I’m just curious…how many of you went to a wedding yesterday? I’m interested because, though there wasn’t one here, and I didn’t do one yesterday, apparently an awful lot of people were married yesterday. Saturday, July 7, 2007. 07/07/07. Lucky 7’s. Are we superstitious?!

It was the largest day for weddings in decades. Interviews seem to indicate that brides wanted a lucky wedding day, while grooms liked an anniversary date they could remember! (Men!). One wedding I read about had 7 groomsmen and 7 bridesmaids, and guests from 7 different countries, and the reception was scheduled to go for 7 hours. And the wedding was to start at 7:07pm. Amazing.

But my favorite story was that Wal-Mart ran a contest for its employees nationwide, and the prize was that they would totally cover the cost of 7 weddings. The winning couples were to be married in the Lawn and Garden Dept. at the stores! At one in Oregon, the maid of honor was the manager of the sporting goods department; one of the groomsmen worked in the tire and lube section; and the officiant was a retired pastor who cashiers at checkstand #6. A lucky day.

Well, in our reading from Genesis this morning, Jacob was perhaps wondering if it was his lucky day…or if he and everyone he cared about would be dead by the end of the day.

We’ve been tracking Jacob for weeks now. We know all about his sly and deceitful ways of dealing with people, especially people close to him. Tricking his father Isaac, his uncle Laban, outright stealing from his twin brother Esau, both the family inheritance birthright and their father’s blessings. Now after 20 years away, Jacob is heading back towards Canaan, right towards Esau, who had promised to kill him.

But in the midst of surviving, swindling, dealing, accumulating a family and many material riches, moving, two extraordinary things have happened to Jacob.

First, God had met him in a dream (chpt 28), assuring him of the continuation of the promise first made to his grandfather, Abraham, of land-family-blessing, and his presence.

And then second, as we read last week, is that God met him in person, in the form of a man who literally wrestled through the night with him, who put his hip out of socket so that he limped, who changed his name from Jacob (deceiver) to Israel (one who wrestles with God). Which is why Jacob named that place Peniel, which meant “the face of God,” because “here I saw God face to face and yet lived.”

But now the continuation of that very life is at risk. Jacob draws near to Esau.

Read: Genesis 33:1-11

Older brothers. Mine was three years older, and for the most part we got along pretty well. Jacob and Esau were twins, just moments apart, with Esau being the oldest. But it’s funny. The Bible likes younger siblings.

Next week, we’ll start reading about Joseph, the next to youngest son of Jacob. Or King David, the youngest of 8 sons of his father Jesse. Even when Jesus told the story of the Prodigal Son, it was the younger son who returned who ended up as the hero. And in this story, it is younger sibling Jacob who is the one with the brains, the one who one way or another ends up with the blessing, the one whom God reaffirms the promise with, the one God wrestles with.

The Bible is always doing this, turning things upside down. It’s always the younger, the unexpected, the undeserving or underqualified who rises almost inexplicably to the top. But. In this story we have the vindication of all older siblings. Though he is perhaps more brawn than brains, Esau has something profound to teach Jacob. And us. It’s called “forgiveness.” I believe, actually, that it is the most powerful force in the world. And it is one which we so little understand.

Jacob sees Esau coming from a long way off, with 400 of his closest friends with him. It doesn’t look good. He divides up his family, putting the maids who have mothered his children at the front. Then Leah, his first wife, with her kids. Then Rachel, his favorite, with her son Joseph in the rear.

Perhaps he was putting them in the order he would prefer to lose them, if it came to that (if Esau really, really mad). Perhaps he was simply putting them in the order he wanted his brother to encounter them. We don’t know. But what is interesting here is Jacob.

I suspect that the old Jacob would have hung back in the back. Played it safe. The old Jacob would have used the others to test how Esau would respond. The old Jacob, the Jacob before encountering God at the river, would have been guided by his fear.

But Jacob has been changed. Oh, he’s not perfect. But he’s no longer “the deceiver,” he’s “the one who wrestles.” He hurries up ahead of all of them. He will face his brother head on, face to face, come what may. That’s a change.

As Jacob draws near to Esau, he bows to the ground. If he had bowed one time, it would have been a sign of great reverence. But to bow 7 times…that was something extraordinary. That was reserved, according to historical documents from the time period, for when visiting princes came before the Pharaoh of all of Egypt. It was big, really big.

Jacob bows before Esau. Jacob’s wives and children bow before Esau. And there’s something here that is subtle, but very important. When Jacob tricked his father and stole his blessing that was intended for Esau, the blessing included these words: “Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.” Esau should have received that, but Jacob stole it. Now here is Jacob, bowing before his brother. Almost like he is trying to give the blessing back to the rightful owner.

And in the same way a minute later, Jacob insists on giving Esau huge gifts of livestock. Again, Isaac’s blessing had been “may God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth.” Jacob had ended up with that instead of Esau, but here Jacob is trying to return the blessing to Esau.

But in the meantime, Jacob has arrived in front of Esau. He is the prodigal, isn’t he, returning to confess how he messed up. Jacob carries the full weight of what he has done, and the fear that he now must pay the price he full well deserves. Will it be his life?

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

I’ll be repeating that several times this morning. Jacob had no right to think it would end up this way. But he had been encountered by God twice on the journeys. It’s changed him. And almost to make sure that the change sticks, God sends Esau to him. Esau, who models out for us a powerful forgiveness… without really even using words.

