Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7,15; Romans 9:1-5; Matt 14:13-21
Today’s readings from Genesis and from Matthew have two things in common: in both readings the conflict that brought about today’s passage has been omitted, and I think in both cases important meaning has been lost in the process.
Many folks here have suffered through the death of parents and of grandparents, one or both. The death of family patriarchs and matriarchs leave vacuums in families. And those vacuums are most evident when it comes time for children to empty out their parents’ homes and distribute the possessions left behind.
Far too often things do not go smoothly. Unless a parent has been proactive with a will or made detailed arrangements, at the worst possible time distribution of belongings can become a battleground. Relatives that have been distant or absent can suddenly show up and begin wandering through the house with their shopping cart, helping themselves to family heirlooms that they never would otherwise have an opportunity to take. Direct descendants like children may want a lot of the same possessions, and at the worst possible time in their grief, battles rage over who deserved what or what Mom would have really wanted to go to me or you or her. The free-for-all over possessions can create hurt feelings and broken relationships that can follow siblings to their graves. Justice in this world is relative, and when family relationships are involved, whether or not I get that cherished piece of furniture of Dad’s has little to do with whether or not I need it or deserve it.
And unfortunately, the things most fought over are often the ones that have monetary value only. The dollar value of a picture frame can override the sentimental value of the family portrait in that frame, and the picture ends up in the trash when the frame is sold off. That amazing old manual sewing machine that grandma would not trade for an electric one, the same machine that created a large family’s entire wardrobe for decades, becomes just another commodity in an antique dealer’s window. Money verses value. Possessions verses relationships. Our human nature urges us to be opportunists, to choose badly.
Things were no different in Jacob’s day. The stories we’ve been reading about Jacob and Esau are the stuff of big-budget soap operas. Just a short while before in Genesis, Jacob the younger brother had tricked Esau, his older brother out of Esau’s birthright. And then, adding insult to injury, Jacob cheats his brother Esau out of his dying father Isaac’s singular blessing reserved only for the eldest male child.
For Esau it gets even worse than that. In those days the eldest male child inherited the largest portion of the possessions of the patriarch, and also received the blessing of the patriarch. In effect the eldest son then becomes the patriarch of the family and the owner of the majority of the wealth and possessions in the family. What makes the betrayal even worse is the fact that their mother Rebekah is the mastermind, the architect of Jacob’s stealing of the blessing from Esau. Esau has been disinherited by his own brother at the urging of his very own mother.
There’s no way for Esau to get the blessing back, but there is one way to get the wealth back – to dispose of his cheating brother Jacob. Rebekah their mother is also all too aware of this fact, and at her urging Jacob leaves his family and runs off to live with relatives who will keep him safe from the wrath of his dispossessed brother Esau.
Fast forward to this chapter of Genesis. Jacob has fled to Laban and has worked for him for many years, gaining himself two wives, many children, and slaves and flocks and wealth of his own. Laban begins to worry that Jacob is doing too well, so well that he will one day challenge the power of Laban the patriarch himself. At Laban’s urging it’s time for Jacob and his family to go. And there’s only one place TO go – back Jacob’s homeland, to his brother Esau.
Now the tables are turned for Jacob. Going back to the land of his father Isaac means going back to be confronted by his brother Esau. Esau, who has remained the patriarch of his father Isaac’s clan, will now be the one with the power, and Jacob, coming home as an alien to his father’s house, is the one who will have no power there.
So Jacob takes all that he has and begins the journey home. He will not come back to challenge his brother Esau’s authority this time. This time he comes in humility, offering many of the spoils of his wealth to his brother as a peace offering. When he learns that his brother Esau is coming to meet them with 600 men, Jacob fears that Esau will in fact take his vengeance on him, but he proceeds with this plan of paying respect and humility to his elder brother anyway. Everything is on the line for Jacob – his family, his wealth, his very life.
As night falls Jacob sends his wives and children on ahead with all of his other possessions, everything of value to him is on its way to his brother Esau to be Esau’s possessions should he so choose.
