Reflections on “Lenten Love: Divine Love” Genesis 25: 21-34 and Genesis 32: 24-31

As I was working on this week's sermon, I discovered that I had never posted this sermon from Feb, 2024.  I am posting it mainly so that it will be included in future searches through my previoulsy preached sermons.

“Lenten Love:  Divine Love”  February 25, 2024 Genesis 25: 21-34; Genesis 32: 24-31;  SAPC, Denton; Richard B. Culp 

²⁴Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” ²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” ³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Introduction: Esau and Jacob - brother love?

Isaac/Esau and Rebekah/Jacob  - parental love 

God’s divine love

The Esau/Jacob saga reveals aspects of all three.

Walter Brueggemann, retired Old Testament professor at Columbia Seminary and Genesis scholar notes that this narrative “portrays Israel in its earthiest and most scandalous .…  the narrative is not edifying in any conventional religious or moral sense…. But for that very reason, the Jacob narrative is more lifelike.”

if you have ever thought my mom loves my brother more than I;

or my dad loves my sister more than I;

or if you have ever been involved in a give and take relationship with a sibling;

or if you have ever found yourself in a relationship that was supposed to be loving and if falls short;

you perhaps recognize yourself in the Jacob and Esau’s story.

this week, we continue our Lenten love series reflecting on how we discover love in the biblical texts.  

We have reflected on the how God’s love encircles all the days of our lives and how God’s love is a covenant love.

This morning, we look at how divine love appears even in the messiness of our human relationships.

So let’s see what we can learn from Esau and Jacob, Isaac and Rebekah.

Move 1: First of all, we discover that divine love reveals the God who is true to the promises God makes. 

a.  In response to Isaac’s prayer for his wife Rebekah and her desire to bear a child, we are told that God grants this prayer.

1.  This should not surprise us - it is not the first or the last time in the biblical story that  barren woman will bear a child as a sign of God’s promise.

2. We also know what is at stake - the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars had needed Sarah to have Isaac, 

and now needs Rebekah to have a child so Isaac to has a son to carry on the lineage and live into the promise God has made.

b. We do not know why God makes the promise that God makes.

1.  In response to a troubled pregnancy, Rebekah inquires of God about her pregnancy, and God tells her that two nations will come out of her womb;

they will be divided;

and the older shall serve the younger.

2.  Esau out of the womb first;

Jacob next;

and as the story unfolds, despite Jacob and Rebekah seeming to be the conniving side of the family taking advantage of Esau and Jacob, God’s promise made will come true.

c. We do not know the mind of God.

1.  wE are limited by our human perspective.

2. In fact, Brueggemann notes that even the narrator of the story in Genesis seems to take the side of Esau and Isaac and present them in a more favorable fashion.

3.  Nothing is black and white in this story.

4. But, as the story unfolds, divine love reveals the God keeps the promises God makes.

Move 2:  Esau and his father Isaac seem to turn away from divine love with the choices they make.

a.   Remember that because he was firstborn, although not by much, Esau got the birthright.

   1.  it meant The family name and titles were to be his.  He would also receive a chief portion of the inheritance. But it was more than just a title to the physical assets of a family. It was also a spiritual position, and in the case of the people of God, God would lead the family through patriarchs, or fathers (Hebrews 1:1-2). Additionally, in the special case of Esau and Jacob, that meant the one to whom belonged the birthright was the one through who the covenant promise made to their grandfather, Abraham, would be realized. (http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-genesis-25-29-34.htm)

  2.  If you knew you were going to receive the biggest share of your father’s possessions; you knew you were going to have the chance to be the family leader; if you knew you would be that presumably the covenant with God would pass; if you had all that waiting for you as a future inheritance, what would you sell it for in the present moment?

b.  Esau gives it all up for a good smelling blow of soup when he is really hungry.

  1.  He’s been out in the fields, presumably hunting. 

  2. tired and hungry.

  3.  He is famished.  In fact, his hunger becomes part of his rationale — “If I starve to death, my birthright won’t do me any good.”

4.  There is Jacob….with some soup.

5.  “Mmm, mmm, mmm.  This soup sure smells good.  Brother Esau, I think it smells so good that you’d be willing to sell your birthright to me for a bowl.”  (I can see a Super Bowl commercial coming out of this scene!).

