. Despite being wounded, the wrestling match still continued. As day light was approaching the man demanded that Jacob let him go. Jacob would not do so until he would be blessed by the man. The man agrees and within the blessing, the man actually changes Jacob's name, from Jacob to Israel. His name was changed to Israel because he had wrestled with God. To wrestle with God, this is something that we do on a daily basis, some of us realize, and some of us call it something else. Remember last week when we talked about the Daily Dying and Rising of a Christian? How through our Baptism, our old sinful self is destroyed so that God's new spirit can come and dwell within us. Jacob was changed from his encounter with God. He walked with a limp because God had struck his hip. How have you changed? How has your encounter with God actually changed you? Or what would it take for you to wrestle and realize God is the one who blesses you? Do you need your hip struck out of place? Do you need to see someone die? If that's the case, look at the cross, look at the work and the love that God is willing to do, so that you may have a blessed life. Here we have God losing so that we might win.

Even after wrestling with God, Jacob still must see his brother, Esau. After fourteen long years of being apart, after Jacob had stolen his birth rite, and after all that Jacob had done wrong against his brother, the two meet and Esau runs to greet his brother. So happy and overjoyed to see his brother, he runs to hug his brother. They begin to cry with joy because despite it all, they are brothers.

Each one of these stories speaks volumes to our own faith. Through these stories, we can easily apply them to our own life. A person looking for a spouse should find someone with good character and with a kind, generous heart toward others. Within families, there are going to be struggles, there are going to be times in which a family member will betray you or it will feel like it. Yet even in those circumstances, we should care for them and love them when they realize they have done wrong and return to the family. There will be times in our lives in which it feels like we are wrestling with God, and even come face to face and wrestle through the night. Yet even in the end, God will bless us and care for us.

These stories of other's faith and the journey they had with God can help us understand our own faith journey. It is one of the reasons that we return to these stories, dwell within them and allow the story to help form us into the person that God is preparing us to be.