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Last updated on
Aug. 6, 2005
Scandalous Grace
Delivered June 19, 2005
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: Genesis 25:19-34
Main Idea: God acts in surprising, sometimes scandalous ways, to deliver grace and to keep the future open to his good promises.
Purpose: To challenge the listeners to wait with trusting patience for the coming of God's promises. To encourage the listeners that with God the future is always open to sure hope.
Introduction: This morning I'd like to continue with our OT story series. One of the great benefits in looking at such stories is that they reveal so much to us about the character and the ways of God. The narratives in Genesis show God at work with real people, not perfect people, as God seeks to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham–to bless him and make him a blessing, to make his descendants into a great nation, and through this means to bless all the families of the earth.
Today we will begin a series of stories looking at Abraham's grandson Jacob. The entire Jacob narrative, which spans much of the last half of the book of Genesis, is a story of human conflict. It is the story of a generation born in conflict, with the twins Jacob and Esau struggling with one another in their mother's womb even before birth.
It is a story that is played out in many families and communities every day around the world. The story teaches us that our God of grace can work in situations of conflict and bring about surprising reversals. It teaches us that the future is not closed. Even in situations of great discord there is hope because we serve the God of Promise, the God who is at work in his own unfathomable and inscrutable ways to bring about his good purposes.
God, the Twins and Conflict: The ways of God rarely appear more impenetrable than in today's text, in which God actually appears to be the source of the conflict between Jacob and Esau. The story begins with their parents, Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac is the son of Abraham, and the heir to God's promise made to Abraham. But Isaac had the same problem Abraham did–his wife was barren–therefore how could God make this family into a great nation? So Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, and God answered his prayer, and Rebekah conceived. So far, so good–Isaac in faith turned to God, and God answered him with a beautiful display of compassion and understanding in meeting this couple's very real need. But then the trouble begins. The gift of children resulted in almost immediate conflict. The boys in Rebekah's womb began to struggle with one another, which led Rebekah to cry out in despair: "If it is to be this way, why do I live?" And then she too turned to God and inquired of him.
God's answer is not an easy one. God answered with a word, with an oracle revealing the future. This is what he said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger" (v. 23). What kind of an answer to prayer is that? These words do not directly suggest that God is the source of the conflict, but it is hard not to come away with that impression. It is God who answered Isaac's prayer with twin sons, and it is God who decreed that the elder would serve the younger. In God's plan the younger son, Jacob, would become the nation of Israel. In God's plan the elder, Esau, became the ancient nation of Edom. It is difficult not to see God's guiding hand in this, and it is difficult to escape the conclusion that God in some way is responsible for this conflict. But the text never says that. We are left with an unresolvable tension that we simply must live with. No explanation is given for God's actions. God's ways are beyond our comprehension. The story simply asks us to accept that God is God, and that God can act however God wants. But it also raises some interesting questions: Does God have ever have an intentional purpose in conflict? Does God actually choose to work through conflict? At the very least, the story teaches that God can redeem conflict, and make something beautiful out of human pain and suffering.
If we were to read on in the Jacob narrative, it would become very clear that God's prediction of conflict certainly came to pass. Esau was born first. His body was covered with red hair. That is why he was named Esau, which sounds like a Hebrew word for hair. Then Jacob was born, with his hand clutching Esau's heel. That was a sure sign of things to come. The name Jacob means "he grasps the heel." But it also has a figurative meaning–"he deceives." In our text we heard of how Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. But later on in the story we hear of how Jacob deceived his Father into giving him the blessing which by right belonged to Esau. Their parents didn't help matters any. Isaac favoured Esau while Rebekah favoured Jacob. This only intensified the family tension. Finally matters became so bad, shortly after Jacob deceived Esau, that Jacob had to flee in order to escape Esau's fury. And the two didn't see each other again for many, many years.
During those years Jacob entered into sharp conflict with other people. He married two sisters, Leah and Rachel, and this story is intertwined with a running dispute between Jacob and their father Laban. Their quarrel is like a chess game between two clever players. Both were constantly trying to outwit each other. On another occasion Jacob argued with his wife Rachel over whose fault it was that they could have no child. Later Jacob entered into a sharp dispute with his sons over how they responded to the rape of Dinah, his daughter. Jacob's most dramatic conflict of all occured when he wrestled with a messenger sent from God, apparently an angel. A clear pattern emerges in Jacob's life: wherever he goes, conflict follows. Again, the Bible is full of realism. Just like today, when people are often in conflict with one another, so it was back then.