  6. Like that, Esau gives up his birthright

7.  We might note that later when Jacob steals Esau’s blessing from Isaac, food is involved again.

8.  Esau and Isaac seem more focused on immediate gratification and the food in the moment than the promise and the hope of God’s divine blessing.

c.  Then we have Rebekah guiding her son Jacob with a  different focus.

1.  Rebekah has her mind on God’s plan and communicating with God, not her next meal.

2.  she has heard God’s promise,

experienced God’s love in the birth of her sons,

and acts in ways that open her up and Jacob up to live into God’s promises.

Move 3:  Finally, the story of Jacob wrestling with the stranger in the night reveals the mystery and the relational nature of divine love.

a.  After a night of wrestling, the morning dawn is about to arrive.

1. In this cryptic wrestling match, the unnamed wrestler, maybe God’s very own self, demands that Jacob let him go.

2.  Does the wrestler want a release for his own sake, or is it a gift for Jacob?  After all, if the unnamed person is indeed God and Jacob sees the face of God might have meant death for Jacob, such was the power and awesome nature of God.

3.  Jacob is apparently still interested in blessings since he responds to the request to let go with a demand that the stranger give him a blessing in exchange for his release.

b.  The stranger does not mention giving Jacob a blessing but shifts the conversation to how Jacob’s life will be transformed.

1. He will no longer be called Jacob, but now he will be Israel.

2. Somehow this mysterious wrestling encounter between Jacob and God leads to a transformed life.

3.  In fact, we know that this new name will become the name of God’s people.

3. The relationship with Jacob and the divine promise will continue.

4. Brueggemann notes that Israel is not formed by success, or shrewdness, or land, but comes out of a wrestling match Jacob has.

c.  Almost as an afterthought, Jacob asks to know his wrestling partner’s name - “Please tell me your name.”

1. Like Moses before the burning bush, Jacob wants some clarity about who God is.

2.  Jacob is not given a name, but a blessing.

3. The point being made, of course, is that God is the one who can and will bless Jacob.

God is the one who can and will be true to the divine promises already made. 

  d.  What does this tell us about divine love?

1.  that divine love is lived out in relationship and vulnerability.

2.  Jacob engages God in the night;

the wrestling exposes Jacob’s vulnerability - he will literally limp away from the wrestling match.

3. But Jacob also leaves a changed person.

3.  to engage God means clinging to God even while being vulnerable.

clinging to God as God transforms us.

Conclusion:   Jacob, Esau, Rebekah, Isaac - no one loves perfectly, or maybe even comes close.

but the divine love of God still finds them;   still finds us.

Reflections on "A Holy Curiosity" Exodus 2: 23- 3:6

this was my first Sunday back at St. Andrew after a 4-month sabbatical.  I have been wanting to preach a sermon tying the Ted Lasso story and the burning bush story together for quite some time.  In all honesty, the sermon I ended up with did not quite meet the hopes I had for the sermon (this is often the case!).  I had preached a version of this sermon in August at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Corsicana, TX, when I was the guest preacher there.  It had been my home church during my time in seminary.

I love the Ted Lasso story and the burning bush story!  I had never noticed that Moses notices the burning bush and goes over to see about it.  As noted from the Jenista comment, others have seen the role of curiosity in this story from Exodus.  I hinted at it but perhaps was not explicit enough, that curiosity might be a way to help us bridge differences, particularly when it comes to some of the great divisions we now have over difficult issues.

 “A Holy Curiosity” September 22, 2024; St. AndrewPresbyterian Church; Matthew 16:21-28; Exodus 2: 23 - 3:6 Mark 9: 2-9; Exodus

A moment of Personal Privilege:  This pulpit has seen a lot of action this summer!  Apparently, the spotlight has been burning bright because I noticed Friday when I stood in the pulpit that the light bulb that shines on the pulpit has gone out, literally!

As I have heard about this past summer’s worship here at St. Andrew, I almost wish I had been here for it — almost!

There will be more opportunities for me to share about my sabbatical time and hear about what has been happening here at St. Andrew the last four months, but on my first Sunday back, I wanted to give my thanks to this congregation for its care for its pastors that provides for us to have sabbatical times periodically.

thanks to the Personnel Committee for making it part of how St. Andrew embraces its ordained staff;

thanks to the Session for approving my sabbatical plans;

thanks to all the wonderful preachers who filled the pulpit this summer

thanks to the Ruth Anderson fund for providing for most of the activities that took place at St. Andrew this summer;

thanks to Stephen Plunkett and Alison Plunkett McStravick who generously suggested the use of funds from the Margaret and Steve Plunkett memorials to provide financial support for my sabbatical plans.

thanks to the sabbatical committee for their guidance of the whole process;

thanks to the staff for their work in making the sabbatical run so smoothly that St Andrew's activities did not skip a beat this summer;

finally, thanks to my colleague Dr. Lisa Patterson for her tireless work leading into my sabbatical time and throughout the last four months.  

