Taking the Long View

July 13th, 2014
6th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10, Year A
The Rev. David Kendrick

Have you ever wondered where we got the idea of calling a dishonest person who cheats and mistreats other people a “heel?” Look no further than today’s reading from Genesis.  “Immediately afterward, his brother came out gripping Esau’s heel, and she named him Jacob,” come from a Hebrew word that means “grabbing the heel.”  The twin, who came out first, and therefore the oldest, was apparently red-skinned and very hairy for a baby, so he got the name Easu, “Red Hairy.”  So having finished the Abe and Sarah show, we could call this latest chapter in the saga, Hairy and the Heel.

If it seems a little irreverent to refer to these ancient stories as TV shows, then ask yourself how else is God going to save the human race?  Come down from a heaven with his hosts of angelic soldiers to crush his enemies and impose order?  A host was an army unit.  Perhaps we’re all tempted occasionally to agree with the bumper sticker, “Kill them all and let God sort them out.”  Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh.  What if God would just slap each of us around until we’ve all become fearful and obedient little pets?

God does not want a piece of territory on this planet with massive walls on its borders and heavy guns turned out to try and deter any potential conquerors.  And God doesn’t want pets.  God wants willing partners.  So how else is the God of the universe to save humankind, except by starting small, with one man, one woman, one family?  And indeed, in today’s reading God enlists Rebekah as a partner.  In English, sentences have a subject and an object.  So does Hebrew.  But in the sentence we hear as “the elder shall serve the younger,” the preposition that indicates the object of the verb isn’t there.  So, the sentence could actually read, “The younger shall serve the elder.”  By the time this story, handed down through the generations of Israel, was written down in the book we have today, its authors knew that the elder ended up serving the younger.  And translators of the Hebrew understandably figured that what must have been meant was that the elder would serve the younger.

But in truth, Rebekah is only told that one of the two brothers shall prove stronger than the other.  One of the brothers will be the heir to the Abrahamic promise, “In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  And then we don’t hear from God again.  It’s up to Rebekah.  She could let them fight it out on their own.  Or she could choose which one should be the heir.  God delivers the oracle and leaves the decision up to her.  And as the years go by, she makes her choice very clear, for the younger.  As the years go by, perhaps she sees in Jacob’s quietness an ability to reflect, to examine himself and his surroundings carefully.  And perhaps in that quietness, Rebekah sees a man who in his reflection can take the long view, and not be overwhelmed by his immediate needs and anxieties, seeking instant gratification.

You can easily see those differences in today’s reading.  Presumably, both sons have heard the story of their grandfather, Abraham, how he left everything he knew, his homeland and his blood, because he heard the voice of just one God promising him that showers and showers of blessings would fall on him and millions others.  Cultural norms may dictate that the older son should inherit the blessings and privileges of the father.  But here is Esau, “Red Hairy,” willing to throw it all away because his stomach is growling heavily.  Jacob may have been The Heel for extorting Esau’s birthright.  But can anyone hear this story and not think that Rebekah chose rightly?

If we are serious about our faith as Christians, we have to be able to take the long view, to be reflective in the face of a constant barrage of events that demand immediate reaction from us.  One might question how relevant this story of one dysfunctional family from four millennia ago is today.  But if my harping on Genesis has sunk in any, hopefully you’ve started to realize that our story as Christians doesn’t begin with the New Testament.  It begins with the promise made to Abraham.  And that is still our goal as believer in the one and only God some 4,000 years later, to be the source of blessing for all people.

It takes a very long view to rise above our daily controversies and stay focused on the goal, our mission, to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.  And as far back in time as that goal goes, it can seem equally far away in the very distant future.  One might think I’m being too romantic for setting such a lofty goal before us.  But I assure you today, that as for me, nothing else in this world is worth working for.  Without this goal and mission, then we will forever remain nothing but warring tribes.  And speaking only for myself, that is not worth living for, and I want no part in that!

Neither you or I fully understood what we were getting in each other when I preached and celebrated for the first time a year ago as your Rector.  Learning to live and work together also takes a long view.  It has taken time for me to learn the story of God in your lives as individuals, an in your story as a parish family.  It has taken time for you to learn the story of God in my life.  And after only a year, we’re all still learning.  But when I see us all, with our diversity of backgrounds and opinions, come together to worship God in the beauty of holiness, I catch a glimpse of the promise to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  God had to take the long view with this family in the Book of our origins as holy people, otherwise known as Genesis.  And for the years we have remaining together, God will take the long view with us.