Stroll through Scripture for September 21, 2025

Based on Genesis 27:1-4, 15-23; 28:10-17

The Narrative Lectionary is giving us a few stories in a row that are simply unpleasant, just in different ways. Last week was the so-called binding of Isaac.  This week we hear about Jacob tricking Isaac out of rightfully blessing Esau.  First off, poor Isaac.  Can we just acknowledge that reality that Isaac is in an unhealthy family dynamic, if we wanted to put it into a 21^st century jargon. 

This is a family that has many questionable things and relationships.  Genesis tells us all the details.  I would argue that the most interesting part of all of this is the this is the family that God has chosen to fulfill God’s promises.  I wouldn’t argue that God chose them because of their holiness or how good they are.  Abraham lies about his wife to the Egyptians, essentially trafficking her for his own favor.  Isaac commits the same sin to protect himself.  And Jacob is a trickster to the nth degree, stealing the blessing of his older brother.  Great group of people, huh?

So, what do we do with all of this.  I think there are a few things.  First, it shows humanity for what it is – full of problems.  Human beings and their relationships are messy.  Trust is a huge challenge. 

I asked AI is most families are dysfunctional to see what kind of response I would get.  Surprisingly, or maybe not, the answer I got was yes, most families are dysfunctional with “some experts estimating that 70-80% of Americans come from dysfunctional backgrounds.”  The most common reasons given were abuse and neglect, poor boundaries, substance abuse, lack of emotional support, frequent conflict, and fear.  That’s on top of the intergenerational patterns, societal factors, and lack of awareness.  When stated this way, it’s actually surprising that the numbers aren’t higher.  Frankly, I don’t think this is just a modern American problem, but a humanity problem.  

The beauty of these stories of dysfunction in the Bible is that they are real, and they connect with people. People are messy.  We don’t have our act together.  We don’t treat the people closest to us the way we should, or maybe even want to.  Relationships are messy and difficult, and we fail at them more often than we life.  

Reading these stories in Genesis can be difficult.  I wonder how often we see ourselves or think of our own family histories when we do.  But the upside to this is that if God can use such a dysfunctional family as Abraham and his line, then there is hope for the rest of us.  And that’s good news. 

Questions for reflection:

• Think about your own family.   What challenges does your family face?  What’s messy about your family?  
• Where do you see God showing up in your family life, in spite of the mess?