When things dont' work out
Robyn Black • July 25, 2020
Genesis 29:15-28
I was saying to someone this week, when people talk about a “Biblical idea of marriage”, they should be a bit more specific. Jesus speaks a little about marriage and divorce. Paul, who never married, speaks a bit more about marriage and roles. But the only real images of marriage and family we have are from the Old Testament….and it can get weird!
Today’s reading is about Jacob and I’ll give you a bit of background to this reading.
Two generations back from Jacob was Abraham. Abraham and Sarah had a child, Isaac. Isaac grew up and married Rebekah, and Rebekah had a brother called Laban. Then Isaac and Rebekah (who had a brother Laban) had two sons, twin boys Esau and Jacob.
Helped along by his mother Rebekah, Jacob cheated his slightly older twin brother out of the family inheritance and the blessing of their father, which was rightly Esau’s.
Esau was furious and decided to kill Jacob. So, his mum Rebekah said, ‘quick, go and stay with my brother Laban who lives a long way away, you’ll be safe there’.
And before he goes, his dad Isaac gives parting advice…. “marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.”.” (Gen 28:2-4)
So, Jacob heads off to Uncle Laban’s house, with his Dad’s words of wisdom and blessing ringing in his ears ‘marry one of Uncle Laban’s girls, and may God make you fruitful’.
Jacob didn’t know exactly where Laban lived. So when he came to a well not far from where he thought his Uncle might live, he asked the shepherds there if they knew his Uncle Laban. Yes they replied, not only that but “here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep” (Gen 29:6b).
The Bible says that “Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.” (Gen 29:11). I’m intrigued at the detail here, but I think there’s something about his relief at finding a safe place. Remember his brother wants to kill him, he’s on the run, and he’s found his relatives and a place of refuge. It seems to me that he greets Rachel and then cries tears of relief.
“As soon as Laban heard that his nephew Jacob had arrived, he ran out to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him home. When Jacob had told him his story, Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!”." (Gen 29:13-14).
It does seem as though they’ve never met before. Of course when Jacob’s mum Rebekah married Isaac, she probably moved away from her family and brother Laban, never to see them again. Even nowadays in many parts of the world, upon marriage women have to move in with their husband and his parents and his siblings. And she has no choice but to severe all ties with her own family, who often live in another village.
So this seems to be the first meeting of Jacob and Uncle Laban - a happy meeting of distant relatives, for now. Jacob started to work for his Uncle, and after a month Laban said, ‘no, no this can’t go on, I know you’re a relative but it’s not fair that you’re not being paid. Tell me what you want your wages to be.’
So Jacob said, ‘well, I’m in love with your daughter Rachel, so I’ll tell you what, I’ll work for you for 7 years, with no other pay except to be able to marry Rachel.’ Rachel was payment for work. She was given in marriage to Jacob, in an arrangement about which she had no choice.
The agreement is made between Laban and Jacob and 7 years pass. Laban organises a great wedding feast for Jacob and Rachel, but on the wedding night, Laban switches daughters at the last minute, and Jacob unwittingly marries Leah, the older sister. You might be thinking how can this be, but Leah was either heavily veiled, or brides may not have even been part of the ceremony. The marriage was after all, an agreement between 2 men in this culture – the father giving his daughter to another man, to cook, clean and produce male heirs.
Laban’s justification was based on family shame. An older sister must be married before her siblings. Again, there are still parts of the world where the older sister must marry before her younger sisters, and she therefore is given to whoever will take her. It sounds like a world or pain.
And there’s a world of pain in this story. There are no winners here. Jacob’s understandably upset – he’s married the wrong sister. Leah has been given to someone who doesn’t like or love her, so she doesn’t bring shame on the family. And Rachel has just witnessed the man she presumably loves, marry and go to bed with her sister. And you thought your family was messed up!
Dodgy Uncle Laban says, ‘OK, I understand you’re upset, but I’ve got good news! You can marry my other daughter Rachel next week, if you work for me for another 7 years”. Two wives in two weeks – not only that but they are sisters and they go on to fight about who’s going to sleep with Jacob!
Who would have ever thought that the soap opera stories of a dysfunctional family, brokenness, lies and deception, unmet expectations and hopes would become sacred stories? This is true not just for Jacob and Esau, Laban, Leah, and Rachel but for all of us.
We each have stories of family dysfunction, sorrow, loss, despair, and brokenness; stories of how things did not work out for us, sometimes through our own fault and other times simply by chance or the circumstances of life. Often the abuse and manipulation of others, the Uncle Laban’s of life, have us twisted up for weeks, months or years.
Those stories are probably not the first place we turn to when we are looking for God. And yet, God is always somehow mixed into our stories of dysfunction, brokenness, sorrow, and despair, continuing to bring goodness, and hope and restoration and healing and life.
Between Leah, Rachel and a few maid servants, Jacob fathered 12 sons, who became the 12 tribes of Israel. And these tribes became the beginning of the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham to make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17).
We don’t lead perfect lives, and life doesn’t usually follow a perfect plan! I love these words of Jesus “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
Take heart today and stay close to Jesus. In His presence is peace and walking with Him brings hope and healing and new life. And this is truth for our neighbours and family and community, who also don’t have perfect lives, and need to know the hope of Jesus. God bless you this week.