Forgiveness is the most powerful force in the world, one which we know very little about. Even though I didn’t do a wedding on 07/07/07, I am doing a fair amount of premarital counseling right now. One of the conversations I often have with couples is:

“Is there a difference between saying “I’m sorry,” and “Will you forgive me?”

My contention is that there is actually a big difference. If Anne and I have a disagreement, it is not insignificant for one of us to say “I’m sorry.” But it feels entirely different to admit to being in the wrong, and then say “Will you forgive me?” Because then it is a two-part conversation, and a two-party process of reconciliation. It’s also harder. On both ends. Agreeing to forgive means not dragging it up next time you have a disagreement.

Forgiveness is the most powerful force in the world. Especially when it occurs in places where people are totally at odds. In 2006, you’ll remember the October school shootings in a one-room schoolhouse in the Amish country in Pennsylvania. Five young students were killed. A painful, painful tragedy.

One of the more remarkable things to come out of that situation was the way the Amish Christians modeled forgiveness. Chose to forgive.Within hours of the tragedy, Amish neighbors went to comfort the family of the gunmen. Some fathers of the students who died went to the home of the gunman’s parents and asked what they could do to help. A neighbor said “I hope they (the family) stay around here, and they’ll have a lot of friends and a lot of support.”

The world doesn’t get it. We don’t really get it. Philip Yancey said “reporters from every major country swarmed the hills of Pennsylvania, looking for an angle. They came to report on evil and instead ended up reporting on the church….The (Amish) rallied together, embraced the killer's family, ministered to each other, and healed wounds by relying on a sense of community strengthened over centuries.”

It wasn’t denial. “The hurt is very great,” one observer said, “but they don’t balance the hurt with hate.”

Forgiveness is the most powerful force in the world. Jacob finds it in the face of God when he’s encountered by the river, given a new name. And he finds it again in the face of his brother…his sworn enemy.

It makes you listen more closely to Jesus’ words about enemies:
“ But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.”

Enemies.

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

It’s hard for us to get this. Esau extends totally unmerited (and unrequested) forgiveness. Accepts Jacob’s gifts only because it’s important to Jacob. Esau invites Jacob to come and live near him. And Jacob, who has been so fearful, Jacob who during the night wrestling match has seen God’s face, sees it again in the face of his brother. “For truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God.”

What if? What if…this spirit of God, this model of Esau could live in our world? Would it not be a radically different world?

A while back I read a very helpful book on the Middle East crisis by Sandy Tolan called “The Lemon Tree.” It was a very concise and real-life explanation of some of the depth of hatred and fear that exist between Israelis and Palestinians. And while it was helpful to understand the issues, it really wasn’t very hope-full. The enmity runs so deep. And one side’s freedom fighters are the other sides’ terrorists. It’s difficult to imagine a solution for peace.

But what about this forgiveness of Esau’s? Of God’s? What if? “But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him…and they wept.”

I think most of us, if we hear Jesus talk about forgiving enemies, we think about big macro things like the Middle East, or like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa at the fall of the apartheid regime. But when we think of ourselves, our first thought often is: “Well, I don’t really have enemies.” But this story invites us, no forces us to think closer to home. In fact, right in the middle of our families, members who are isolated or outcast. People in our workplace whom we just avoid. Neighbors who are labeled “odd” and ignored. They’re not “enemies,” we think. Really?

I’m wondering for you this morning. In your own life, own marriage, family, workplace, friendships…where is God calling you to forgive? Initiate? To step forward?

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

Forgiveness is the most powerful force in the world when we understand first that we have been forgiven. When we understand Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery. When we understand Jesus saying from the cross, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” When we understand a glimpse of what we have received from God, when we see his face, perhaps then we are ready to see God in our brother or sister. To receive forgiveness. And to extend it as well.

I have a confession. I am a “Les Miserables” junkie! Addiction might be a good word. I read the Victor Hugo book cover to cover a couple summer’s ago, including the tortuous 75 pages describing the underground sewer system of Paris. But even more, I am a junkie for the Les Mis musical. I’ve seen it now in New York, in Minneapolis and in London. Such an amazing story of the policeman Javert, who can never get beyond the law. And his nemesis, the fugitive Jean Valjean, who learns what grace is. Great story. Great music. My family will attest to you the extent of my addiction. I have played the music over and over and over to the point where, when the first notes sound in our living room, people get up and leave!

And in that amazing array of music, there is one song I’ve always loved, when the hero Jean Valjean and the company sing a very poignant epilogue, and in the song is this line that hangs beautifully in the air “Remember the truth that once was spoken: To love another person is to see the face of God.” To love another person is to see the face of God. But. As beautiful as the song and the thought are, I think Valjean actually has it wrong. It’s not “to love another person is to see the face of God.” It’s to be loved by another person is to see the face of God.

It’s what happened to Valjean in the story. It’s what unfolded in the Amish country in Pennsylvania, and in South Africa. That’s what happened to Jacob. For no good reason, God loved him. For no good reason, Esau loved him. And in receiving that love, Jacob again saw the face of God.

Wouldn’t it be something…if the church of Jesus Christ was known for such love? If our community was? If our lives were marked by this kind of forgiveness?

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