Seeking Justice

August 27^th. 2017        “Seeking Justice”      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Summer Sermon Series: Wrestling with Jacob

Genesis 33:18-34:31

          This morning we continue our summer sermon series “Wrestling with Jacob”.  Throughout the last few months we have covered the overarching narrative of Jacob’s life.  We have witnessed to his struggles in birth and conflict within his family, we have followed the saga of his many wives and children, and we have discussed his wrestling with his father-in-law Laban, with his brother Esau, and with a mysterious stranger (God?) at the side of the Jabbok River.  These last two chapters round out the end of his saga, and we will see the drama begin to move on into the next generation.

          Fair warning: This is an “R” rated Bible story involving rape and extreme violence.  I make no judgements on anyone who decides to leave at any point while we discuss this scripture.  I want this to be a safe place, but I also want this to be a place where we are willing to confront the depths of human sin, so do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself this morning.

           (Read Genesis 33:18-34:4)

          Those that were here last week will remember that after Jacob’s happy reunion with Esau, the two sons of Isaac decided to part ways once again.  Esau headed back into the land of Edom, and Jacob headed into Succoth.  Jacob now moves into Shechem which is in the land of Canaan to make his home.  He buys property from the head of the tribe, Hamor, and erects an altar there to mark the land as a place of the Lord.

          Jacob’s one and only daughter, Dinah, heads innocently into town to visit with the other womenfolk of the region.  While there she is seized by Shechem, son of Hamor, and prince of the tribe and Dinah is raped.  (It is a bit confusing that Shechem is the name of the man and also the name of the city, but the author will be making a play on words later on, so just do your best to keep the two straight).  After the rape, Shechem seems to fall in love with Dinah.  The author tells us that his soul was drawn to her.  So Shechem tells his father Hamor that he wants Dinah to be his bride.

          (Read Genesis 34:5-12)

          Both Hamor and Shechem approach Jacob and make an offer of marriage.  Legally, this is a correct move.  Shechem shouldn’t have raped Dinah, and the law states that he now must pay her father and marry her.  So Shechem now is following the law and making a very generous offer.  He states he would do anything for Dinah, give anything for her, offering Jacob and his family the opportunity to name their price. Once again the author makes clear Schechem’s deep love for Dinah.

          Also of note here is Hamor’s offer to welcome Jacob and his people into the land.  God may have promised this land to Jacob and his descendants but as far as the law is concerned, this is the land of Shechem and Hamor is its leader.  Hamor offers to welcome Jacob and his people fully into the place, allowing the tribes to intermarry and to share goods and wealth.  It is a good deal for Jacob, as he and his people could make this their permanent home.

          (Read Genesis 34:13-24)

          Jacob may be ready to make an agreement for Dinah between his family and Hamor’s, but his sons are not.  They demand that Shechem be circumcised in order to be wed to Dinah.  They falsely offer a union of tribes if the men of Shechem will consent to the circumcision ceremony and join with the Israelites in this sign of covenant community.  They don’t demand a conversion of worship, but they do demand this physical sign of the covenant. 

          Schechem’s love of Dinah is so great that circumcision seems a small price to pay.  He and his father Hamor approach the other men of the city and make the offer.  They convince the men of the city that the whole city will benefit if Jacob and his tribe remain and join with the city economically.  They must have been quite the smooth talkers, because all the men of Shechem agree to undergo the circumcision ritual.  Although the author doesn’t clearly state it, I think we can assume that Hamor’s son Shechem and Dinah are married at this point.

          (Read Genesis 34:25-31)

          Here, things get really nasty.  Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi, the ones who had offered the covenant of circumcision, now use that covenant to kill the community of Shechem.  They are brutal in their attack, killing all the males of the community including Shechem and Hamor.  They take Dinah forcibly from her home, and the verb usage here is similar to the taking of rape that Shechem commits at the start of this story.  It is an act against her will.

          The sons of Jacob go even further, plundering the city.  They take all the livestock, all the goods of wealth, all the women, and all the children.  Again, the verb usage here implies great violence, and the taking of women here implies rape.  The sons of Jacob rape the women of Shechem.  In fact this is where the play on words comes in.  Shechem the man rapes Dinah, but Jacob’s sons rape Shechem the city.  Their behavior is abhorrent.