Sermons For The Moment
New Year - Matthew 2:13-23
Do not be afraid - Matthew 1:18-21
Luke 2: 4- 15
Luke 1: 26-33
This is a subtitle for your new post
Ruth Chapter 4
Ruth 3
Ruth 2
Commitment from Love, Ruth 1: 1-18
Jesus speaking to the disciples says, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me. The Thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John is a high velocity chapter, in my opinion. Headline after headline, The Last Supper is the feature article we know best, but then, there is Jesus washing the feet of the disciples to very mixed emotions. Then comes Jesus teaching regarding sacramental service and how he anticipates the disciples proper treatment of others. Iscariot’s predicted betrayal was mentioned, then Jesus speaks of The New Commandment followed closely on the same evening by Jesus warning and prediction of Peter’s denial of Jesus. A big night around the dinner table for everyone there, and a momentous series of events to unfold within the following few days. A lifetime of indelible memories for the disciples as the plans and purposes of God are revealed in the next few days. For the crowds who were present to witness this occasion many people must have found it mind blowing simply too hard to grasp…..all the events were miraculous, certainly, other worldly, certainly, and still today a full comprehension still eludes us without the exercise of a simple faith. I may not completely understand the ways of God…but I do trust God to be God. I’m okay with that and so is God! Earlier this week the media was full of conversation and speculation about how people were going to celebrate ‘freedom day’ (Monday 11th) the stroke of midnight was overwhelmed by pictures of mobs going to licensed premises to make pigs of themselves at the bar, the pokies and other gaming tables and screens. I’m afraid for me seeing the behaviors of people within the first twenty-four hours of so called freedom day was just a concentration of many days in the past 5 to 18 months. We saw many distorted ways for people to tell others how bad off they are and how tough their life has been at the hands of an uncaring and indifferent Government be it State or Commonwealth. The elusive quality many should be turning their attention to is their lack of ‘insight’. I find it sad even tragic when so many fail to recognise within themselves widespread disregard, disrespect and even indifference for human life, who are being driven by fear and selfishness. The restrictions introduced Internationally we call ‘lock down’ or stay at home directions, work from home, home schooling, click and collect, shopping on line for anything and everything on a shelf or in a shop. GP’s consultations on line, pharmacy requirement, prescriptions on line and chemists delivering. Most of what we needed and wanted was accessible one way or another with one important exception in my case….haircuts! Robyn offered…several times….and so did my daughter Keren. Freedom week got me a seat at the hairdresser on Thursday following several visits and several hours in a queue. The last haircut was just before the hairdresser went on maternity leave, she was back at work this week, her child is learning to drive now….its been a while. All four of my grandparents had died by the time I was in my twenties with only one of them really known by us and she was amazingly patient, durable, gracious, kind, and very warm and loving. A grandfather had served in both world wars and with some of his family migrated from a poor place to Australia during the Great Depression for a better life, and got it. There’s nothing unique about my family and nothing peculiar to Australia, this story of overcoming hardship, grinding poverty, widespread sickness and misery was known to millions upon millions over the world. You and I do not hail from the hordes of angels, we hail from the ordinary everyday variety of people who have populated the earth, not from those who live a charmed life. We however have a nature and a soul bestowed upon us by God the Creator of All, capable of kindness, compassionate and loving service. If you haven’t seen the real unspoiled nature of humanity at work, seek out the stories of your family, if you have grandparents, great grandparents, uncles and aunties who were born before the 1950’s talk and research and discover the strength and fiber of your inherited humanity. This does come with a warning however, be prepared for a surprise. The old expression, ‘I am today, what all my yesterdays have made me’, carries a great truth, but at best it can only convey part of your story. We are human with all the accompanying peculiarities……BUT we are more, much more. We are reading from the Gospel of John today, and I must admit, this is the Gospel I always turn to first. John 8:12 ‘when Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ Please take some time to ponder these words and how they are directed to you, this is personal. If you don’t think Jesus words are directed to you today…..then who is He speaking to? We have a guide to lead us so we can find our way. Our wisdom is to look to Him, and absorb His Spirit and apply that to all our circumstance of life. **We do have a guide for life and life for us each would be not only more **harmonious but we would be more fulfilled, we would truly know from **personal experience what Jesus means by applying the bowl of water and **towel in the Sacrament of Service. With such a sure guide in the world in does seem odd to me why many, many more people don’t follow the light of God. Humanity might have made greater progress faster than we have. Let’s get back to John 13: 21 before someone pulls the Zoom plug out of the wall. Before going in to hospital, I decided to help myself a bit by sorting and packing our books (700). However, there is one shelf still crammed full. No prize for guessing, they are cook books also I watch cooking shows on TV, UTube etc. Cooks often ask the guests on the show about their favorite meal, even what would they ask for if they knew this was to be the last meal. Two surprises, Ice Cream is a biggy, a multitude of flavors and trimmings. The second surprise has been simple meals like mum or grandma used to cook. This is when you discover food is a lot more than for just eating. I’ve never heard of anyone asking for Brussel sprouts or Kale. During these conversations about favorite foods we often hear about the significant people in their life, who were their great influences, those that bough much joy and kindness, those who were able to console, challenge and encourage even those who inspired love and gently directed people on to life in its fullness. Rarely do we hear about those who instilled fear or humiliation, distrust or dislike. Generally, we don’t gather people to the table who broke our hearts or spirit, crushed our dreams or betrayed our trust. Just before Jesus went to a garden to plead with His Father for another way out of His looming death, He invited 12 of His closest friends to join Him for Dinner, one last time. As the wine was being passed around the table Jesus dropped a bomb by announcing to them all, He knew one sitting at the table would betray Him and another would deny Him. What a stir, what a turmoil within each one as they declared their innocence, they all said it wasn’t them. Jesus knew in a few short hours He would be handed over to be crucified. A final meal together and Jesus could have chosen others but He chose the group closest to Him, including the ones He knew would soon betray and hurt Him. My last meal. Your last meal. Who would be on the invitation list? Why Jesus? What does this mean? This is what love does.