Jacob sits alone in the dark of his darkest night, the fate of everything he holds dear now completely in someone else’s hands. And something miraculous happens for the second time in this middle-of-nowhere place. The first time Jacob camped in this place alone, fleeing from his brother’s wrath years ago, Jacob had the vision of the steps that climbed from the earth into heaven, with angels descending and ascending on it, the reading we call “Jacob’s Ladder”. Now a man appears, and Jacob is immediately engaged in battle with the man. Jacob, who is fighting for his very life, cannot be overcome by the stranger. And so the stranger, who must leave before daybreak, tries to get Jacob to stop wrestling with him by striking Jacob on the hip, dislocating Jacob’s hip. But despite the pain and the disability Jacob will not let go until the stranger blesses him. The stranger pauses the struggle and asks Jacob his name, giving us the audience the chance to remember that the name Jacob, Ya’akov in biblical Hebrew, means “supplanter; one who takes over or replaces.” The man, who will not reveal his name, blesses Jacob and gives him the new name Israel, which means “to struggle with God”, and reveals that Jacob will survive his struggle with his brother Esau just as he has survived his struggle with this stranger. The stranger leaves, whom Jacob now recognizes as the angel of God, and having received the assurance of God’s blessing, Jacob moves on without fear to the reunion with his brother Esau.
In our reading from Matthew, Jesus has just learned of the death of John the Baptist at the hands of King Herod. This is a pivotal point in Jesus’ ministry. The fate of John is the reality that Jesus faces IF he continues his own ministry. For his part, Herod knows of Jesus and sees him as a threat, the very essence of John the Baptist raised from the dead, setting the stage for their meeting at the end of Jesus’ life. So Jesus does what he needs to do; Jesus goes away to be alone, to mourn for John, and to pray.
But just like Jacob, Jesus has a mission and a destiny, and there is nowhere to hide when God is calling you. The crowd soon finds him, and rather than drive them away and continue his solitude, Jesus engages the crowd… because that’s what Jesus is there to do. Jesus not only engaged them, we are told that “he had compassion for them and cured their sick.”
Now it’s evening, and like the rest of the world would do, the disciples want Jesus to dismiss the crowds, to send them off to fend for themselves. “It’s been a nice day, now politely send the visitors away.”
To Jesus the crowd is not just a bunch of uninvited guests because old Hebrew hospitality is not dead, and you do not invite family into your presence and send them away hungry. Jesus basically says to them, “I’ve been feeding their souls all day, and now you want me to send them away into the night to fend for themselves? They are our responsibility, and we will feed them. I’ve fed their souls, you feed their bodies.”
Five loaves of bread and two fish might be enough to feed ten people. The disciples look into the basket and see the worldly reality of quantity, but they still don’t understand who they’re with in the person of Jesus, the new reality of the Kingdom of God. The disciples look into the basket and see THEIR dinner; Jesus looks into the basket and sees EVERYONE’S dinner.
The Good News we read today is that Jacob, now Israel, is prepared to give everything he owns to his brother to make peace for the things he has dispossessed his brother of. The Good News we read today is that Jesus is prepared to sacrifice all the food that he and his disciples have in order to feed those who have listened faithfully, yet have nothing to fill their bellies.
The Good News today is that the repentance of Jacob and the generosity of Jesus are both signs of the Kingdom of God among us, as is the loving way that Esau receives his prodigal brother Jacob when Jacob returns to face the music. We are all immigrants in the Kingdom of God. As we approach that Kingdom of God and the riches awaiting us all there, will we try to force our way in like distant relatives, greedily pillaging and snatching up only what we can carry off for ourselves? As we all enter that Kingdom will we treat our neighbors like strangers and stuff our faces with one hand while we drive them away with the other? Or will we live in the Kingdom together, making sure each receives what best suits their needs, breaking our own bread to give it away, forgiving those who’ve wronged us, and inviting others in to share the riches of the Kingdom with us? The choice is ours.
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