          Jacob confronts his sons in anger.  He had been prepared to settle here and was willing to make his family one with the community, but now it is all ruined.  Like a foul odor, the presence of his family has become odious to the region and stunk up the place.  The sons have acted like fools in their harsh violence and deceit, and now Jacob and his family must flee the area.

          The sons reply that their course of action was just.  They claim they were seeking justice for Dinah following her rape.  But, their usage of words betrays them.  They call their sister Dinah a whore, further dragging her name through the mud.  They also unknowingly convict themselves; for they are the ones who have treated their sister like a whore, using Dinah’s body and Schechem’s desire for her, as a means of gaining the combined wealth of the city.  If she is a whore, then they are her pimps.

          What then are we to say?  What is the lesson for today? (Other than to be wary of encouraging people to read their Bibles?!?)

          Well, I think one of the biggest problems with this text is rape.  Violence against women is nothing new, and it continues to be a divisive topic in our modern culture.  Of all people, this story centers around Dinah, and close readers of the scripture will note she has no voice here.  Dinah never gets to say what she thinks of Shechem, of her marriage, or of the actions of her brothers.  We get hints of things, as the brothers take Dinah from Schechem’s house, and it doesn’t appear to be a place she leaves willingly.  But we never really get to hear from her.

          We have to remind ourselves that at this point in history women are no more than property.  The rape of Dinah is a property crime, not a personal crime.  She becomes spoiled goods, property value down, and that is why the one who rapes her must pay her father restitution and marry her and provide for her from now on.  The actions of the brothers are also property crimes though to a much greater extent. 

          Women aren’t property any more in this country, but they still struggle for justice in issues of rape.  And just like with this text, the drama always seems to revolve around the men.  Dinah was the one raped, but the brothers and the fathers make it about them.  So too, when women accuses attackers today, the burden of proof is on the woman, as if only the accused man were damaged in the incident.

          Leaving the issues of sexual violence aside, the overarching problem of this text is a definition of justice.  Shechem and Hamor attempt to seek justice for Dinah in the marriage contract.  Even though Shechem committed the initial offense, he is the one to offer whatever justice is asked on Dinah’s behalf. 

          In contrast, Dinah’s brothers also claim to be seeking justice.  They claim their wrath and violence, their raping and pillaging, are proper justice for the wrong done to Dinah and her family.  And even more troubling, they use religion as a weapon and an excuse in their overzealous, over-violent seeking of justice.

          And so we are forced to ask ourselves, “what is justice?”  According to the law of their day, Shechem and Hamor are in the right, and Jacob’s family is in the wrong.  The men of Jacob’s family are the bad guys here, but no one is going to tell them that.

          I am reminded of times when I have seen people use religion, and the cause of justice in this way.  I wonder how many of the tiki-torch marchers in Charlottesville would claim to be Christians?  And how do they understand justice in their context.  On the other side, I read an article in Mother Jones on anti-fa gangs whose sole purpose is to seek out neo-Nazi gatherings and beat those people up.  I am sure those folks consider their actions to be actions of justice.  So who is right, and is justice really that subjective?

          Throughout the centuries, people have used the power of religion and selfish understandings of justice and for their own gains.  Our declaration of faith today comes from the church in South Africa and the struggle of apartheid there.  Here we find the historically black church, calling the white church to task for mistaken ideas of justice.  Churches in South Africa argued that segregation was the will of God, and justice for the people.  This declaration of faith, points out the falsehood of that point of view, and calls our attention to the biblical images of justice that God offers.

          As those who claim a religious identity and dare to call ourselves seekers of justice, we must be careful that we don’t fall into these same traps.  When we seek justice in the world, is it for our own personal gain, or is it for the good of society as a whole?  When we share our religion, do we use it as an olive branch of peace, or as a weapon to beat down our neighbors?  We would do well to keep these things in mind in our daily interactions in our world.

          And so once again, we find the story of Jacob and his family to be extremely relevant for our modern lives.  Thousands of years later, we still struggle with the issues of violence against women and seeking appropriate justice in our world.  Next week we will conclude the series with a final chapter of wrestling with Jacob.  In the meantime may God help us to continue to understand what justice really is.  Amen.   

