Preaching Jacob

I thought I’d try to get the blog rolling a little again by inviting you into a sermon series that I’m working on.  I’m going to be ‘preaching Jacob’ for six weeks starting July 10.  I’ll try to post thoughts as I develop these sermons and, of course, I’ll post the sermons after I’ve preached them.  The series is below.

I’ve begun ‘wrestling’ with the first text, which is the birth of Jacob and Esau and the first stealing of the birthright.  There are lots of binaries here:  the birth of the twins as fulfillment of promise and healing of barrenness vs. the beginning of the struggle which causes Rebekah to ask, “Why me?”;  God’s declaration and foreordination vs. Jacob’s careful conniving; Jacob as the younger, powerless brother and simple tent-dweller vs. Jacob as the hard bargainer.  Throughout the series I really want to highlight the humanness in these texts.  Jacob bargains, and wrestles, and loves, and seeks forgiveness.  He’s humbled before God, but also lifted up and blessed.  Maybe these texts can help us to think about what it means to be human in all our ambiguous humanness before God.

 

Genesis 25:19-34

“Introducing the Heel-Grabber”

 

Genesis 28:10-22

“Even at the Gate of the Heavens – A Bargain”

 

Genesis 29

“The Trickster Gets Tricked:  A Love Story”

 

Genesis 31:23-33

“On Wrestling with God(s)”

 

Genesis 33:1-17

“Reconciliation”

 

Genesis 35:1-20, 23-29

“And the sons of Jacob were twelve”