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Saturday – Thirteenth week – OT1
Readings: Gen 27:1-5, 15-29; Mt 9:14-17.
1/ First Reading: RSV Genesis 27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son, and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die.” 5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son; 16 and the skins of the kids she put upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck; 17 and she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18 So he went in to his father, and said, “My father”; and he said, “Here I am; who are you, my son?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your first-born. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that you may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 Then he said, “Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed! 28 May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
2/ Gospel: RSV Matthew 9:14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
I. THEME: God’s wise providence
Jesus said, “The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” (Lk 16:8); but not all people’s shrewdness are good. To be considered as wise and good, people’s shrewdness needs to be guided by the truth; if not, it is only an ingenuity to deceive others. Moreover, God’s wisdom exceeds all people’s cleverness; He can use people’s cleverness to achieve what He wants.
Today readings show us both God’s wisdom and worldly cleverness. In the first reading, since Rebekah wanted the first-born right belonging to Jacob as God revealed to her before the birth of her two sons (cf. Gen 25:23); she devised a clever plan so that Isaac must bless Jacob. In the Gospel, John Baptist’s disciples used human wisdom to ask Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: Rebekah and Jacob took away Esau’s first-born right.
1.1/ Rebekah’s clever plan: “When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son, and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me, and prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die.” According to Jewish and also Vietnamese tradition, the father used to bless the first-born son in his family because the oldest son shall replace the father to decide everything in the family when his father passed away.
Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So, when Esau went to the field to hunt for game, Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son; and the skins of the kids she put upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck; and she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.”
1.2/ Isaac blessed Jacob.
(1) God uses people to achieve what He wants: In His wise providence, God uses people’s shrewdness and strength to achieve what He wants. For examples, He used Babylonian king as the stick to punish the Israelites; after the punishment, He broke the stick by handing Babylonian kingdom into the hand of Cyrus, the Persian king. Cyrus did God’s will by issuing a decree to liberate the Israelites from exile, to let them go back to their country and to give them financial means to rebuild their temple and country.
This shows us God’s wisdom controls all powers of the devil, the world and people.
Today passage is an example of God’s providence. He wants to give the first-born right for Jacob by using Rebekah’s clever plan to achieve this; even though many people can’t accept this pure lying.
(2) God chooses the Israelites to be His people though they aren’t deserved it: Today passage also wants to illustrate the fact that God chooses the Israelites as His own people. He chooses because He loves them though they are no better than other nations. They are just a small crowd who are living as slaves in Egypt; but due to God’s promises with their patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God shall liberate them from slavery to the Egyptians and gives them the Promise Land as their heritage. Isaac’s blessing for Jacob in today passage illustrate this selection.
– The promise of giving the Promise Land: “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed! May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.”
– The promise of choosing them as His people: “Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
2/ Gospel: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”
2.1/ Fasting must have a purpose: When people do anything, they do it for a purpose, not doing out of enthusiasm, nor according to fashion, nor because others are doing it. An example of doing thing without a purpose was reported by Matthew in today passage. The disciples of John approached Jesus and said to him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast (much), but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” His answer reminded the John Baptist’s disciples that one of purposes in fasting is for people to live their relationship with God. If they are living that relationship as the disciples live their relationship with Jesus, they don’t need to fast yet. They shall fast when Jesus leaves them or when they are living far away from God and want to return to him.
2.2/ People must have a new spirit to receive a new doctrine: If people want to be advance, they must have a spirit or an attitude to learn new things; if not, they shall hold on to what they have and refuse to change. Jesus gave two examples and invited people to consider:
(1) No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrinking cloth: “for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.” New cloth has a dilation stronger than old cloth because it wasn’t washed much. If one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrinking cloth, it shall dilate more and make the tear gets worse.
(2) People do not put new wine into old wineskins: “Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
A modern example helps us to understand easier. New software must be used with new computers because they require more memory space and a faster speed which old computers can’t meet. If a person tried to use new software with his old computer without updating, he shall only be failure.
Similarly in the intellectual area, in order to understand a tradition of a nation, the researcher must put himself in the local circumstance and thinking, it not, he shall never understand the local tradition and it is easy for him to have a wrong judgment. In order to receive Jesus’ new teaching, the audience must have a humble and opening attitude. If they think the law are perfect as the scribes, they shall never want to receive Jesus’ new teachings.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– We must believe that God is wisely controlling everything of this world. We must find out God’s will and do it to attain our salvation.
– To recognize God’s wise providence, we need to have an open attitude to learn and to receive divine wisdom which He continually reveals for men.