Reconciliation

August 20^th, 2017      “Reconciliation”       Rev. Heather Jepsen

Summer Sermon Series: Wrestling with Jacob

Genesis 33:1-17

          Today we continue in our summer sermons series, “Wrestling with Jacob”.  Last week we read the most famous part of the Jacob narrative, his story of wrestling with God, and we mused about how we too can experience God as one who wrestles.  This week we finally reach the climax of the tension of the Jacob narrative.  Since the beginning of his story, Jacob has been pitted against his brother Esau.  Today we discover if their reunion after 20 years apart is one of grace, or one of violence.

          (Read Genesis 33:1-3)

          Jacob looks up and sees Esau and his troops on the horizon.  He has no way of knowing if Esau comes in peace, or if he still has a heart set on vengeance.  Followers of the Jacob story will remember that Jacob tricked Esau out of a birthright and out of an inheritance.  Last we saw him; Esau was plotting to kill Jacob.

          Jacob divides the family into units.  His maids Bilhah and Zilpah and their children go first.  Then we find Leah and her children.  And in the rear, in the safest position possible, Jacob places his beloved Rachel and her child Joseph.  We know that these are his favorites, and it is clear that he intends to keep them from harm for as long as possible.

          Jacob goes out front, putting himself in the most vulnerable position.  With each step he bows himself to the ground, clearly illustrating the submissive position he intends to take before his brother.

          (Read Genesis 33:4-11)

          In yet another mark of God’s grace upon Jacob’s life, the brothers’ reunion is one of mercy and not violence.  After 20 years apart, Esau’s anger seems to have abated.  Upon seeing Jacob he runs to greet him, weeping and kissing the brother who has been gone for so long.  As modern readers, we are immediately reminded of the scene from Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son in the gospel of Luke.  Just as the wronged father runs to meet the lost son, here we have the wronged brother, running to embrace the brother who has been lost for so many years.

          Jacob introduces the family and Esau inquiries about the gift.  You will remember from last Sunday that Jacob sent herds of over 550 animals ahead of the party as gifts to appease Esau’s anger.  Esau tells Jacob that a gift of appeasement is not needed, yet Jacob continues to offer the gift.  God has richly blessed Jacob and he seeks now to share that blessing with Esau.  Finally Esau accepts the gift, not as a form of appeasement or repayment, but as a gift from one brother to another in love.

          (Read Genesis 33:12-17)

          Unfortunately the spirit of brotherly love does not last very long for these two.  Esau suggests that the two tribes merge.  They could journey together, and make a home together as one nation.  But Jacob rejects this idea outright.  He comes up with some lame excuse about children and animals, clearly wanting to avoid any further contact with his brother.  Again Esau asks about a union of tribes, he is willing to travel at Jacob’s pace, but again Jacob refuses.  It seems that now Jacob knows his life isn’t in danger, he no longer has a desire to be submissive or friendly to his brother.  The old Jacob is back, continuing to deceive even in this moment of reconciliation.

          One of the things I continue to marvel about with the Jacob narrative is that so many aspects of it reflect our own lives today.  Jacob is a blessed character, beloved by God, but he is not necessarily a good guy.  Over and over again we find his motivations to be complicated, and often self-serving.  In this example, he is happy to offer a gift to Esau, but he is not happy to offer a merging of families.  Jacob wants to keep God’s blessing for himself, and that means keeping his own family and his own tribe apart from Esau’s.  This will be reflected throughout the history of the nations as Jacob’s nation, Israel, will remain in minor conflict with Esau’s nation of Edom.

          I love that the Biblical characters offered in the Jacob narrative aren’t perfect.  Then they would seem imaginary and too distant from our own experience.  Jacob and his family are flawed people, just like us, and so we can relate to their struggles and their story.

          I think that oftentimes, real families look a lot like Jacob and Esau.  When we are young we are in competition for resources.  As children, siblings often battle for the limited resource of parental love and attention.  As adults, the battle is often over the limited resource of wealth as well as the question of who will have to take care of elderly parents.  In some cases everyone gets along great, like a storybook family, though I have to admit I know few of those.  In some cases things get too hot, and the family is never able to come together in reconciliation.  But most often, I see families that look just like Jacob and Esau.  There is reconciliation, but there is also distance and unease.  They aren’t going to kill each other, but they’re not best friends either.

          As flawed people, we aren’t very good at this reconciliation thing.  We aren’t very good at getting along.  It’s always been this way.  Even today’s Psalmist sings the praises of family when they can just get along.  “How good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”  If only we could be so lucky.

