Genesis 25:19-34
When we turn to the stories of the twin brothers Esau & Jacob in Genesis, one wonders why they are included as part of holy writ. Here are two brothers for whom – from the very moment of conception – there existed tension, jealousy, & deception. Two brothers for whom each parent, Isaac & Rebekah, had their favorite. Why did the storyteller “hang out the dirty laundry” of the family tree? Why does the Bible have to tell stories that sound so familiar and personal? Why do ‘their’ stories sound like ‘our’ stories?
Why tell these stories of such a dysfunctional family? Why include them in sacred literature? Not merely to say that what goes around comes around. Nobody in the situation is entirely guilty, neither are they wholly blameless. Perhaps we tell & retell these stories precisely because they are our stories too.
● Which of us has not been alienated from a brother or a sister, a parent or child?
● Which one of us isn’t living with a gulf which separates us from another family member, harboring some past resentment which we are unwilling to forget let alone forgive?
● Which one of us hasn’t suffered from apparent parental favoritism or tried or is still trying, even into our own adulthood, to secure the blessing, that is, our parents’ approval?
Fortunately, as Buechner [Peculiar Treasures. p.56] has it, God doesn’t love people because of who they are, but because who God is. God doesn’t withhold God’s love because of what we have done, but loves us in spite of ourselves. It’s known as grace.
Dan Ellis Killian