Even as I have been blessed by the wonderful opportunity to go on sabbatical, St. Andrew continues to be blessed by the many talented people who make things like a sabbatical such a wonderful and meaningful time for me and this congregation.

 Exodus 2:23 -  3:6

²³After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. ²⁴God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” ⁴When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Introduction:   Perhaps you have heard of the hit Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso, in which the title character is an American football coach, who is exported to the U.K. to manage a British football, that is, soccer team. 

I was a little late to the Ted Lasso phenomenon.  People kept telling me i would love it, but I kept thinking, who wants to watch a soccer show in England about a football coach from America? 

But, it became one of the Covid TV binges my wife Leslie and I had.

and, I did love it.

In a particularly moving episode, Ted Lasso and the antagonist Rupert—the vindictive former owner of the soccer team—place a significant wager on a game of darts. 

At the beginning of the scene, Rupert asks Ted if he liked darts, to which Ted replies, “they’re ok.”

Fast forward, and Ted’s last turn arrives and he needs a perfect sets of throws to win.

At this moment, Ted pauses to switch hands and move from throwing with his right hand to throwing with his left hand.

then, he shares the following lesson.

“Guys have underestimated me my entire life and for years I never understood why – it used to really bother me. Then one day I was driving my little boy to school, and I saw a quote by Walt Whitman, it was painted on the wall there and it said, ‘Be curious, not judgmental.’ I like that.” (Ted throws a dart.)“So, I get back in my car and I’m driving to work and all of a sudden it hits me – all them fellas that used to belittle me, not a single one of them was curious. You know, they thought they had everything all figured out, so they judged everything, and they judged everyone. And I realized that their underestimating me – who I was had nothing to do with it. Because if they were curious, they would’ve asked questions. Questions like, ‘Have you played a lot of darts, Ted?’” (Ted throws another dart.)

“To which I would have answered, ‘Yes sir. Every Sunday afternoon at a sports bar with my father from age ten until I was 16 when he passed away.’ Barbecue sauce.” (Ted throws a double bullseye to win the game.)

(https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/04/08/be-curious-not-judgmental-a-leadership-lesson-from-ted-lasso/; “Be Curious, Not Judgmental: A Leadership Lesson From Ted Lasso” Connie Whittaker Dunlop

As I have reflected on Ted’s comment about curiosity, I have thought about the role of curiosity in our lives of discipleship.

Move 1: Moses embraces curiosity and it changes his life.

a.  As you have probably figured out over the last 8 years, the burning bush one of my favorite biblical stories.

1.  I have preached on this story and taught on it numerous times.

2.  Lots of wonderful themes - the power of the God who remembers God’s people;

the God who hears our cries;

the God who calls us into leadership.

the God who is always working to redeem and save us.

Lots of wonderful themes, but instead of any of them, I thought we’d reflect on the role curiosity plays in the story!

b.  the story does not begin with Moses at the burning bush;

1. it begins with Moses noticing the burning bush and going over to see about it.

He is curious about the burning bush and won’t be satisfied until he learns more about it.

2. I suppose any of us might notice a burning bush around us.

3. But think about how Moses could have responded

Maybe, I better throw some dirt on it

or, let me run get some water to drown out the flames.

or, I better evacuate the place.

or, I need to move the flock away from danger.

2.  Instead,  the burning bush makes him curious.

he wants to know more about it.

Moses says, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”

He wants to dig deeper to figure out what is happening and what he can learn from this burning bush.

4.  As Meg Jenista notes in her commentary on this story: “Out in the middle of nowhere, Moses sees a strange bush, burning but not burning up. In a moment of curiosity that instigates the unfolding of God’s plan, Moses decides to turn aside and investigate further. https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2023-08-28/exodus-31-15-3/; Meg Jenista, calvin seminary)

3. When Moses’ curiosity takes him over to the burning bush, God responds by calling to him from the burning bush.

c. Moses’  curiosity opens him up to new possibilities.

1. all that follows - 

Moses developing a personal relationship with God.

Moses becoming the leader of the Israelite people.