          We can find this struggle for reconciliation in our families but it is also part of our life as a nation as well.  Racial tensions continue to flare and the left and right seem to be at each other all the time.  In many ways we are siblings within this great country, and like siblings, we are in danger of having an insurmountable disagreement.  Will we be able to reconcile enough, like Esau and Jacob, to live in peace in our own separate camps?  Or will we ignite a fire so hot that it burns the whole thing down and tears the family of this country apart forever?  I don’t have an answer to that, but it is certainly something I pray about.

          Our declaration of faith today comes from the Confession of 1967, a confession written at a time when the church was reflecting on conflict within the nation that looked much like the conflict of today.  The hope found within this confession is that God is the one who is always seeking reconciliation.  Just as humans are unable to achieve perfect unity with each other, so too we are unable to achieve perfect unity with God.  This confession points the church to the reconciliation worked by Jesus Christ to heal the brokenness between God and humanity.  And this confession challenges the church to share the gospel of reconciliation and to work toward bringing peace and justice to our nation and our world. 

          Tomorrow there is an amazing event happening in our country, the Great Eclipse.  We are lucky enough to be positioned in optimal viewing range and will hopefully have chance to share in this spectacular cosmic moment together.  It will take an hour and a half for the shadow of the eclipse to pass over our country.  In that short time, we will be united as a nation, witnessing together the power and wonder of this amazing universe our God has created.  I admit, in the face of our violent disagreement an hour and a half of togetherness is not a lot.  But it is certainly a sign of hope and God’s power to unite us as a people.

          I think this summer sermon series on Jacob has been wonderful for two reasons.  One, the story of Jacob is very relatable to our own lives and our relationships with each other.  And two, most of these texts aren’t in the lectionary reading so you may never have heard them before and I certainly haven’t had a chance to preach on them before.  When I originally planned the series I thought I was going to end here, but there are two more exciting chapters to the story so I have decided to keep going.  We will finish Labor Day weekend, which for many is the end of summer anyway.  We can have a 10 part summer sermon series right?  I mean who doesn’t love Jacob?  So come back next week, as we continue to wrestle with Jacob, as well as with issues in our own lives.  Amen.  

Wrestling Match

August 13^th, 2017            “Wrestling Match”         Rev. Heather Jepsen

Summer Sermon Series: Wrestling with Jacob

Genesis 32:3-32

          This morning we return to our summer sermon series “Wrestling with Jacob”.  We we have enjoyed following Jacob on his adventures and since it’s been a few weeks I think we could do with a quick recap.  We have witnessed Jacob struggle in the womb and we have watched him trick his brother and his father out of an inheritance.  Jacob ended up fleeing his homeland in fear, as his brother Esau had vowed to kill him.  On his journey to Haran, Jacob was visited by the Lord in a dream and God promised Jacob safety and success. 

          Jacob met his uncle Laban’s family and fell in love with his cousin Rachel, but he was tricked by Laban into marrying her sister Leah instead.  Jacob stayed with Laban’s family for 20 years amassing a large family of 2 wives, 2 maids, and 11 children.  Through the blessings of God, Jacob became wealthy as he cared for Laban’s flocks.  After continuing to struggle with Laban, Jacob sensed it was time to finally return home to Canaan, and left Haran with Laban in hot pursuit. 

          Last time we met together, we left Jacob in an in-between place.  He had finally settled the score with his father-in-law Laban, and the two agreed to have no further dealings together.  Jacob and his family are half way to Canaan and the time has come to face his relationship with Esau and the family he fled from so many years ago.  That is where we pick up our story today.

          (Read Genesis 32:3-8)

          Jacob sends word ahead of his camp that he is coming.  He sends messengers to the land of his brother in hopes of determining if it is safe to proceed or not.  The messengers say that Esau has been reached and that he is coming toward Jacob with a force of 400 men.  Jacob is greatly afraid and begins to take defensive action, dividing his flocks and people into two companies.  If Esau is coming to him in anger then perhaps only half of Jacob’s wealth and family will suffer the wrath of his violence. 

          (Read Genesis 32:9-21)

          Jacob devises a two-fold plan for his safety.  First he turns to God in prayer and supplication.  In his prayer Jacob expresses his fear that Esau will kill not only him but also his wives and children.  He reminds God that God has made promises to protect him.  Jacob prays for mercy and deliverance.

