July 13, 2104 ~ Ancient Stories – Who Does Not Follow Convention from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

A sermon preached at John Knox Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on July 13, 2014.

Matthew 13: 1-8, 19-23
and Genesis 25: 19-34

Today’s exploration of these ancient themes in Genesis is going to be a bit different.

 We’ve been walking with Abraham the last several weeks,

seeing God move in and among the creation

choosing a people to be God’s people

and then helping them SEE differently, ACT differently

and God shapes them, molds them, guides them.

These ancient stories are about who God is,

God’s persistent, challenging, sometimes inscrutable love

and how that goes head-to-head with human proclivities

to do things our way, following our convention.

But Abraham now has died, Ishmael even comes back from the wilderness

and helps Isaac bury him, in the very cave Abraham bought to bury Sarah

and the story moves on: with Isaac and Rebekah and their own follies.

Isaac and I will always have a close bond. We father’s of twins.

But If there is anything I’ve learned as a parent of twins, its that all twins are different.

These two: Esau and Jacob, seem to be completely different personalities:

One ruddy, athletic, a marksman

the other dark, contemplative, cunning.

My girls: much more alike, much less conflicted with each other. Thank goodness.

All twins are different.

And this story in Genesis is the beginning of another sordid affair

the first act in a multi-part production where Jacob wrestles

the birthright duly owed to Esau

first through this pot of lentil stew,

and then through tricking Isaac

for a blessing a bit later down the road.

It is part of Genesis’ explanation of how the lineage of the Hebrew people

passed not through the expected right of succession…

through the firstborn son (even in the case of twins)

but through Jacob, the one who later would wrestle with God

who would be renamed Israel

Israel—the name which literally means “wrestle with God”

Jacob, the one who would father 12 sons of his own, bless his heart

including Joseph,

and his Technicolor dream coat.

It continues the tradition of God being God, and not doing things the expected way.

God chooses the younger kid, the weaker kid,

even before they were born.

Esau would also be great, would also be the first of many nations

but the line of the Hebrews, of the covenant,

would go through Jacob.

Unexepected. Unpredicted. Unplanned.

What kind of God is this, exactly?

But we also have before us this terrific story of Jesus

that gets the same themes, the same rumblings, the same disruption.

Maybe today, rather than looking directly at Isaac and Jacob,

we could look at the parable of the sower… [Read more…]