Pastor Scott Jonas
Genesis 26-27
Stolen Blessing
6/17/18
One of the threads through Genesis is
blessing. God creates in order to give
it blessing. Adam and Eve are blessed
with everything they need to thrive.
They see, touch and hear their creator.
Sin takes away that way of life.
Noah receives blessed words from God.
So does Abraham. But they can’t
touch and see him. They can only hear
the promises of blessing.
Over
the generations, sin has corrupted the passing down of blessing from parent to child. Families get screwed up. Noah’s son is banished because he shames his
Father. Abraham and Sara demand their
servant bear him a son. There are first
borns who aren’t really first borns.
There are legitimate sons and illegitimate sons. These families have been given precious words
of hope from God and it is their duty and privilege to gift them to their children. The blessing must not be stopped.
As
we heard last week in Genesis 25, Isaac and Rebekah do it right. No surrogates. No maidservant complications. They patiently wait for the Lord to bless
them with a child for twenty years. He
hears their prayers and they have twins, Jacob and Esau. They hate each other. It goes to show us parents, that sometimes
you can do things the right way and still fail.
Jacob is an entitled narcissist who believes that God’s words mean the
world revolves around Jacob. Esau is an
unholy man who believes that God’s words are worthless compared to the things
that satisfy his desires. So it isn’t a
shock when the entitled jerk schemes away the unholy jerks birthright and
blessing, a pot of stew for the right to be head of the family, and proclaimer
of the covenant.
The
birthright in any ancient nomadic family meant that the receiver got control of
the majority of the family wealth. That
came with responsibility. The receiver
of the blessing had to care for his aging parents and oversee and bless the
rest of the extended family or clan. What
makes the scene so bizarre is that a birthright is not something for a son to
sell. A birthright belongs only to the
Father. By custom, he gives it to the
oldest son. We also have to remember
that with the birthright goes the covenant from the Lord. He has promised Abraham and Isaac’s
descendants that they will become a great Nation. He will bless this family so all of the
nations can be blessed. If Jacob gets
the blessing , the rest of the Bible will read “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob.” If Esau gets the blessing
then the rest of the Bible will read “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Esau.” That is what is on the line.
You
know the story. Rebekah connives with
her protégé, Jacob by pretending to be Esau.
Jacob makes himself hairy with Goat’s skin and presents to his aging
Father a meal. The blind Isaac hears
Jacob’s voice but on close inspection feels Esau. So Isaac kissed his son and smelled him and
said
““See,
the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!
28 May God give you of the dew of
heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down
to you. Be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
Jacob
leaves and Esau comes in with his meal.
He asks for his Father’s blessing.
That the birthright, the headship, the property, the promises of God all
flow to him. Isaac doesn’t
understand. He just gave the
blessing. He thought it was Esau but he
was fooled. You can’t take back a
blessing. Esau leaves disillusioned,
angry and hateful.
This
may sound like a completely different culture that has no bearing on your life,
but you’d be wrong. We need the blessing
passed down to us as much now as they did in the era of the patriarchs. As a pastor I’ve seen families that
regularly, formally give blessing between parent and child. I’ve also seen the destruction that comes
when a parent withholds blessing. It is
apparent to me that we were designed to take blessing and gift it to the next
generation.
Biblical
blessing is something that every Christian needs. What is Biblical blessing? We see it in the Isaac example. Biblical blessing is a father kisses a child
and speaks God’s hopeful promises. Today
we would apply it to any parent, grandparent, God parent, foster parent,
guardian, mentor or teacher. The
receiver of blessing can be any son or daughter, boy or girl, man or woman.
It
goes all the way back to the Garden. The
Lord touched Adam and Eve when he created them.
He spoke life into them. Then he
told them about the incredible future they would have together. We were designed for this. You may have noticed that during communion I
give a biblical blessing to our children.
I get low and look at them eye to eye.
I touch their forehead, make the sign of the cross and say “The Lord
Bless you and Keep you.” I may not be
their biological father but God has commanded me to care for them. I know we have wonderful, faithful, nurturing
parents here. I hopefully, add to the
blessing they receive at home. The
touch. The promises. The hope.
Here’s
the Jesus connection to the Genesis story.
Who is God’s first born? Is it
Adam? Is it Noah? Is it Abraham? No.
It’s Jesus. Even though Jesus has
always existed, he is the firstborn. He
receives the first portion of blessings.
The Father hugs him and says, “This is my son with whom I am well
pleased, listen to him.” He receives
love, knowledge, forgiveness, righteousness, sonship and all of the blessing of
God. Jesus then takes that blessing and
gives it to you through touch, promise and hope. When you were baptized, someone touched your
heart and your forehead and made the sign of the cross in the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You heard
the promise that God is with you always even to the end of the age.
If
you’ve received the blessing from your heavenly Father then you have a
responsibility to pass on that blessing to your household. We can make the pledge here and now that
Everynight in every one of our homes we will formally bless our loved
ones. Before anyone goes to bed, go to
them make the sign of the cross on their forehead and say, the Lord bless you
and keep you.” It sounds too
simple. It sounds trite. But it could
have a huge impact.
As
you know, my father died when I was seven, So my single mom gave me the
blessing. But before he died I got to
visit him in the hospital. I got up into
his bed, snuggled in the crook of his arm.
I don’t know the words he said, but I know they were words of
blessing. I left that room feeling that
whatever happened I was going to be O.K.
My Father loved me. His heavenly
Father loves him. And nothing would
change that.