Morning Devotion for Epiphany
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
The Invitatory
I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Genesis 27:1-29
When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food to eat, that I may bless you before the Lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he likes; and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go, get them for me.” So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob; and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the savory food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob.
So he went in to his father, and said, “My father”; and he said, “Here I am; who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
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!”
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
The TLDR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) of today’s Scripture is: Jacob has stolen his brother Esau’s blessing from their father Isaac on his deathbed, and seems to have gotten away with the theft unharmed. This act is the fruit of that first deception Jacob had committed against his brother when, two chapters prior, he sold him some soup at the bottom dollar-price of his birthright. The good portion of their father’s inheritance that had been destined for the eldest twin Esau would now be Jacob’s. In a surprising turn of events, it would be the root of Jacob from which the Israelite people would be destined to trace their lineage.
Had this story been otherwise, then that great epitaph of Jewish prayers to Adonai (The Lord) might instead be attributed to “…the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau.” But alas, the trickster has gotten away with his crime, never to make recompense for what he had stolen – an entire nation, offspring, and covenant – from his brother. We ought to wonder then, why is it that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob seems to condone such trickery? This is not the only time in the Old Testament in which the “trickster” motif arises – one in which the human deceiver is rewarded for his or her immoral behavior. We might also recall the midwives in Exodus (1:15-21) who disobeyed the commands of Pharaoh and spared the young Jewish infants from execution. What might this tell us about the God who rewards the cunning and deceptive?
At the very least, it should let us know that God does not operate under the conventional wisdom and moral principles established by human beings. God is so surprising precisely because God is entirely “other” from us. There’s no good answer for why Jacob is rewarded, and Esau is punished. But there also aren’t good answers for why any number of events play out as they do on both local and universal scales. However, in spite of history’s countless tricksters and deceivers one must not forget that they all seem to find a hope of redemption in the greatest trickster of all time – in the One who overthrew all expectations, understandings, and forces of iniquity when He rose from the grave. Throughout all such changes and chances, this God has always been “…the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Assist us mercifully, O Lord, in these our supplications and prayers, and dispose the way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation; that, among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, they may ever be defended by thy gracious and ready help; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
