“What Is Important to You?” (Genesis 25:19-34; Romans 8:1-11)
July 10, 2011 (15th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein
When you are growing up and becoming an adult, life becomes full of choices. Some of them seem pretty trivial. You want to go out to eat so you decide which restaurant to visit. When you get there you decide what to order. You may like to read books or watch movies, so you may choose which book to read or which movie to watch. Again, those seem pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, like “Pepsi or Coke?”
On a somewhat more serious level, as a preacher and student of the Bible I am making choices about what commentaries to use and purchase. I need to choose between quality, reputation, theological stand and pricing.
Other choices are even more important to us. What doctor do you choose as your physician? What community will you live in? Who will you vote for in the elections? You have to decide what is important in a relationship or if you even should be in a relationship. If you get married you have to consider the size of your family. The list goes on. Every day we are called on to make decisions major and minor. All decisions are important in a sense because they show our values and preferences. By our choices we say what is important to us.
And I see that as a central lesson of these two Scripture passages. Consider the reading from Genesis. We are first re-introduced to Isaac. A couple of weeks ago, I preached on the binding of Isaac, where his father Abraham was willing to sacrifice him to obey what seemed to be God's command. After that, well, we really hear little about Isaac's life. It may have been a fascinating life, full of daring adventures, but we receive no evidence of that from the Biblical text. Instead, Isaac's main importance seems to be that he exists, that he provides an interim generation between Abraham and Jacob. We know from the account in Genesis that Isaac marries late, at age 40 … not so uncommon today but very vrare in that time and culture. And like his mother, Sarah, his wife Rebekah was predicted to be barren. But we know that God miraculously intervened in their life and allowed Rebekah to become pregnant … but with twins. And it was a traumatic pregnancy, apparently the twins were constantly fighting each other in utero.
Rebekah begged God for an explanation to her traumatic pregnancy, and what she heard was strange and disturbing. The two unborn babies represented two peoples, and the older would end up serving the younger. This was a striking reversal of the normal pattern in ancient society in that part of the world. And it was not the only occasion in which God would reverse the human order of things and place the younger in a position over the older. He did so with Isaac over Ishmael; Zerah and Perez (who were also twins); Joseph and Benjamin and their older brothers, Ephraim and Manasseh, David and his older brothers, and Solomon and Adonijah. What is truly important is not the order of birth, but God's sovereign choice of who to bless and honor.
Esau was born first, but Jacob emerged grasping Esau's heel. The name Jacob is actually a kind of word play, because in Hebrew it is similar to the verb “to grasp.” Jacob was born as a grasping kind of fellow, and he acted that way in episodes of his life. Indeed, Jacob is not always a sympathetic character. He hung around the home and was a mama's boy … Rebekah's favorite. On the other hand, Esau is a hunter, a masculine occupation. His father favors him, because Esau can bring him the tasty game he hunts.
Jacob seems sly and devious on occasion. For example, he tricks his father Isaac into blessing him. The old man was blind, so Jacob disguised himself to “feel” like the hairier Esau to receive the blessing. The way Jacob is portrayed I could imagine him running a pool hall or being a card shark. But that is not what he is in Genesis … he is the heir to the promise of God, given to Abraham and Isaac, that they stood at the head of a chosen people, who would eventually be like the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the beach, and would be a blessing to the whole world.
Jacob plays his role in the plan of divine redemption, taking the opportunities that present themselves to him. In the Genesis passage I read from a few minutes ago, Esau has been out hunting, apparently for a long time, and surprisingly without success. He comes in to where Jacob is cooking a stew of lentils that apparently smells wonderful, at least it does to someone who is very hungry. Esau requests some of the stew. Jacob, seemingly off the cuff, demands Esau's birthright in exchange. Here is where Esau makes himself look ridiculous. He agrees. He does not demand the food as might have been his right as the older brother. He also doesn't find food for himself. Esau just wants to satisfy his craving for lentil stew, and treats his birthright with contempt. His birthright would be realized in the future, but who cares about the future when there is food to be eaten? One commentary refers to Esau as an “uncouth glutton,” which immediately brought a vision to my mind … of Homer Simpson with a box of donuts. Esau, the Bronze Age Homer Simpson, is driven entirely by his physical appetite and demand for immediate gratification, and thus spurns his rightful inheritance.
Think about that for a moment. It just beggars belief. Now, I like food, as you can probably ascertain from my boyish and slender physique. But if I were expecting a grand inheritance, even if many years down the road, I cannot imagine trading that inheritance (say it's a million dollars, which is still immeasurably less than the promises of God!) for, say, a great meal at Bogies. Much as I love their strip steak (and I highly recommend it) and green salad with honey mustard dressing, even so I would not want to gain those things and thus lose my inheritance. But Esau was such a man, and by treating his inheritance with contempt, he lost it forever. He showed what was important to him.
This brings us to the lesson from Romans. Some parts of the Bible are written as history; some as poetry; some as prophecy, and some as theology. Romans has been called the most purely theological book of the entire Bible. The doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is clearly set out in Romans, inspiring Martin Luther to spearhead what became the Reformation. In chapter 8, Paul discusses the opposition of the way of the flesh to the way of the spirit. Those who hold to the way of the flesh bring death upon themselves, while those who follow the way of the spirit will have life. Now, what does that mean? Even the most spiritually mature Christian, the most saintly individual, must share in the death of the physical body. So what does it mean to have life? It means to be in communion with God, both in this life and in the life to come. If one follows the way of the world, one will not inherit what God has promised to his children.
Now, to live in the spirit does not mean one is perfect. The only perfect man who ever walked the earth was Jesus himself. But it does mean that one trusts in God's promises and has a lively faith in Jesus Christ. It means that one takes a certain direction when one reaches a decision point. People who live in the flesh have no problem in running over other people for the sake of their careers; or hoarding money and possessions; or abusing drugs or alcohol; or committing acts of adultery and fornication and all other forms of sexual immorality; or neglecting their families for whatever reason. Such are the ways of the world. Many of the things I mentioned are readily available to us. The internet has made it easier than it was before to lie, to cheat, to commit immoral acts. And it's easy to obtain harmful substances. I think people turn to these behaviors because they feel empty inside and want to find something to fill that emptiness. God offers what they most need, but it is harder to credit the promises of God, which may not be discerned right now, than things that are tangible and readily available. Yes, we may be promised a glorious inheritance with all of the saints … in many years, and assuming it is even true. That is where faith becomes so important. To walk with the spirit is to have faith.
Turning back to Genesis, Esau represents everyone who has focused solely on the present and his immediate needs and desires. That is not the way of the spirit, that is the way of the flesh.
What is more important to you? The way of the spirit and the promises of God, which require faith and patience to realize? Or is it the way of the flesh, which is right here, right now, and easy to indulge?
To God, who has given us the blessed promise of eternal communion with him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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