{"id":822,"date":"2013-11-15T21:32:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T01:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=822"},"modified":"2013-11-15T21:32:48","modified_gmt":"2013-11-16T01:32:48","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=822","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">  var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);  (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Jacob Meets Esau &#8211; Held on Sunday, November 10, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Outline of Post on the Scripture Session held on 11\/10\/13<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Previous Week\u2019s [11\/03\/13] Review<\/li>\n<li>Background to today\u2019s Reading<\/li>\n<li>Reading<\/li>\n<li>Discussion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Previous Week\u2019s [11\/03\/13] Review<\/b><\/p>\n<p>As I read over how our discussion developed, I was struck by the fact that there are significant changes in how we as human beings view our world from the period of time in which the bible was both written and what was written about and our period, the United States in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century, in Ohio, etc.\u00a0 The world of the biblical persons was different in two extremely important ways: one could be thought of as objective and the other subjective.\u00a0 It seems obvious that the biblical persons lived a very different world, objectively speaking; a world without running water, without electricity, without any of our modern technology, without our scientific understanding, etc. etc. \u00a0Although these differences are enormous, almost indescribably different, the more significant difference may very well have been the subjective side.\u00a0 The biblical persons simply thought more compactly than we do; they didn\u2019t have the resources to make as many distinctions we do nor did they think in that way.<\/p>\n<p>I chose two words from the previous week\u2019s reading to concretize this internal, subjective difference: \u201cwrestle\u201d and \u201cdark.\u201d\u00a0 We know the difference between wrestling with another human being in a physical manner and wrestling with a problem, a decision, etc.\u00a0 In this passage, there is no question that the story portrays Jacob as physically wrestling.\u00a0 It is not at all clear that the wrestling was any more than that.\u00a0 Yet the word is a symbol of both for the author and his audience.\u00a0 It was compact; that is, the author meant both the physical act of wrestling, but he meant as well what we would talk about in terms of wrestling with emotional, moral, existential issues, life struggles.\u00a0 The wrestling occurred at night; it was dark out.\u00a0 That certainly is true in the passage; in fact, the coming of daybreak is a critical moment in the passage.\u00a0 Again though, the author didn\u2019t mean only the dark of the night time for \u201cdark\u201d was a symbol for him too.\u00a0 And in his consciousness the darkness also meant the dark moments in our life; when we don\u2019t know what to do, when we are overwhelmed emotionally, when life seems to be breaking down.\u00a0 Once we realize that the biblical authors and audiences thought more compactly, God\u2019s words open up to us a deeper, broader, richer world that can address us living thousands of years later.<\/p>\n<p><b>Background to today\u2019s our readings.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This passage is so rich that I learned, really from Annette, that taking it verse by verse proved to be what was helpful, enriching, thought provoking.\u00a0 So rather than provide the\u00a0 background at this point in the post, I will walk through the passage verse by verse, covering not all but enough that you, the web reader, can get a feel for the flavor of what was happening in our group.<\/p>\n<p><b>We are reminded as we listen to \/ read the passages to wonder <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who are the characters in the story<\/li>\n<li>What role do these characters play<\/li>\n<li>What is the plot of the story, the author\u2019s intent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Reading: Gen. 33: 01 \u2013 11: Jacob meets Esau.\u00a0 <\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/33\">http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/33<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Discussion<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The meeting with Esau really began with Jacob leaving Laban and heading back to THE LAND, to Canaan.\u00a0 Jacob strategized on how best to meet his brother and God\u2019s presence and prayer were an important part of the preparation for the meeting.\u00a0 Now out of seemingly nowhere the author tells us of Jacob&#8217;s encounters in the dark and throughout the nigh a wrestling with one whom we discover at the end of the passage to be God; a God who wrestles with man, who leaves Jacob physically damaged, limping, and with that a new identity, Israel.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting with Esau, then, occurs in light of that night of struggle and the changes that occurred in Jacob as a result.<\/p>\n<p>V. 1 \u2013 As he knew, Jacob looks up to see Esau approaching with his 400 men.\u00a0 [It is important to remember the strategy that Jacob had set in place in the earlier anticipation of meeting Esau with what follows.\u00a0 See if you can identify the differences; that is what we did in our study session.]