I like these Old Testament stories from Genesis. They are earthy, or down to earth. They are honest; we see the warts and all. They are real, for we can see ourselves included in the characters and in their actions. And they are mythic, that is, they share with us deep insights into the nature of God and God’s divine will and purpose for the world. Today we consider one of the most lovable but immoral and unethical characters in Genesis: Jacob.

During the month of June, we have talked about Jacob’s grandparents, Abraham and Sarah, and his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. In all of the stories we have seen a variety of human weaknesses and problems, and we have seen the unfolding answers of God’s divine character and plan of grace or salvation. And nowhere
is this better illustrated than in Jacob, later to become the father of the nation Israel.

I like Jacob. Not because he’s a good guy; because he’s not. He’s what I call one of the greatest con men of biblical history. This guy has a scheme for dishonestly getting everything he desires. He’s not the kind of guy you would want your children to model. He’s not the kind of guy you would greet before you had hidden your wallet and put both hands in your pockets. He’s not the kind of guy you would make a deal with or even buy a used car from even if the price was a $1.00, just so he could get rid of the thing. And you’d never want
to take a stock tip from him or let him double your money in 3 months. If there was a dishonest way to make a buck, Jacob would not only have mastered it, but he would have thought up 10 more ways that no one had ever considered. Oh, Jacob was the prince of con men. And this is the guy that God nominates to
carry on the divine promise to Abraham and Sarah to create a special people and to develop from them a great nation. What kind of a God chooses a Jacob as the divine answer to the world’s needs?

When we go back to the beginning, his birth, we find that Isaac and Rebekah had the same problem as Abraham and Sarah: Rebekah had trouble getting pregnant. It would seem to be a genetic problem, but in our biblical stories it’s really a theological issue. You see, God was unfolding a divine plan, and that plan
will happen in God’s time and by God’s methods. Isaac and Rebekah are older when she became pregnant, though not as old as Abraham and Sarah. And when she did give birth, she had not one but two boys. And these two boys were as different as night and day, both in appearance and in character. The older of
the twins, who rightfully should become the leader of the family after his father died, who rightfully should inherit God’s promise to his grandfather, who rightfully should inherit everything, was immediately presented as someone unable and unworthy to carry God’s blessing. The older son, Esau, had no qualities of leadership.

But then neither did the younger son, Jacob. Right from the beginning, his parents observed that Jacob was trying to push his brother out of the way, trying to put himself first. Jacob was only interested in Jacob and was only interested in God if God would grant Jacob’s requests. We see this illustrated in our story this morning. Baby Jacob grabbed hold of Esau’s foot at birth as an attempt to pull Esau back so that he Jacob could be born first. As adults, Jacob tricked Esau into selling him his right to be the oldest brother and thus the leader of the family. And still later, Jacob tricked his father into giving him the elder brother’s blessing as God’s chosen instrument to make God’s divine plan unfold. Jacob had absolutely no socially redeeming qualities
to be God’s chosen leader.

And yet he was. Despite Jacob’s lack of moral and ethical character, God had chosen Jacob as the one who would lead Abraham’s descendants to fulfill God’s promise. For what God would do was to take this con man and transform him into God’s faithful servant and instrument of grace. Jacob would experience salvation and become a new man.

And that is what I like about Jacob. God’s grace made him a new person. Just like Christ took the loud, profane, unreligious fisherman Simon and transformed him into the rock of faith, Peter, and set him over the church. Just like Christ took the Pharisee Saul, persecutor and murderer of Christians, and transformed him into Paul, missionary apostle to the Mediterranean world. Just like Christ took the ungodly and abominable slave trader John Newton and transformed him into a godly preacher who witnessed to the surprise of God’s
great mercy in the familiar hymn, “Amazing Grace.” God takes the worst of sinners and turns them into the best of saints.

You see, what makes this story so exciting and relevant to us is that it’s our story. Not one of us was born and grew up pure and sinless. We may not have had the same sins as Jacob, but we were yet sinners in need of the saving grace of God. And because God was able to take a despicable character like Jacob and
claim him as God’s own, so God was able to take us and make us God’s own. That’s the miracle. You and I did not deserve salvation anymore than Jacob did, but God gave us the gift of love and grace before we even knew God.

So it is that we come to Holy Communion this morning. These symbols of Christ’s broken body and spilled blood represent God’s grace given to us who do not deserve that grace. Yet God loved us so much that God gave us Jesus who died for our sins so that we might have eternal life. God loves each and everyone here this morning. Take and eat and remember how much God has loved you, a sinner. And if you are a sinner searching for God’s love, I invite you also take and eat. For God’s grace is especially for you. Let us now become
transformed in this sacrament of God’s grace.