Saturday of the 13th Week in Course 2023
Back about sixty years ago, when I was growing up, there was a TV ad for some political candidate that had the opponent’s picture on the screen, interpreted by a loud voice-over yelling “LIE, CHEAT, STEAL.” The approach was hokey and original for our market, and it worked. The general public associated the candidate’s opponent with theft and prevarication, which I know are very rare for politicians, and they voted accordingly.
Reading today’s story from the Book of Genesis, we ought to put Jacob’s and maybe Rebecca’s picture up on the screen and yell, “LIE, CHEAT, STEAL.” With the intention of stealing the most-favored blessing from Dad, Rebecca outfitted Jacob’s wimpy hands with hairy skin from a goat that Jacob had slaughtered out of his flock. Moreover, she prepared the goat as poor Isaac liked it, when she had heard him give older bro Esau instructions to cook the food himself. So the intention was clear–cheat older brother, steal his birthright, and lie both verbally and tactily to Dad for that purpose. Lie, cheat, steal, and to blazes with the consequences. It’s an early attempt to get the end to justify the evil means. Note, please, children, that the Scriptures are not trying to justify lying, cheating and stealing. Those things are wrong with or without the Ten Commandments in hand.
So what we have here is a seriously dysfunctional family, with a disabled husband alienated from wife and youngest son, and an eldest son who will go through life complaining that his father was an idiot and his God had it in for him. Jacob will have to leave his family and himself get cheated in a foreign land before he will be fit to return home. That would be the real price he paid for his blessing, for being chosen, with all his faults, by the Lord.
Our Gospel reminds us that John the Baptist lived and ministered so that the people of Israel, Jacob’s descendants, would repent of and mourn for their sins. So it was fitting that John’s disciples would fast at least twice a week. But John also knew he was not himself the Bridegroom of Israel. That was and is the role of the Lord Jesus. So when He was on earth, His disciples did not fast. And in the kingdom, none of us will fast. Scripture pictures the kingdom as one long party, a wedding banquet. But in our day, we fast as we wait for the return of the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. On Fridays, our fast commemorates the first Good Friday, called “good” because on that day, Jesus died to redeem our sinful state. His Precious Blood cleanses us and anyone who believes in Him from our sins. We even have a season of fasting called Lent, so we can’t forget that this is not our true home, that we are expecting the arrival of our Divine Bridegroom. Never forget that, and give thanks that we are called to fast and pray.
