Rebekah runs home to tell her family about the man she has
met and his particular errand. Her brother
Laban is intrigued by this story and runs to the spring where Rebekah met the
man to see him and to invite him to their home.
Apparently Laban is the man of the house, we are told that Rebekah has
told her mother's household the news and we see no father, Laban gives her to
the man to take with him. The verses
omitted from the reading are the servant's retelling of the story from
yesterday's reading, the story of how he came to this place and his belief that
God has superintended all the events. He
will receive only the barest hospitality, sheltering and feeding the animals
and washing feet and hands, but not food, before he tells his story and finds
out whether this family will receive him with gladness. Little does he know that Laban has been
impressed with the gold rings and bracelets he has seen and will be willing to
do anything for this man. When he hears
that the master has become great and has much wealth, you can be assured he was
prepared to be enriched into the bargain but he will have to wait a generation
to benefit from this bargain.
Jesus does what the servant in the first reading did. He lays out the case for God being in the
midst of this and allows the people to decide for themselves. He refers to the healing in John 5 of the man
at the pool on the Sabbath in order to show them God's work. Some believe because of the signs, they can't
believe Messiah would do more signs than Jesus has done. Others don't believe because they believe
something else. They believe no one will
know from whence Messiah comes and they believe with certainty they know from
whence Jesus came but He is quick to say you don’t know what you think you
know. Strangely, no one seems to have
asked what He meant by that statement. He
has told them, however, that He was sent by the Father and they have not believed
Him. We need to make right judgments in
all things but no more so than with Jesus.
That requires the Holy Spirit, asking God for good judgment, and
trusting Him.
Esau made a poor judgment, he believed he was going to die
so his birthright had no value to him and sold it for a mess of pottage. Those who were with Moses at Sinai made a
right judgment, they knew it wasn't safe to approach the mountain and they
rightly trembled in fear before the Lord there.
The writer says we have come not to that mountain but to the heavenly
Jerusalem and we should likewise stand in awe before it but also we are called
not to stand apart in fear and trembling but to enter the city with the angels
in festal gathering and with the assembly or the church of those who are
called. There is to be great joy at this
point, not great fear, because of what Jesus has done for us. We have our engraved invitation all we have
to do is enter but some will not. We are
to "be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus
let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is
a consuming fire." Let us enter
that unshakeable kingdom, leaving behind what will be shaken and destroyed by
that consuming fire. The choice is
yours.
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