Love and Community

Message Title: Love and Community
Theme: Made to Be
Season: Ordinary Time
Main Text: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67;
Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
RCL Scripture: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; Psalm 45:10-17 or Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Zechariah 9:9-12; Psalm 145:8-14; Romans 7:15-25a; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Focus: Isaac marries Rebecca through a consensual(?) arranged marriage.
Function: To love people without putting them in a box of expectations.
Other Notes:

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30 16 “To what will I compare this generation? It is like a child sitting in the marketplaces calling out to others, 17 ‘We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance. We sang a funeral song and you didn’t mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 Yet the Human One[c] came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved to be right by her works.” ….25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have shown them to babies. 26 Indeed, Father, this brings you happiness. 27 “My Father has handed all things over to me. No one knows the Son except the Father. And nobody knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him. 28 “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. 30 My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”

INTRO:

1. AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: How old were you when you first moved out of your parents’ house?What was your first place like?
   1. Mine? During my junior year of college, my older brother and I lived together.  It was quite the humble abode. Our spacious two-bedroom apartment was filled with patio furniture for dining room furniture, a second-hand couch, tv propped up on milk crates and a pantry full of hamburger helper. Oh, and I was 20 but didn’t have a driver’s license so I rode my bike everywhere. I fondly remember my grandmother saving up her quarters for us to do laundry—it was her way of helping without over stepping our independence.
   1. Anyone else’s first place filled with second hand or thrifted items? There’s something about the history of second-hand items or hand-me-downs that fills a home with love. Honestly, they don’t make furniture like they used to and even now my first choice is somewhere like Treasure Mart to shop for furniture.

TRANSITION: In our text for today, Abraham & Sarah’s son has come of age and is looking to marry. As we examine how his community helps him get established, I invite you consider our own community support networks.

MAIN TEXT: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; ³⁴ The man said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has richly blessed my master, has made him a great man, and has given him flocks, cattle, silver, gold, men servants, women servants, camels, and donkeys. ³⁶ My master’s wife Sarah gave birth to a son for my master in her old age, and he’s given him everything he owns. ³⁷ My master made me give him my word: ‘Don’t choose a wife for my son from the Canaanite women, in whose land I’m living. ³⁸ No, instead, go to my father’s household and to my relatives and choose a wife for my son.’ ^…42 “Today I arrived at the spring, and I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you wish to make the trip I’m taking successful, ⁴³ when I’m standing by the spring and the young woman who comes out to draw water and to whom I say, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jar,” ⁴⁴ and she responds to me, “Drink, and I will draw water for your camels too,” may she be the woman the Lord has selected for my master’s son.’ ⁴⁵ Before I finished saying this to myself, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder and went down to the spring to draw water. And I said to her, ‘Please give me something to drink.’ ⁴⁶ She immediately lowered her water jar and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels something to drink too.’ So I drank and she also gave water to the camels. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son whom Milcah bore him.’ I put a ring in her nose and bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸ I bowed and worshipped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who led me in the right direction to choose the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. ⁴⁹ Now if you’re loyal and faithful to my master, tell me. If not, tell me so I will know where I stand either way.” …⁵⁸ They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent off their sister Rebekah, her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. ⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah, saying to her, “May you, our sister, become thousands of ten thousand; may your children possess their enemies’ cities.” ⁶¹ Rebekah and her young women got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. ⁶² Now Isaac had come from the region of^[b] Beer-lahai-roi and had settled in the arid southern plain. ⁶³ One evening, Isaac went out to inspect the pasture,^[c] and while staring he saw camels approaching. ⁶⁴ Rebekah stared at Isaac. She got down from the camel ⁶⁵ and said to the servant, “Who is this man walking through the pasture to meet us?” The servant said, “He’s my master.” So she took her headscarf and covered herself. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. ⁶⁷ Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent. He received Rebekah as his wife and loved her. So Isaac found comfort after his mother’s death.

EXPLAINATION:

1. Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac grows up to be a young man ready to find a wife, By this point Sarah has passed away.
2. Abraham sends his servant back to his father’s house in Haran/Ur to find a wife for his son. This isn’t a love match. This is an arranged marriage and the picture is painted in a light that says God picked Rebekah for Isaac.
   1. Rebekah is given the chance to have an opinion about who she will marry and she says yesà aside; could she freely say no?.
3. We learn from the narrator that Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah is a comfort to him in his mother’s death.

INTERPRETATION:

1. I find it fascinating that in particular this scripture says Isaac loved Rebekah – a woman he didn’t know until they were married. Their marriage is one that causes me to pause and reflect on the popular term “Biblical marriage”  Which are we trying to emulate?
   1. Biblical Marriage – marriages were economic and political alliances, the were not love matches 90% of the time. Our concept of marriage today does not fit the “biblical” image of marriage in the OT or even NT. Are all of these exceptions to “Biblical Marriage”?
      1. Abraham, Sarah (half siblings), Hagar, & Keturah? (In Gen 25 Abraham marries Keturah and has more kids through her: The children she bore him were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.6)
      1. Arranged marriages to cousins like Isaac?
      1. Jacob his 2 cousin-wives & 2 slaves?
      1. Tricked into marriage because of sex like Judah & Tamar?
      1. Solomon and his multiple wives and concubines (700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kgs 11:3). His wives were to have included the daughter of Pharaoh, as well as women of Moabite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite origins (1 Kgs 7:8; 11:1).)
2. Marriage: Are we all called to get married? Nope.
   1. Paul (asexual?) says it’s easier to serve the Gospel single but if you can’t keep your “urges” in check, get married. 1 Cor 7:8 (shakers inspiration?)
   1. Also, per the gospels, Jesus didn’t get married – that’s a tangent for another day.
   1. Two highly elevated men in the bible did not get married and it was seen as a good thing. …. So why do we treat unwed adults as incomplete humans?
3. AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: Why have we created a trend of only celebrating the adulthood of married or college graduates?
   1. Celebrating Life stages: Different cultures have different trends/expectations on this point. Many non-white American families assume the child will live at home until they are married. Even in some, family homes are multi-generational. College vs Military/Work Force/Trades
      1. (I think many white-American homes are returning back to the multi-generational house structure because of the high cost of living.)

APPLICATION:

1. Being the Church—blessing out of our blessings – includes caring for people without expecting them to fit into a cookie cutter design. Many people are abandoned by parents for a wide variety of reasons, including differences in Ideology. Our job as the church is to out pour love at overwhelming rates (orphans, widows, vulnerable).
2. Let’s get really practical for a minute: What could be the equivalent of bridal or baby showers for people entering the workforce and moving out on their own? BACK TO INTRO: Pound Parties & family picnics

CONCLUSION: The church isn’t just a place to regurgitate scripture… but a place to live & thrive in scripture. Be the community, provide support, outpour blessings. Made to be community.