<\/p>\n<p>V. 2 &#8211; Jacob divides his family into three groups:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The maid servants and their children<\/li>\n<li>Leah and her children<\/li>\n<li>Rachel and Joseph.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This order has meaning and what follows is even more meaningful.<\/p>\n<p>V. 3 \u2013 Jacob went ahead bowing down seven times as he approached Esau.<\/p>\n<p>In the early strategy, Jacob wasn\u2019t first, he was last.\u00a0 Stepping out in front, even though it is Esau who wanted to kill him approaching with his 400 men reveals a change in Jacob.\u00a0 Unless we who are the listeners \/ readers of the story are caught by that change, we literally miss an important factor in the story.<\/p>\n<p>Bowing down seven times is another of these compact symbols.\u00a0 We are inherently mathematicians, for us seven normally means seven, 1, 2, 3, etc.\u00a0 But for our author and his audience seven meant more than the number seven.\u00a0 Until \u201cseven\u201d means more and more approximating the more in the minds of the authors and his audience, we don\u2019t really hear the word being read or listened to.<\/p>\n<p>At this point Annette reminds us of the passage in Mt. 18:21<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen Peter approaching asked him, \u201cLord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?\u00a0 Jesus answered, \u201cI say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the Hebrews seven meant fullness, perfection, completion.\u00a0Peter and the earlier listeners to the story thought Peter was being unbelievably generous. \u00a0So Jesus\u2019 words were mind boggling to his audience as it probably is to us if we take it seriously not only at a personal level, but socially, as we create our policies, design our prisons, etc.\u00a0 But back to Jacob.<\/p>\n<p>So Jacob bows down seven times. \u00a0What is the author telling his audience?\u00a0 What is he saying to us?<\/p>\n<p>Read now what Esau does, acts, lives \u2013 remember the brother [think of compactness \u2013 brother in this story has much the same meaning as the word \u201cbro\u201d in the black culture or even more challenging in the consciousness of Jesus who says \u201cthese the least of my brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>V. 3 \u2013 Esau<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Ran [what does this gesture held in the word and all these other gestures\u00a0 say from within Esau, the wronged brother; the author talking to his audience, God talking to us] THEN Esau<\/li>\n<li>Embraced him THEN Esau<\/li>\n<li>Flunk his arms around him THEN Esau<\/li>\n<li>Kissed him THEN Esau<\/li>\n<li>Wept with him in his arms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Has this ever happened to you? \u00a0What could this event mean for Jacob? \u00a0For Roseann it was love, for Annette it was forgiveness. \u00a0What I want to do now is jump ahead to verse 10, not as it is translated by the version we use, the New American Bible which you can read in the link above, but as it is translated in the New International version.\u00a0 There we read Jacob saying to his brother<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFace\u201d is another one of those compact words, symbols.\u00a0 The word we came up with that best expresses its meaning to me is presence.\u00a0 Jacob\u2019s experience of his brother was overwhelming, the only thing he could compare it to was experiencing the very presence of God that he had just experience in the previous episode.<\/p>\n<p>Our author was telling his audience and is telling us, really anyone who has ears to hear, that to experience forgiveness is to experience the very presence of God.\u00a0 So Jesus tells Pete, \u201cNo, not seven times, but seventy-seven times\u201d without limit always, each time. \u00a0Honestly this is impossible for us unless we have been forgiven first. \u00a0And so it was with Peter.\u00a0 The crucified Christ asked Peter, the Peter who told the maid servant, \u201cI don\u2019t know the man\u201d not once but three times which again means lots of times, Jesus asks him \u201cDo you love me?\u201d And who did Jesus select, chose Peter.\u00a0 We are being told that God is forgiveness.\u00a0 Our life is drowned in forgiveness that is the message, the meaning of Christ Crucified. \u00a0To have lived long enough is know the refreshing, relieving, longing experience that forgiveness is. \u00a0No relationship with any depth is possible without it. \u00a0And every relationship is incredibly deeper, richer with it.<\/p>\n<p>Well there was much more but sufficient for today are the thoughts of today evoked in me by those who gathered, the believing community.<\/p>\n<p>You are invited to respond to these or other questions that might arise within you as you read this passage.\u00a0 Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.\u00a0 See \u201ccomment\u201d link below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Outline of Post on the Scripture Session held on 11\/10\/13 Previous Week\u2019s [11\/03\/13] Review Background to today\u2019s Reading Reading Discussion Previous Week\u2019s [11\/03\/13] Review As I read over how our discussion developed, I was struck by the fact that there &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=822\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5],"tags":[15,7,18,19],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-scripture","tag-historical-method","tag-modern-scripture-scholarship","tag-religion-and-culture","tag-scripture-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}