Sermon Series: "Slowly in Type from Age to Age"
Title: "Esau and Jacob" or "The Younger Brother Gets What Belongs to the Older Brother"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sibling
rivalry is something many go through.
The jealousy. The fighting. The deceiving. The vying for mom and dad’s attention. For Isaac’s twins, Jacob and Esau, the
rivalry began immediately. If you
remember, as Esau, the first born, came out with Jacob grabbing his heel. Thus, he was named Jacob, meaning heel
grabber- a Hebrew idiom that means one who deceives. And we can pretty plainly see that Jacob
lives up to his name.
Look
at how Jacob, the younger brother, deceives his older brother Esau. “Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he
was exhausted. And Esau
said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!”
(Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob
said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use
is a birthright to me?” Jacob
said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and
went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
The birthright was Esau’s, it was
rightfully his, and yet he exchanges it for a pot of red stew. But there’s more going on here than what
appears. Bear with me here… The text describes what Jacob is doing as
cooking stew. Literally the text says
that he’s boiling the boiling stuff. The
Hebrew word that’s used, (waw-yizeed) is also a word used for
rebelliousness. Jacob is, in a way,
cooking up a pot of rebellion against his brother. They exchange that which belongs to each them. In exchange for Jacob’s stew, or his
rebellion, so to speak, Jacob gets Esau’s birthright.
But Jacob doesn’t stop there. When Isaac sends Esau out in the field to
hunt game for him, Rebekah sends Jacob into Isaac’s tent dressed in Esau’s
clothing, in order to trick Isaac into giving the younger brother the blessing
that belongs to the older brother.
You’d think that for all of this,
Esau would have held a life-long grudge against Jacob. And, initially, Esau does want to kill
Jacob. Wouldn’t you? Jacob has taken, by deception, all the good
stuff that belongs to the older brother, while Esau gets the short end of the
stick.
But a Cain and Abel style murder
scene isn’t how this story resolves.
After Jacob had been away for a time, he returns with his wives Leah and
Rachel, and his children. He sees Esau
coming with 400 men and assumes his life is quickly coming to an end. So, he does what any terrified younger
brother who stole the birthright and the blessing would do… He grovels. He sends gifts to Esau, his children bow down
to him, Leah and Rachel bow down to him, and he, himself, bows down to
him. But Esau doesn’t slay his brother,
rather, he forgives him. Jacob exclaims, “For I have seen your face, which is like
seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.”
Doesn’t this relationship that Esau
and Jacob have, in many ways mirror our relationship with Christ? Like Jacob, we’re the younger brother who
cooks up rebellion. We rebel against God
by our many sins of thought, word, and deed.
We deserve death for our rebelliousness; everlasting death. By all rights, our older brother, Jesus,
should strike us down… But He doesn’t.
Rather Jesus, like Esau,
forgives. He undergoes sorrow and the
cross in order that our sins would be forgiven.
In Esau, Jacob sees the face of God in his absolution and with our
brother, Jesus, He shows us the face of God as He forgives you again and again. Jesus, too, forgives our rebelliousness.
Our older brother, Christ, gives to us His, younger brothers and
sisters, that which belongs to Him. We
give Him our sin and rebelliousness and He gives us His birthright and the
Father’s blessing. He endures the suffering,
going to the cross, and we receive the good stuff. He takes our sin and He gives us His
Salvation.
And, like Jacob, you are even clothed
in His very garments of His holy righteousness and presents you to the Father. And the blessing that the Father gives to
Jesus, “You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” He also gives of
you in your baptism.
Because Jesus has gone to the cross for you, there is no sibling rivalry
between Him and us. He takes our sin and
rebellion willingly, because He loves us.
Though we are undeserving of it, He shows us the face of One who seeks
to absolve and forgive each of our rebellious thoughts and deeds. Our older Brother forgives, without
condition. For you. Amen.
The peace
of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
