Are You Still Stewing Over the Election?

[HKHaugan]

When it’s a really cold day out and you’ve been skiing hard there is nothing like coming home to a hot bowl of beef stew. The choice cuts of meat, the mix of carrots, celery, onions in a thick tasty gravy buffered with garlic salt and pepper, the aroma filling the kitchen---that’s a memorable moment of satisfaction.

Now shift your historical gaze several thousand years ago to a similar scene,
“Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright (Gen.25:29-34).”

There’s a whole lot more to this event than meets the stomach. The question for us now is determining the spiritual significance of the birthright, the stew and the motivations involved.

First, the birthright.
The oldest son in the Hebrew family was always the inheritor of the father’s estate. He was given authority over the family, the household, its maintenance and its servants. In this case Esau sold that right. For us that birthright is our mind, heart, spirit and body and ‘the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ as our Bible influenced national documents further guarantee. That ‘inalienable’ pursuit frees us for the spiritual development of those Creation gifts.

Second, the stew.
But individual rights can be sold for a moment’s satisfaction for the ‘soup du jour’, the stew of the day so to speak. Its ingredients are always there to tempt the moment, not of our real needs but our perceived needs. Emotional, physical, economic health and security, selfishness, greed, the lust for power, deceit, social manipulation, success, personal acceptance, personal peace, prejudice, fitting in, ethnic differences, internal struggles, strongholds; these all are the makeup of human society and its individuals and they are flavored by one gravitational gravy, instant gratification. I call this Esau Stew. Again the alluring urges of these ingredients tease the taste buds of our egos.

Third, the motivations.
John warns us about the motivation behind instant satisfaction beautifully. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever (1John 2:15-17).” The world is instant gratification, instant approval and instant satisfaction.

In the next posting we’ll look more deeply into the contemporary thrust of this passage.