          The second part of his plan is to make a peace offering to Esau.  He gathers up choice specimens from his many herds and sends them on ahead of the family as gifts for Esau.  Over 550 animals travel in groups out to meet Esau and his men, each bearing the message that they are gifts for Esau and that Jacob is on his way to meet him again, hopefully in peace.

          (Read Genesis 32:22-32)

          These ten verses are perhaps the most well-known of the long Jacob narrative.  Jacob and his family are left alone in the camp.  He sends the women and children across the river to spend the night and he himself spends the night alone on the far side of the river.  We aren’t told what Jacob means by this.  But I imagine he needed time alone to think, to pray, and to reflect on what was coming.  As far as Jacob knows, this could be his last night on earth.

          During the night, a mysterious man appears and attacks Jacob.  The two are evenly matched and wrestle and fight together throughout the night.  In his usual grasping and tenacious manner, Jacob refuses to give up, even when he is injured by his foe.  As dawn approaches the stranger asks to be released from Jacob’s grip but Jacob refuses, demanding a blessing.  The stranger offers Jacob a blessing and a new name, disappearing before the dawn finally rises and Jacob at last limps across the river.

          This story is full of big questions, one of which is who is this guy?  Throughout the centuries scholars have struggled to answer this question.  It is commonly thought that this was a very old story in the Hebrew tradition and one that people would have told each other around the camp fire long before it was ever written down.  Some say that Jacob wrestled a stranger, and that makes sense since the two are evenly matched strength wise.  Some say he wrestled some sort of angel or demon, and that makes sense as the creature comes at night.  This view is also supported by Jacob’s desire to know the creature’s name, which is a way one gains power over the demonic forces. 

          Of course some say Jacob wrestled with God himself.  That view is supported by the part of the story where the opponent must leave the area before dawn.  No one can see God’s face and live, so if the opponent is God then Jacob is in danger of dying if the sun rises and he is still grasping his foe.  Personally, I like to think that Jacob did wrestle with God because it seems to me that that is who Jacob seems to believe he is struggling with.  He was there, so he ought to know!

          The other big question surrounding this text is why.  Why does Jacob suddenly find himself in a wrestling match with God in the middle of the night?  Answers abound here as well, the most popular being that God is teaching Jacob a lesson.  Somehow Jacob is too haughty, too full of himself, (which could definitely be supported by the story so far) and God wants to knock Jacob down to size.  I understand where people are coming from with that theory but I don’t like it.  I think Jacob’s prayer just earlier that day, asking God for help and mercy shows that he knows where he stands in the grand scheme of things.

          This is a rich text, and a person could be happy with lots of answers to the “why” question here, from Jacob deserved it to God is teaching Jacob a lesson.  Lord knows, I’ve gone many different ways with it in my own preaching career.  But the more I read it, the more I think that the “why” answer is that there is no “why”.  This is just who God is.  God is one who wrestles, just as Jacob is one who wrestles.  This is what an encounter with God looks like.

          The sun rises and Jacob says, I am naming this place Peniel because I have seen God here.  And who has Jacob seen, but a person wrestling in the night.  Therefore God is one who wrestles with us, and by extension God is one who wrestles on our behalf.

          Throughout the scriptures God is grappling with God’s people.  It may not be hand to hand combat like we find at the Jabbok that night, but is certainly struggling and striving.  Does God not wrestle with Adam and Eve as they seek to learn what the relationship will be between humanity and God?  Does God not wrestle with Godself as God mourns the creation of humanity, destroys it in a flood, and then mourns that destruction promising never to do it again?  Does God not wrestle with Abraham as the two ponder the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah?  As the story of God’s people moves on we will find God wrestling with Pharaoh, wrestling with Moses, wrestling with Jeremiah and Isaiah and the prophets.  God wrestles with the ancestors of Jacob, now Israel, as the nation struggles to remain faithful.  Later we witness God wrestling with Pharisees, with Sadducees, with the Roman Empire, and even with the disciples.  Jesus himself wrestles with the father as he seeks freedom in the garden in Gethsemane and feels abandoned on the cross.  In that night on the Jabbok, Jacob saw a God who wrestles, a God who grasps and fights, a God who offers blessings but will not let us get away scot free. 

