I have two dogs. One is a miniature poodle and one is a terrier. Now if you want to have a dog that can perform tricks or fetch, Lucy the poodle is your dog. If you throw something for Molly the terrier to catch she will either not notice that you threw something or she will think you are out of your mind. However, if you have a little critter in your house like a mole or a mouse – Molly will not rest until that varmint is gone or dead. Lucy the poodle couldn’t care less. It’s what they call “horses for courses” in England. Just like each race horse has a particular type of track or event they do best in competing, same with dogs, and, frankly, the same with us.
So the reason I am telling you this is because I want you to feel a little better about the Old Testament reading for this morning. How many of you think Jacob was pretty unfair in this set up of Esau we read about this morning? Just to remind you – in our lesson from Genesis 25, we read how Jacob, the older brother, steals Esau’s birthright by getting him when he is at his weakest. Jacob says – let’s make a deal: you are hungry, I have some bread and lentils here, and if I give you what you want, how about you give me something that you have that I want – your birthright? And Esau assents to the deal – and we don’t know if he is not thinking straight because of low blood sugar or thinks that deal will be non-binding – but the die is cast and Jacob gets what he wants. It is also useful to know that Jacob also has to set up his father on his death bed as well but that is a story for another day.
But before I go further, here are some useful things to know about Esau. He is called a “man of the field” in the Hebrew Scriptures. He is a hunter. Where Jacob is considered a shy and simple man – and in fact he is referred to as “Tam,” the Hebrew word meaning “a relatively perfect man”, whereas Esau is “rough.” Even his physical features of having red hair and being hairy nails that point home. His name means red or ruddy in Hebrew. Whereas Jacob’s name means supplanter – which is exactly what he does to his twin brother.
So even though Esau is the first born – it’s evident by name and nature that he was not born to be a great leader. It’s almost as if the lentils are a test. If you were single minded enough to become the leader of a great nation, and of a great family, you could endure being famished for a bit. The point is that Esau could not – he was a man of instant gratification and did not have the patience or the true inherent ability to be the kind of leader that Israel would need. Although this all seems terribly unfair – the switching of birthright from Esau to Jacob – was what needed to happen and it seems to me that is the point of the lesson – not cruelty or unfairness.
So let’s go back to the point that Jacob was a “relatively perfect man”. He’s perfect enough for the job. And that is the same for us. None of us is entirely perfect. But we are entirely worthy because we are called by God.
And this has two implications:
First of all – we do not need to be discouraged because we are not like someone else – we don’t need to berate ourselves for not being more like Suzie or Bobby who seems to be so great at parenting, or work, or whatever. We are called to be ourselves, not Suzie or Bobby. No matter how many mistakes we have made, no matter what personal defects or inadequacies we think we may have, we are loved by God beyond measure, and call to God’s work in this world just as we are.
But the second lesson is this, and this may be harder for many of us: that others too are not perfect and that is okay. They may or may not have the capacity to do better, be better, act better. But like Esau, we often would do a whole lot better to refrain from judging and driving ourselves crazy by expecting people to behave the way we want them to behave, rather than in the way they usually behave. So it would be better emulate Jacob – just as Jacob did not allow Esau to be in charge of a great nation, we too might be prudent to make sure that we choose good people to be in our lives (as far as we have a choice).
Of course, in marriage, or in familial relationships, or work situations, we can try to speak the truth in love, and try to work on various aspect of our personalities, and ways of operating, to get along better with others and asking others to do the same – but honestly, I have often found the most peace is by realizing a terrier will never be a poodle, and poodle will never be a terrier, and Esau will not be Jacob, and Jacob will not be Esau, and that we are great at some things, and we are not great at a lot of other things, etc. etc., but that is okay – and the thing that makes it okay is God’s abundant grace, mercy and peace to help us love and live with ourselves and one another as long as we shall live.
I want to end with a poem that I just love that a colleague shared with me – that sort of fits on this occasion – about how we all fit together in God’s work in the world and it is written by Rev Mark Belletini:
Do not think you can take away each other’s troubles,
But try to be with each other in them,
Remember you are part, not all,
Great, but not by for the greatest,
Small precious brief breaths
In the great whirlwind of creation.
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