January 15

Genesis 31:1-55

Thus far in God’s salvation narrative there have been a few key themes, and this passage is as good as any in illustrating them:

• God is intimately involved with his creation and is looking for people with whom he can enter into a covenant - who he can bless and look after (in this case giving Jacob loads of speckled goats and warning off the irate Laban)
• When God is seeking people to enter a covenant with, the one thing that he looks for is whether they are seeking him.  If they are, he is unflinching in his commitment to them, even if they are stubborn, deceptive, polygamous and impetuous.
• Sin is a power that grabs hold of people, even communities, and which is hard to shake off.  Jacob’s deceptive nature is now seen also in Rachel (her lies about the household gods). But God, through experienced reassurance of his provision and protection, can change people’s inclinations; witness Jacob now displaying integrity rather than deception when looking after Laban’s flocks. Of course, the problem God has with the people of his covenant is that they don’t really have the power or intention to break free from their sinful ways (this is what he sorts out some time later in the book...)

Just as a little sidenote - I love the fact that Jacob, after making the deal with Laban, offers a sacrifice and then invites his friends to a meal - what an amazing picture of faith being living out in community.

Matthew 12:1-21

“I desire mercy not sacrifice” is one of the major themes of Jesus’ life.  It is a prophetic message of rebuke to the people of the Abrahamic covenant essentially saying “this thing I was doing with you was meant to be for the benefit of all people (“all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”) but, mainly due to fear of others, you have just turned it into a series of transactions and practices that bring little pleasure to anyone.  Following Jesus should inspire kindness and openness, not stale religious practice.  We need to work hard to ensure that our church is always prioritising mercy to those beyond our walls over and above any activity focussed on maintenance or survival.

Psalm 9:13-20

It’s interesting that while David’s Psalms are so full of cries for his enemies to be destroyed, David’s life was marked by his mercy to his enemies even when opportunities arose for him to destroy them (stories with Saul and Absolom that we get to in due course).  If we baulk at his words perhaps we could see them as great methods of “venting”, dealing with anger and hurt with the only one who an actually do something about them.  God seems very hard to offend or shock, and honesty to him seems to enable David to act in extraordinarily generous ways, even when in the most difficult of circumstances.