Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Genesis 24:34-48, 42-49, 58-67

Year A - Pentecost +4 or Community Practice 4
July 6, 2014

And Isaac looked up. It had probably been some time since he had been able to look up. When your father is ready to sacrifice you, something changes in the way you look at the world. We don’t hear about Isaac’s internal conversations. Presumably he knew he was responsible for his half-brother being exiled as well as how he was victimized by his father. It is hard to look up with these pulling you down from the inside.

And Rebekah looked up. A seemingly independent woman now away from the protection of family, wandering with Abraham’s servant, and with a ring on her nose. There has been enough time from leaving Nahor, even with her own servants along, to consider what a change she had committed to. Pondering in the heart makes it difficult to look up. Questions fly; responses escape.

And Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. And what of Rebekah—at first barren, then birthing babes struggling with one another, then choosing to advantage one child, then disavowed as wife out of Isaac’s fear, and then dies without it being specifically noted?

Both carry heavy loads. Both look up for at least a moment. Both proceed to continue living and growing, playing their part in an evolving story.

What word of good news would you pass on to Isaac and Rebekah at their various stages of life?


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