God's Choice: We'll look at some of those stories in coming weeks, but now I'd like to return to God's oracle, in which God chose Jacob to become the heir to the promise made to Abraham. God has a significant role to play in all of this. God chose Jacob, not Esau, to become the father of Israel, and God chose to bless the families of the earth through Jacob's family line, not Esau's. Why would God choose a man of conflict? In addition, there is another question that troubles many people about this episode, which is the question of fairness. Why didn't God choose Esau? Esau was the older son. In that society, the oldest son was always considered the primary heir to the family estate. He received his Father's authority, and the lion's share of the inheritance. The word for this kind of societal arrangement is "primogeniture," whereby the first born son receives the right of inheritance.
The practice of primogeniture was the anchor of the social and legal system of the day. It protected the order of society, and provided a social cohesiveness by allowing for a smooth transition between generations. Esau had every reason to expect that he would have the position of prominence in the family. Yet God decreed that the older would serve the younger. Is that fair? It would certainly have been considered a terrible scandal by the societal standards of the day. Who is this God who dares to overturn cherished institutions?
Scandalous Grace: But the question can just as easily be turned on its head. Was it fair that just because of his birth order Jacob was destined to a closed future? Was it fair that Esau was destined to a future of privilege simply because he was born first? And on a grander scale, was the system of primogeniture itself fair? If you are a first born child it might sound just dandy! But what about all of the second, third, and fourth born children? (etc...) If we consider this event from their perspective, God's choosing Jacob is a great act of liberation. It is an act of pure grace, as scandalous as it appeared. It meant that they were placed on an equal footing with the children of privilege. It represents a symbolic overturning of an unjust social structure. Could it be that faithfulness to the God of the Bible brings conflict because God enters into conflict with the unjust ways in which the world is organized?
There is dramatic foreshadowing here. This symbolic overturning speaks to much more than birth order and the system of primogeniture. The theme of reversal is a theme which runs throughout the Bible. God is consistently portrayed as standing up for the underprivileged, for the weak, for the powerless–the widows, the orphans the strangers, and in the New Testament, for prostitutes, lepers and sinners. God's promises to them are consistently that they will have a future with a hope. Their future is not closed. They are not destined to a life of injustice. God made a promise of a wonderful future to Abraham. They are the inheritors of that promise.
When people stand up on behalf of the underprivileged, are they not often drawn into conflict with those in positions of power? Consider the prophets, many of whom were abused or even killed for having to speak up against the social injustices of their day. To be sure, Jacob for his part didn't suffer for standing up for others. But he was caught up in part of God's greater purposes of liberation.
God's desire to make things right, to bring true healing and justice to human society, all comes to a head in the person and ministry of Jesus. In Jesus all of God's promises find their ultimate fulfilment. Through his death and resurrection Jesus established the kingdom of God, which belongs to all people who receive him, including the poor, the outcasts, the oppressed and sinners of every stripe. Jesus' acceptance of them scandalized the people of his day, especially those in positions of power and privilege. How dare Jesus associate with such people? What was wrong with him? Jesus was in constant conflict with the authorities of his day. And in the end they crucified him.
But little did they know that was all part of God's plan to fulfill the promise to Abraham. Jesus laid down his life in order that God's promised blessing may be extended to all who believe. In particular, Jesus came to offer God's healing and hope to those who needed it most, to the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed. When they received Jesus they gained a new status as citizens of God's kingdom, as dearly beloved sons and daughters of their heavenly Father, and as brothers and sisters of Jesus. In Jesus also they gained an eternal inheritance. So do all who receive him by faith. Their situation is reversed. We see this theme of reversal early on in the life of Jesus, when he was still in his mother's womb. When Mary discovered she was pregnant with God's son, there was no struggle in her womb, but a great sense of joy, and she sang a song of reversal, saying: "God has taken princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. And how he has helped his servant Israel! He has not forgotten his promise to be merciful. For he promised our ancestors–Abraham and his children–to be merciful to them forever." It is fascinating how these texts tie together. A promise was made to Abraham, and it was passed on to Jacob, not Esau, through God reversing the privilege of birth order, and Mary celebrates the promise made to Abraham, and sings of reversals, reversals ultimately made possible through her son, Jesus.
As Jesus grew and matured he often taught on the theme of reversal. Several times he said that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. His beatitudes are all about reversals: "Blessed are the poor in spirit," he taught, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" "Blessed are the meek and the lowly," he taught, "for they will inherit the earth," not the proud and the haughty. In Jesus everyone has a future, if they receive him in faith. The poor and the powerless and the underprivileged are not shut out. Even the proud and the haughty have a future, provided they first humble themselves and become like the meek and the lowly. If they reverse their life direction they too can enter the kingdom.
