For I desire mercy...

Today's reading was complex to me.

On the face of it, it seems difficult. Here is the man, one of the main progenitors of Judaism, Jacob, who is shown not only to be crafty, but also dishonest. "I am Esau," he says, which is a clear lie. And through this lie, he gains his father's blessing, making him lord over his brothers.

The literalists must shake their heads at this example of the reward of dishonesty. What lesson are we to learn from this? But there seems to be a larger lesson to learn. Jacob does these things at the instigation of his mother, and we clearly see a twice-told story in Genesis of how Abraham's servant is told to go find a woman for Isaac. This servant asks God for the favor of meeting Isaac's future wife in a very specific way, that she be the first to greet him and fetch him water for his camel's. The woman that greets him this way turns out to be Rebekah, the woman he had been sent to get as a wife for Isaac. God clearly puts this woman into the life of Isaac, creating the downstream effect of channeling the birthright and blessing away from Esau and into the life of Jacob. It's the story of Rebekah that we hear, not so much the story of Jacob. Through the miracle of Rebekah's presence, we are instructed of God's plan for the life of Isaac, Esau, and Jacob, and the heritage of the Jewish people. Even thought the specific example may seem to be an example of dishonesty on the part of Jacob, it is really a fulfillment of a prior gift of faith by Abraham's servant. God has done several things in our life prior to today that have fruits and consequences in today's life, and for our future life.

Opening one's perspective to a larger view allows one to encompass, perhaps, more of God's vision. Maybe that is the point of Jesus' discussion with the Pharisees. As Jesus is partying with the tax collectors, He is repudiated by the Pharisees. And so Jesus again lets us know that a larger perspective is necessary. It is easy to live by one's rationality, and hate those who have harmed us. The wickedness and the corruption of the tax collectors were well known at this time. They were the reviled agents of Roman occupation, Jewish "collaborators" who worked as agents of the Romans and profited themselves by this. So, it was easy to turn one's back on their behavior and create an outcast group. But does turning your back on someone bring them back to you? The message of Jesus is that it does not.

His lesson in perspective is that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. He quotes Hoseah 6:6, reminding the Pharisees of God's desire for mercy. In other words, ritual, for ritual's sake, becomes hollow unless it is representative of a healing heart of tenderness, love, and compassion. It is the intent of the inside of the heart that matters to God. By being with the outcasts, yet not condoning their sin, Jesus offers the light of a way back. He brings Matthew back in this way, by offering Matthew a place at his side, when probably nobody else would. While deconstructionists can parse linguistic inaccuracies until they try to remove all meaning, the inclusion of this book in the tome of the Christian sacred text underscores the meaning of mercy and sacrifice. The presence of the first book of the Bible has a concrete example of mercy.

So while we get hung up on our rational, human understanding of lessons and ritual, we are reminded of broadening our perspective, as we had to do in the story of Rebekah and Jacob. As Jesus states, new wine belongs in new wineskins. It has no place in older wineskins, for if one tries to shoehorn a new faith perspective into an older faith custom, one ruins both. For a new covenant, there must be a new perspective, and as confusing as it is for all of us who try to orient our actions and reactions "rationally," faith becomes key to our behavior.

Tomorrow's reading shows Isaac's mercy toward Jacob. Jesus preaches about God's requirement of a merciful heart over blind ritualism. Re-orienting ourselves to have a wider perspective seems to be the message. A richer meaning comes from this wider perspective.

All this is interesting, but what should it mean to me? Should I "rightfully" turn my back on those who have harmed me? Is that what it means to be a Christ-follower? I don't think that is the perspective I should have from this reading. All of this is meaningless wordplay unless it makes a change in me. Showing mercy and love, keeping steadfast in His commands, and above all, maintaining faith... That's a hard mission.