Sermon for July 13th, 2014

Genesis 25:19-34

19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” 24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Twin Purposes, Twin Priorities

I know a thing or two about twins. On May 17, 1983, my little brothers were born: Jeffrey Mitchell Locke and Joseph Michael Locke. Twins. [pictures]

We're pretty sure they are identical twins, although my parents never had them genetically tested. In any case, they're a lot alike. Joe's wife recently sent me a picture of the twins when they were little, asking if I could tell which one was which...because apparently she couldn't tell, neither could our mother, or even the twins themselves. And yes, when they were in high school, they did pull (and get away with) the usual twin-tricks, like attending each others' classes, dating each others' girlfriends, and blaming whatever they could on "the other twin." They both went to the same college, they both majored in social work, and both minored in addictions counseling. They both went through the same master's program in social work (where they both met their future wives). In fact, it's only been in the past five years since they each got married that they now live in different houses, different cities and states.

That's what twins are supposed to be, right? In our culture, when we say "the twin virtues of x and y" or "this organization was founded on the twin goals of..." what we mean is that the two things are similar, almost exactly the same, on equal footing.

And yet, anyone who's ever known twins should know that they are never completely alike--not even identical twins--and there is no such thing as "equal footing," at least not for long. My brother Jeff was born one minute before Joe was...and growing up, Jeff would never hesitate to pull rank (I'm older!). Joe, of course, eventually learned that there were advantages to being "the baby" of the family, and made sure to use that to his advantage whenever he could. As adults, they both get along fine most of the time, but the competitiveness comes out in interesting ways. I'm sure that's true to some extent for all siblings, twins or not.