Because of God's promise to Abraham, a promise which was transmitted through a family of conflict, and a promise which found fulfilment in Jesus, our futures are not closed. When we receive Jesus we gain a new status, we become citizens of God's kingdom, which is ultimately the only position of privilege that will matter. When we receive Jesus we gain a new identity as God's children. Because Jesus died and rose again the future, both our earthly future and our heavenly one, is wide open to a sure hope and new possibilities.
All of this is true regardless of whether or not our present is consumed with conflict. If God can bring about his kingdom through a dysfunctional family, God can transform our conflicts into something beautiful. All of this should cause us to rethink conflict. It is not always bad. Our redeeming God can transform the most difficult of situations and bring about marvellous transformations. In a mysterious, inscrutable way, God works through conflict to bring beauty out of suffering and misery. Because this is true, there is always hope.
Grace for Scoundrels: Before we close we are still left with one troubling question. We've seen that God can transform conflict, even as his promise passed through a family engaged in conflict for decades. And in the end God even transformed this family, and brought about a wonderful reconciliation, but that's a story for another day. But what about the fact that Jacob was a scoundrel? Why did God choose to bring about his promise, which found fulfilment in Jesus, through a deceiver? What kind of a scandalous God do we serve? Why didn't God choose to work through an upstanding member of the community? Instead God chose to work through a manipulative man, who took advantage of his brother's hunger to purchase his birthright, although Esau bears much blame for that, and who then deceived his father by dressing up like Esau to steal his blessing. Wasn't God's action in undermining the social system of the day scandalous enough? Now he chooses to work through the younger grandson of the promise, who is a rascal compared to his faithful grandfather Abraham or his successful father Isaac. How can God possibly choose to fulfill his purposes through a character like this? There are two beautiful answers to that question. First of all, God chose Jacob to demonstrate that he is the God of love and grace. Jacob didn't deserve God's kindness. But still God chose to come and to sojourn with someone who was unworthy and unvalued (as the younger son) until he was brought safely home. It may scandalize some, but what a gift it was to the one who needed it most. And it is that scandalous God who finally settled on a crucified one as the way to make all things new. To us has been given the gift of Jesus. Jesus offers to sojourn with us through life, promising to be with his disciples forever. We don't deserve this gift, for we are all sinners. But as the apostle Paul wrote in our lectionary reading from Romans: "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
Paul himself experienced the marvellous grace of Jesus. He wrote about it in his letter to the young pastor Timothy with these words: "The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the foremost (b/c of his earlier persecution of Christians). But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen" (1 Tim. 1:15-17).
So we see that God chooses scoundrels like Jacob or persecutors like Paul to demonstrate his mercy and grace. But there is also another reason. It is to remind us that God is God, and we are human beings, who are chosen simply by God's grace, and who therefore have no reason boast. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians are a good commentary on the story of Jacob: "God chose what is foolish in he world," wrote Paul, "to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus...in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'" (1 Cor. 1:27-31).
Application and Conclusion: The best news in the world is that our God is the God of scandalous grace. God scandalizes those who are enamoured with maintaining the status quo, in which they hold positions of power, and use it primarily for their own ends, by working his startling reversals. But this is wonderful news for those who are powerless. God scandalizes those who are self-righteous by reaching out to deceivers and persecutors, but this is wonderful news for those who are sinners. All of this means that the future is not closed, for God is the God of redemption and salvation. The future is not closed by situations of conflict, for God chooses to work through conflict. The situation is not even closed by our own sin, for God offers forgiveness for that. The one thing that is required on our part in all of this is faith. And faith was Jacob's redeeming grace. There is no time left to look at that part of our text in which Esau sells his birthright to Jacob, other than to say this–Jacob wanted the birthright because he believed in God's promise. The promise went with the birthright. Esau could only think of his short-term need, of his hunger, and was willing to sell his inheritance for a bowl of stew. But Jacob believed in the God who could change the future. The text certainly does not argue that Jacob was good or honest or respectable. But what is clear is that Jacob believed in God's future. And his faith made all the difference.
Let us therefore be people of faith. God has promised us a good future. Therefore we need not feel that our future is closed to God's blessings. Even if we are experiencing significant conflict or other problems in the present. For God is the God of scandalous grace, the God who delights to reverse our seemingly hopeless situations in order that we might experience his love, and give him the honour and the glory. Amen.