Moses lifting his staff to part the Red Sea at God’s command.

Moses bringing the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai

all of what follows happens because Moses’ curiosity takes him over to the burning bush.

2.  Some frustrating and scary stuff happens to Moses through the years as well.

I bet there were times Moses looked back and wished he had not been so curious.

But he was curious.

4.  And before all is said and done, Moses will have played a critical role in God leading them out of slavery in Egypt and God’s saving action in redeeming the Israelites

Because he was curious about the burning bush.

Move 2:  In the story from the Gospel of Matthew, we see Peter’s lack of curiosity.

a.  Jesus tells them what he is about the face.

shows the disciples what is going to happen

his suffering

his death

his being raised from the dead.

b.  Peter’s response?  A decided lack of curiosity.

1.  Peter wants no part of what Jesus is telling them and showing them.

2.  No questions like “Why do you have to suffer?”

“Why do you have to die?”

or, “What do you mean you will be raised from the dead.”

No exploring or learning more.

No curiosity.

3.  Peter does not like the sound of what Jesus is saying, so instead of asking more about it,

instead of trying to figure out what Jesus is saying, he shuts down the conversation by immediately rebuking Jesus.

4. maybe you know that tendency, you run into an idea or problem that you don’t want to deal with or work on, so you just shut it down.

c. Jesus responds to Peter by calling out Satan and telling Peter he is a stumbling block.

1.  it seems to me the stumbling block for Peter is his unwillingness to engage Jesus and discover what Jesus is trying to teach him.

2. A little curiosity and Peter might have learned what Jesus was going to do and accomplish by dying on the cross.

A little curiosity and Peter might have come to understand why Jesus needed to die on the cross;

a little curiosity and Peter might have grasped the enormity of what is going to happen when Jesus is raised from the dead.

d. Now I know curiosity is not the answer to everything.

1. Death on the cross and resurrection are pretty overwhelming concepts to understand or live into whether we are curious or not, 

2. but I find it instructive that Moses’ curiosity opens him up to the possibilities God has for him, possibilities for redemption and God’s saving grace.

and Peter’s lack of curiosity leads to Jesus rebuking him.

Move 3:  think about how curiosity could be one of our tools for discipleship. 

a.  how curiosity might help open us up to the possibilities for what God is doing in our lives and our world.

1.  when we are dealing with the God of the burning bush and the God of resurrection, we need to learn how to break out of out of our set patterns so we can discover what God desires of us.

that new thing that only God can do.

2.  We need to discover how to create space to allow our curiosity to lead us instead of immediately responding in ways that shut things down. 

if not, we confine God to the box of what we know instead of participating in what God can and will do.

b.  We Iive in a divided world these days.

century-long divides that lead to fighting in Eastern Europe and the Middle East;

political divides here in the United States that separate us and make opponents of friends and family.

1.  lots of Christians weighing in on which position best represents God’s position or reflects discipleship in Jesus Christ.

2. Many conflicting opinions of where God is in all these differences and conflicts.

3.  But instead of being curious, we too quickly resort to just seeking proving our positions correct and judging others as incorrect.

4. Instead of seeing possibilities for new understandings and discovering new paths God has for us, we quickly respond to with narrow answers that shut down possibilities.

how do we create the space to allow God to be at work among us and even among those with whom we might disagree?

No one of us has a monopoly on the will or way of God.

5. yesterday at the Grace Presbytery meeting (welcome back from sabbatical!), the presbytery’s youth leadership led worship.  

One of the young women commented that the Presbyterian church always seems to be curious about things!”

I hope she is correct.  

I hope we as a church can continue to be curious enough to engage each other to engage the world, and engage God in ways to reveal what God is calling us to do and what God is calling us to be!

c.  Speaking of curiosity,  do you remember God’s answers when Moses asks God what God’s name is?

God replies  “I am who I am,” 

or “I will be who I will be.”

2.  A pretty curious answer that speaks to the infinite possibilities of who God is and what God will do.

3. a name that says “You cannot confine me.”

  4.  A name that says, “Do not limit me to what you think it possible, but give yourselves over to what I can do through you.”

  5.  a name that points to the God who is ever before us full of possibilities, 

the God who calls us to be curious and live into that which we may never have imagined.

conclusion: Just like in the time of Moses, I have no doubt that God hears our cries;

God remembers us.

Perhaps we should join Moses and be a little curious about what God is doing so we can discover God’s call for how all of us can be part God’s work to redeem and save the world.