Sermon from May 9, 2010
"A Common Man in Uncommon Times"
Genesis 24-27

Today, we read about an unheroic hero. He was a common man who found himself caught up in an uncommon purpose. This unheroic hero did not take charge of situations. He was like most us: the waves of life came rolling in behind him, sweeping him off his feet, and sweeping him along with them. Yet he was not a failure. He is a patriarch of Israel, and his name is Isaac.

From the standpoint of sheer excitement it is true that Isaac bores us. From Heaven’s standpoint Isaac was infinitely exciting, because Isaac and no other was the little parcel of promised humanity that sent Abraham chasing over half the known world in hope, hesitation, and (in the end) ecstasy.

The New Testament calls Isaac “the son of promise” – Galatians 5:23. To call him that is to step back into the mainstream of Genesis. Three promises hold Genesis and much of the Bible together: land, nation, and blessing.

God promised to give Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan. He promised to make those descendants into a great nation; and He promised that all nations on earth would be blessed by Abraham and his descendants. As we pick up the story in Genesis 25, Abraham and Sarah are gone, and Isaac is no Abraham. So, ordinary people, let’s see what became of God’s promises in an ordinary man.

Two Sons
Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren – Genesis 25:20-21. Before we read how God answered Isaac’s prayer, I’d like to offer a reflection on something that may have an important meaning.

If you are a woman who wants a child and cannot have a child, I wonder if you have ever noticed how many great women of the Bible wanted a child and could not have a child. Here it is Rebekah. Before her it was Sarah. After her it was Rachel. Later it was Hannah. At the beginning of the gospels it was Elizabeth.

God gave all those women children, but only after years of frustration and embarrassment; and all their long-awaited children had central roles in the story of God’s purpose to bless all the nations on earth. I wonder if it is God’s way of honoring and encouraging you that He would choose women who suffered as you suffer and make them central in the story of human redemption. On this Mother’s Day keep your chin up; God has not forgotten you and may have some special purpose for you that does not include children but may make you an unforgettable blessing to others.

Rebekah conceived, and the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.

By the way, “grasping the heel” was a Hebrew figure of speech that meant to deceive. It doesn’t make sense to us, but it doesn’t make much more sense to tell a joke and say that I was “pulling your leg.” So, Jacob’s name meant deceiver or trickster.

You can see why in verses 27-34. The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country – a man’s man! You can see him heading for wilderness in his 4x4 – while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents, a kind of momma’s boy. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Why did they do that? Do you ever play favorites among your children? You may want to reconsider, when we see later how their partiality played out.

In the meantime, once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!”  

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright,” your legal rights as the firstborn.

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” Manipulative little devil! So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. Careless little devil! If the salvation of the world depends on those two guys, it’s a long way to Tipperary.

Renewal of the Promises
On top of their domestic dysfunction Isaac’s family came face to face with an ancient evil. Genesis 26:1: Now there was a famine in the land. We with our amber waves of grain know nothing of famine. It disrupted economic stability and displaced nomadic tribes. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. There was talk of going all the way to Egypt.

God put a stop to that talk and put the meaning of Isaac’s existence in underlined, bold italics. Verses 2-5: The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.”

Land, nation, and blessing! Where have we heard that before? It is the threefold cord that binds the book of Genesis together. Every episode in Genesis relates to one or more of those promises. In truth they bind the Old Testament together, and in the New Testament they reach their fulfillment in the greatest Jew of them all, Jesus Christ, the Son of Abraham. Isaac was now the carrier of the promises, and that justified his existence, however ordinary and prejudiced he might be.

By the way, the cure for famines until the rains came again was to dig wells. In good Middle Eastern fashion the wells became a bone of contention. Verses 19-22: Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” Where is Secretary of State Clinton when you need her? So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. The Hebrew word Esek means dispute. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. Sitnah means opposition. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth – Rehoboth means room – saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.” I suspect that hopeful vision inspired the Methodist town fathers, who established Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

The Deceiver Acts
Now, the chickens come home to roost in Genesis 27:1. When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

“Here I am,” he answered.

Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons – your quiver and bow – and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”  In the days of the Patriarchs the blessing of a father before he died was equivalent to a last will and testament in our laws. It was irrevocable when he gave it.

It’s not easy being green. It was not easy being old, blind, wealthy, and with a family history of favoritism. It was made harder by an old wife with a family history of favoritism. Verse five: Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. She was eavesdropping.

When Esau had gone, she told Jacob, her favorite, what was happening and what to do. Verses 9-12: “Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I’m a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” But Rebekah was a momma on a mission. She prepared the food just the way she knew Isaac liked it, and she dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothing. He went off with food and the intention to deceive his blind father and defraud his brother of his rightful inheritance. Not for nothing was he named Deceiver.

Verse 18: He went to his father, decked out in garments he must have hated, and said, “My father.”

“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”

“I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.”

The old man, near death, blind and perhaps bed-ridden, was confused. But in his confusion he asked a fitting question: “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied. Can you believe that? It makes Jacob more despicable in our eyes that he used the Lord’s name to further his treachery. Then, Jacob had a bad moment. Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not” . . . hmm . . . “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau” . . . hmm . . . “Are you really my son Esau?”

“I am,”

Isaac, still uneasy, asks for the food and drink, and at the end of the meal Jacob has his worst moment. It is time to receive his father’s blessing but his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me.” Wouldn’t you like to see Jacob’s face? We may hope that he squirmed through every remaining second of his treachery.

In the end his mother’s foresight carried the day. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and the prophecy at their birth that the older will serve the younger came true. The middle of verse 29: “Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.”

There was more to follow: trembling, tears, anger, vengeance, fear, and flight. But the damage was done irrevocably: the older will serve the younger. The prophecy of God, which might have come about in honorable ways, comes about through parental folly and filial treachery.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
Have you ever seen such a dysfunctional family? Why is their story in the Bible? What could those people possibly have to do with the salvation of the world? Save yourselves, you bums! We’ll find somebody else.

But their story is in the Bible, right there in Genesis 27, warts and all. The most precise and penetrating explanation for it and for their role in the salvation of the world has been given by the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:10-13.

Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad – in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls – she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written (in Malachai 1:2-3): “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” That just means Jacob I chose and Esau I did not choose.

The words you really want to write on your heart are the ones right in the middle: in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls. God’s purpose for the salvation of the world centered on promises He made to Abraham and his descendants, among whom were Isaac and Jacob; but God’s purpose did not depend on their being flawless men. They weren’t, and as the rest of Genesis shows, their failures will hit one new low after another.

God’s purpose depends on God. He chose an ordinary, prejudiced man like Isaac and a stinker like Jacob to carry His purpose in the world; but either way He will be responsible for achieving His purpose. We’ll see next week that God turned Jacob every way but loose to make him more worthy to carry God’s purpose in the world, but the purpose depends on God not Jacob.

Now, I need to ask you to do something really important. Don’t quit the Church because church leaders disappoint you. Christian leaders will behave in ways that disappoint. I don’t say that to excuse anyone. I say it to be realistic about the Church and to ask you with all my heart: don’t quit the church.

God’s promise to bless all the nations on earth in Jesus Christ is still in force. He chooses to use Church leaders to carry His purpose in the world; but achieving the purpose depends on God, not Church leaders.

If a pastor or priest has ever abused you, defrauded you, seduced, insulted, or betrayed you, don’t quit the Church.

God’s promise to bless all the nations on earth in Jesus Christ is still in force. He chooses to use Church leaders to carry His purpose in the world; but achieving the purpose depends on God, not Church leaders.

Let’s learn part of the verse from Romans 9:12: not by works but by him who calls. Learn it by heart. Hold it close to your heart.

And here’s a prayer you might work into your daily prayers in the week ahead and the years ahead. “Lord, help me to live a life worthy of Your purpose.”