Countdown to Christmas - December 8, 2022

Troubled relationships, we've all had them. During this time of celebrations and gatherings, we may long for reconciliation. Or, we dig in, rehashing hurt and terrible words best left in the past; we strengthen our resolve to hold a grudge until that person apologizes first, and refuse to allow that person to ruin our holiday.

Jacob and Esau, sons born to Isaac and Rebekah, had a troubled relationship. They were twins, but they appear to us as different as night and day: Esau was rugged, a hunter, and his father's favorite; Jacob stuck close to Mom by the tent. Being the oldest, Esau was deserving of the birthright, a double portion of inheritance and the title of "man of the house" when Isaac died. But, even before they were born, God announced His plan:

Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”

Things would not go according to the traditions of men. 

One day when Esau got hangry, Jacob seized the opportunity: he traded some stew for Esau's birthright. But that wasn't enough for Jacob; at his mother's suggestion and with her assistance, Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing. Esau, to say the least, was fighting mad. He swore vengeance on his brother. Jacob ran off in fear for his life. Years passed and Jacob sent word to his brother, Esau, he was willing to hand over a good portion of his fortune to make amends. Jacob's servants returned with news Esau was coming their way with four hundred men. Not exactly the intimate family reunion Jacob was planning. So, Jacob tightened up the defense and prayed:

Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. 

He also sent a peace offering to Esau ahead of time: hundreds of goats and sheep, camels and colts, cows and bulls, and donkeys and their young. What a present! This put some distance between the things Jacob was willing to lose should Esau decide on revenge, and Jacob's loved ones bringing up the rear. Jacob gave his servants specific instructions and explained, I will appease him (Esau) with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me. The present. 

In this all too commercialized season, presents, satisfaction, finding that "just right" thing to make another's holiday sparkle can steal our attention from the greatest Gift of all, Jesus, the Prince of Peace, our Salvation, God with Us. The Messiah is God's peace offering to the world; it is only through Jesus we find reconciliation with God. We can never be good enough; we can never give enough. A right relationship with God requires divine intervention, a Gift more holy, more sufficient than we could ever be. The Peace Offering of Jesus is the only acceptable means by which we can enter the presence of God and receive His forgiveness. The Present, Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient Sacrifice, given to us by a Holy God, goes before us to atone for our sins, appease God's righteous wrath, and bring peace to our relationship with our Heavenly Father. When God looks at His children, He looks at them through the Present, the person of Jesus Christ; He accepts us and we see Him more clearly as His Holy Spirit remains with us, teaching and guiding us. But unlike Jacob's present to Esau, there's no "perhaps" about it. Colossians 1:19-23 assures us:

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard..."

The ending to this scene in the history of Jacob and Esau comes in Genesis 33:4:

But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

Reconciliation. 

By Jesus we are made right with God, holy and accepted. Do you long for reconciliation? Jesus, the greatest peace offering has come, has served with His life, and has gone before us into the presence of a just God who has chosen reconciliation over vengeance for those who continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. What a present!