A reflection on the readings for Proper 12A, July 30 2023: Genesis 29:15-28, Romans 8:26-39, Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 - by the Vicar, The Rev. Terri C. Pilarski
Jacob, grandson of Abraham, son of Isaac, brother of Esau,
falls in love with a woman at a well,
a typical place for love to begin in the Bible.
The woman’s name is Rachel.
Jacob wants to marry Rachel, but her father, Laban,
insists that Jacob work for him for seven years
and then he can marry Rachel.
So Jacob does.
Life is hard.
After seven years Jacob prepares to marry Rachel,
but Laban tricks Jacob
and sends his older daughter, Leah,
to the marriage bed.
Rachel learns of the deceit,
but rather than disgrace her older sister,
she conspires with Leah to let this happen.
Jacob decides to work seven more years for Rachel.
Life is hard.
Jacob works for Laban, and the years pass,
but he finally gets to marry Rachel.
Rachel has a difficult time with pregnancy
and eventually dies in childbirth,
but not before she gives birth
to the child who becomes
the ancestor of King David, and Jesus.
Life is so very hard.
Rachel is buried on the side of the road.
It is said that her tears and prayers
washed over the Jewish people on their way to exile.
Life. Is hard.
Illness strikes.
An accident takes the life of a loved one.
Innocent people are shot and killed for money or fear.
A job is lost.
The cost of living increases.
Life is fragile. Life is unpredictable. Life is hard.
Who among us has not suffered, has not experienced sighs too deep for words?
Paul’s letter to the Roman’s offers hope and assurance
to a people who are suffering.
For into our suffering,
the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
I have leaned into this phrase
countless times in my own prayer life,
especially during times when I am suffocating in sadness - overwhelmed by the circumstances of my life
or injustices in the world….
The Spirit interceding enables us to
catch our breath
and gather the strength to meet the day ahead,
providing the stamina to carry on.
Life is hard.
And, God does not prevent these things from happening—
even Paul living in the first century knew this.
God does not magically saves us from the tumult’s of life.
And yet,
Paul reminds us that the “love of Christ” is working in us,
whether we know it or not.
Nothing can separate us from it—
not “hardship, or distress,
or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword.”
Not oil prices, climate change, nor economic collapse.
Not violence or injury or illness. Not fear or hate.
God does not abandon us,
no matter what we do
or what gets thrown at us.
God is present.
God’s love is unwavering.
God’s love is like yeast -
seemingly small and yet it, somehow,
through the power of the Holy Spirit,
God’s love rises to the occasion,
working to transform random ingredients
into nourishment for body and soul.
Life is hard.
Eventually, life gets better.
Even still, life is hard.
And yet, somehow,
God’s love in Christ,
God’s love for us prevails.
Subtle, simple.
This love, this grace of God
is in the air that softens our sighs,
the hand that wipes our tears,
the hope that gives us breath,
the strength that gives us stamina to face the day.