          So we too, wrestle with God.  Like Jacob we wrestle at night, in the darkness, as thoughts of faith and doubt swirl together in our minds, keeping us awake.  We wrestle as we face earthly foes of cancer, sickness, and death, struggling to hold on to the faith that offers us blessings in the midst of hardship.  Together with God, we wrestle to fight the forces of evil in our world, from hate and greed to apathy and violence, struggling to bring about a blessing for all of humanity.  Like Jacob, we wrestle with God in our lives.  I have seen it many times in the lives of others and I certainly can imagine my own faith journey in these terms.  Our God is a God who wrestles.

          Jacob leaves that night with a limp, but it is not a sign of weakness or defeat, it is a sign of blessing.  We too have our battle scars; literal fleshly marks of struggle and strife, as well as permanent places of pain in our hearts.  But like Jacob, we continue on into the dawn, knowing that these are signs of our strength and our willingness to keep going forward.  Like Jacob’s limp, our scars are marks of our continued faith in the God who strives with us, wrestles with us, and then blesses us in that striving.

          As the morning dawns on Jacob, he crosses the river to reunite with his family.  Together they must travel on to Canaan, and the frightful reunion that lies ahead.  Will Jacob be met with the violence and wrath when he is finally reunited with his brother Esau?  Or does God have others plans for this limping chosen one, Israel, the father of nations, the one who struggles with God and man?  Come back next week as we continue to wrestle with Jacob.  Amen.

Wrestling with Jacob: Breaking Away

July 16^th, 2017   “Breaking Away”        Rev. Heather Jepsen

Summer Sermon Series: Wrestling with Jacob

Genesis 30:25-31:55

          Today we continue in our summer sermon series, “Wrestling with Jacob”.  We have followed Jacob from his birth through his tumultuous family life.  We have watched him trick his older brother out of an inheritance, and be tricked himself as his uncle forces him to marry two sisters.  We have witnessed strife within his family as the sisters fight for his affections and multiple sons are born to both the sisters and their maids.  This week the family drama continues as Jacob prepares to leave Haran.

(Read Genesis 30:25-43)

          After the birth of Joseph, Jacob is ready to return home.  Laban doesn’t want Jacob to leave.  He knows Jacob is blessed by God and as Jacob has been part of Laban’s household that blessing has rubbed off on Laban.  Jacob has made Laban rich and so Laban doesn’t want to let that opportunity pass.

          The bit about the animals is interesting.  Laban asks Jacob to set the terms of his wages and Jacob is the one to offer the black and spotted sheep and goats.  These animals would have been rare in the flock so it seems like a good deal to Laban.  Following his pattern of dishonesty, after the terms are agreed upon Laban removes the spotted and black sheep and goats from the flock.  That way they can’t breed with the others, thereby insuring that Jacob has little to nothing for wages.  Setting the animals three days distance away from the white flocks just cements the situation.  As far as Laban is concerned, Jacob should leave with nothing to his name.

          The bit about the mating animals is confusing.  Some ancient people believed that what animals looked at while they were breeding would determine the coloring of the animals.  The goats that look to the spotted sticks produce spotted kids.  The sheep that look to Laban’s black flocks produce black lambs.  Really, we can’t explain this and it’s not meant to be explained.  The point of the story is not that Jacob is amazing at husbandry.  Rather, the point of the story is that God will bless Jacob no matter what.  Even though there are no spotted or black animals in his herd, still after six years, Jacob amasses a giant herd of spotted and black sheep and goats.  God makes Jacob a rich man, and Laban is left with very little.

          (Read Genesis 31:1-24)

          Things continue to grow worse with Laban and God tells Jacob that the time to leave is now.  In an interesting turn of events, Jacob consults his wives about the issue.  They too agree that Laban has abused the family and they echo Jacob’s desire to part ways with their ancestral home.  So, everyone loads up, the slaves, the wives, the children, and the herds, and they all head back to Canaan.

          Rachel sees an opportunity to get back at her father for all the trouble he has caused and she steals his household gods before the group leaves.  These would have been small, man shaped statues that represented Laban’s authority over the clan.  To steal them is a big insult to Laban’s manhood and his sense of propriety.

          When Laban finds that Jacob, the herds, and the family have all left he is angry.  The missing household gods simply add insult to injury.  The author tells us that Laban follows Jacob for seven days in an attempt to catch up with the group.  In a dream God warns Laban to leave Jacob alone.  He may be angry, but he shouldn’t take any disruptive actions. 

