St. John United Church of Christ, Arlington Hts., Illinois
April 18, 2010
Genesis 27:1-45
Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips, pastor 

Story of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob

            Start with the blessing of Abraham and Sarah to Isaac and Rebekah

This is the story of the esteemed patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith – the story of how the blessing was passed along, all the way to us.

            But there’s a back story: treachery, betrayal, deceit, lying, duplicity, theft, sin.

            Some of our ancestors turn out to be scoundrels – and victims of scoundrels.

God’s blessing goes to the liar, the cheat, the thief, the “bad guy,” the one who does not appear to deserve it.

Who do we identify with in this story? (Esau)

Have we been deceived by the people we ought to be able to trust?  Have we been disappointed, let down, outright betrayed?

Who hasn’t?  Have you ever been betrayed by a friend?  Forsaken?  Despised?  Had something valuable stolen?

            How do we feel about it?  Angry.  Depressed. 

“Esau hated Jacob.”  Can you blame him?

            It’s not fair!  It’s not right!

            What we do about it?  How do we cope?  How do we go on?  How do we move forward?

Where is God in these situations?  Is God the one we blame and get angry with, or is there more to it than that?

Has life let us down?  Not turned out the way we thought it should?  Sudden changes that are not for the better?

I recently heard about a woman about 50 who thought that all she had was acid reflux disease, but went to the doctor who discovered an advanced tumor in her stomach, advancing up to her esophagus where they found four more tumors.

Life is fair?  Give me a break!  It is not!

Out of work.

            How do these make us feel?

            What do we do about them?  How do we move forward?

            Where is God in these situations?        

Important to note in today’s story: Esau is not left without a blessing.  God remembers him, too.

v. 40.  You will serve your brother, “but when you break loose, you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

Esau did cool down.  He did get over it.  He did not kill Jacob as he intended.  28:6-9: He got married and went on with his life.

Even the “loser” got a blessing!

Life does go on, and for those with eyes to see, God’s blessings are there for everyone, for those who unjustly get the short end of the stick and those who unjustly receive the long end of the stick.

            Cain

            David – an adulterer and murderer

            Even the “bad guy” gets a blessing!

            Ishmael and Hagar

Jesus’ ministry: it is the outsiders who get God’s blessings – the poor, the outcast, lepers, sinners, prostitutes, Samaritans, children, women, tax collectors

In Jesus’ ministry, it was often the outsider (the leper, tax collector, sinner, Samaritan, etc.) who got God’s blessing.

The point is that God’s blessing comes to us in all kinds of ways – some of them pretty, but many of them not.

Life is complicated.  Life is messy.  Sometimes life is just plain ugly – and unfair and even brutal.

But God has a way of blessing creation in spite of – and sometimes through – messy people like us and our unreliable, sinful, even tragic ways.

There are few plaster saints in our history as God’s people – but plenty of rogues, cheats, thieves, and rascals who nonetheless remain God’s people – and through whom God is able to continue the story.

“Embracing the Exile”

When we are thrown under the bus, or out of life’s best path for us, do not deny that it has happened, but embrace it.

Sometimes it’s in the exile – in the desert experiences of life – that God’s blessing comes to us.

It’s in Israel’s wilderness experience in the Sinai that they discover the Law, and their sense of purpose and identity as a nation.

It’s in Israel’s exile in Babylon that the best thinking and writing occurred – most of the OT, in fact.

The back story of the OT is a lot of national suffering and disgrace, but from it and through it comes God’s covenantal blessing – a blessing that is ultimately for everyone through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brady Bunch – there’s a very dark back story to the Brady bunch.  Mr. Brady’s wife died!  Mrs. Brady’s husband died!  Each left a young, grieving widow/widower, and three children without a parent!

Easter has a dark back story, too: Good Friday.  Like Esau, Jesus, too, was despised, forsaken, betrayed, disowned, and then unjustly executed.  And yet, he is the way God’s blessing has come to us.

If God can work in and through the messiness of an unjust crucifixion, God can work through our messiness, confusion, and complexity no matter how messy, confused, or complex it is.

What a Friend We Have in Jesus – no. 403

            No the sweet hymn everyone thinks it is.  It, too, has a dark back story.

Verse 3 acknowledges the fact that life is not always roses, bread, butter, and sunshine.  Sometimes life is betrayal, unfairness, disease, and bitterness.

But it also acknowledges that those are the very times in life when we can most keenly be aware of God’s friendship, even when the friendship of others is erratic.  

Yes, feel the pain.  Acknowledge the hurt.  Get angry.  OK.  Life is unfair.  You lost your job despite the value you added to your company and your work ethic.  You lost your job when somebody else who should have lost theirs didn’t.  OK.  Jacob got the blessing, not Esau.  OK.

But then move on into the future with God.  Esau moved on.  Cain moved on.  Jacob moved on.  Jesus moved on.  God moves on.

And so can you.