          (Read Genesis 31:25-35)

          Finally Laban catches up with Jacob and his big crew in the country of Gilead.  Laban is angry and accuses Jacob of stealing not only the household gods but his daughters as well.  Jacob insists he left because he didn’t trust Laban which is understandable at this point.  He swears he did not steal Laban’s gods and whoever did may be put to death.  The author is purposely creating tension for the reader who knows that Rachel has the gods.  Again, I remind you, the primary purpose of this story is to entertain us as it tells the origin story of ancient Israel.

          Laban searches Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent before he finally comes to Rachel’s.  Rachel has hidden the gods in the saddle of her camel and she remains seated upon that camel as Laban searches the tent.  As Laban searches the tent, Rachel claims that she cannot rise to honor him since she is having her period.  Because she won’t get up, Laban misses searching the saddle bag, and Rachel succeeds in her deception.

          Much of the Jacob narrative is about the power of the God of Israel.  This includes the power to bless Jacob with an inheritance that rightly belongs to another, to bring him honor through a very large family, and the magic mating of the sheep and goats that brings him great riches.  It is no accident that the contrast to this big God is the silly household gods of Laban who not only remain hidden from him, but are actually hidden in the saddle of a menstruating woman which is a tremendous insult.  The author wants us to notice that other gods are nothing when compared to the one true Lord of Israel.

          (Read Genesis 31:36-55)

          Things have finally come to a head between Jacob and Laban.  Jacob claims that he has offered Laban 20 years of service and if Laban had his way Jacob would leave empty handed.  It is God alone who has brought Jacob riches.  Laban refuses to admit defeat, claiming that he owns everything.  He even lays claim to the wives and children which is a bit of a stretch.  Laban knows he is outwitted and the two decide to come to an uneasy truce.

          They set up pillars to mark the space between them.  Jacob’s land towards Canaan and Laban’s towards Haran.  Neither will cross the halfway point and they ask that God watch between them so that none may wrong the other.  A meal is shared within Jacob’s camp but Laban does not seem to participate.  In fact Laban is silent.  In the morning Laban kisses the daughters and grandchildren goodbye and he leaves never to return.  This family connection is permanently severed.

          If you have picked up on hints of the Moses story throughout this reading that is on purpose.  From the family leaving the unjust rule of Laban, to the leaving with great riches, to the seven days travel with Laban in hot pursuit, we are meant to tie these narratives together.  Jacob’s request of Laban to “let me go” only cements the connection.  The nation that will flee from Egypt is a nation that flees from Haran in the first generation.

          Throughout this narrative we have witnessed the power of God.  It is God who has blessed Jacob beyond all expectation.  It is God who has brought Jacob family and wealth, and at this point in the narrative, Jacob has become a man who will admit to and embrace that faith.  Over and over again Jacob declares that it is God who has kept him safe and God who has blessed him.  Ever since that dream at Bethel, Jacob has seen the hand of God in his life.

          Just like us, all of the characters in this story are caught up in a drama surrounding the future.  Just who holds the future and what will it be?  That is the question underlying this text.  Will Laban succeed in keeping all the wealth to himself?  Will Leah ever find love with Jacob?  Will Rachel ever bear another son?  Will Rachel and Leah be able to break away from their abusive father and mend their bond as sisters?  Will Jacob ever come home?  And if he does come home, how will he face the wrath of Esau? 

          All of these characters wonder about their future.  The author of the narrative wants us to see that the future of these characters is in the hands of God alone.  God is the one who will bring blessing, or even curse.  God is the one with the power to remember, God is the one with the power to surprise.  God is the one who holds the story of this nation of Israel and only God knows how the story will end.

          Just like these characters we too are in fear of our futures.  Will we find happiness?  Will we be successful?  Will God bring blessings to us and those that we love?  Just as with the figures in this story, God alone holds our futures.  And as people of faith we recognize that God still has the power to remember us, God still has the power to surprise us.  I know I have certainly been surprised in my own life’s journey.

          And so today, we leave Jacob and his family on the road to Gilead.  I will be gone for several Sundays and this feels like a perfect space to leave our friend.  Jacob has broken from Laban’s grasp, and yet he is still in between things.  How will the journey home be?  And what will happen when he finally sees Esau again after these twenty years?  Come back in a few weeks and we will find out together, as we continue to wrestle with Jacob . . .