The Old Testament reading for this morning is one that I remember well from my time at college In particular Hebrew language classes For it was the story of Isaac and Rebekah from Genesis 24 Part of which was read this morning In English ! That was one of the first I tackled in the original language I’m pretty sure I probably couldn’t read that story in Hebrew now Not all of it at least But the experience had two tangible results for me One – I did pass the end of year exam, which required me to translate parts of the Isaac and Rebekah story And two – in honour of that experience, when Karen and I were so greatly blessed the next year in May to have our last child and first girl at the fifth attempt We named her Rebekah And I made sure that I spelled her name the Hebrew way – REBEKAH Rather than the more common Anglicised way REBECCA Now, having said all of that And as much as I love the stories and the myths and legends that come to us from Genesis I don’t necessarily commend the practicalities of them to you Isaac and Rebekah is all about an arranged marriage The servant sent to find a wife for Isaac looks for a sign from God that he has found the right woman And when that sign is forthcoming He bargains with her family and takes her off on his camel to Isaac Who has never seen the girl before, nor she him Although the story does of course have a happy ending because once the two set eyes on each other they fall madly in love And Isaac takes her off into his tent and Well.. the writer of Genesis lets you guess the rest The point of it all is not to instruct those here who might be seeking a life partner in dating techniques Or how to arrange a marriage as it were Lying in the background to the whole story is a theological ideal and principle That God is involved in our lives God is involved in our relationships Our friendships Our marriages God delights in the process by which two people come together and find love and happiness in their coming together Recently, especially while Tim has been away I have been speaking to a number of young couples wishing to be married at St Peters later in the year And apart from talking about why they want to be married in a Church And why they want to be married in the first place It’s a joy and a privilege to hear a little of their story And to share a small measure in their happiness Almost all are convinced that they were meant to be together They knew – many of them – the first time they met That they would be together The way that people get married today is very different Entirely different To the way that marriages occurred in the world of Genesis and of Isaac and Rebekah And indeed throughout biblical times The Bible everywhere assumes that marriages between people will be arranged As this one between Isaac and Rebekah is There was little or no courtship at all Often the two did not meet until their wedding day Or if they did, it was in strictly supervised circumstances Now this is entirely different and radically far removed from the situation today At least in the Western world Where no one will tolerate being told who will they marry or spend their lives with But the guiding principle is romantic love And where there is often a very long time between the time a person reaches the age when they begin to think about relationships And the time they might finally decide to marry If indeed they do marry at all How does the Bible, how does our Scripture and our tradition, as Christians, speak to this situation? Well, it is still true, I think, that God is at the very centre and the heart of the process Because God is at the very centre and the heart of all our humanness And God delights in relationships Perhaps there is not too much distance between the sign that the servant of Isaac seeks to identify Rebekah And the way that a young couple coming to be married today agree that they were meant to meet and they were meant to be together in both cases the thought is of something greater than themselves drawing them together Whilst the story of Isaac and Rebekah is certainly about marriage The Gospel reading talks in part about another type of relationship In friendship The friendships of Jesus Whereas John the Baptist came in austerity and self control Neither eating nor drinking Jesus is accused of being a friend of sinners And a drunkard and a glutton Clearly, Jesus enjoys the company of other people The company of friends And indeed, in the Last supper discourse he will refer to his disciples on several occasions as Friends and not followers The relationship between them is more intimate More special Than that of a Rabbi or Teacher and his students It is one characterised by friendship – entailing loyalty and devotion one to another Friendship, Is something that greatly enriches all of our lives A relationship Whether that between two people who love each other Or that between friends Or that between members of a family Or a faith community Requires work A useful metaphor is that of a garden Those how are gardeners here know what a garden needs tending and care weeding trees trimmed and lopped back manure or fertiliser put onto it time and effort if a garden is not tended to you know what happens Karen and I are not very good gardeners and never have been Gardening is not our passion When we moved into the Vicarage at Frankston East two and a half years ago Karen brought two lovely trees in square pots to put outside the porch Making a nice little entry into the doorway of the house And they were lovely and green and strong and healthy And they should have grown and flourished But they did not in fact they began to wither and look very sickly indeed A friend stopped by once and spent some time examining the trees Knowing that she was a keen gardener I asked her What should we do about these trees I would suggest watering she answered Needless to say, we don’t have those trees anymore Although we do have the square pots somewhere So a friendship – a relationship - is like that It requires time and effort and care Or you might be left with only the shell And a final thing to say about relationships And many of you no doubt are already very aware of this They are ultimately flawed They are never perfect Because all relationships require people And people are flawed We are not perfect We will let each other down, we will disappoint each other We will forget birthdays, important moments, anniversaries and the like The key to any relationship is to look for Not for the flaws and the imperfections that will inevitably be present in the other person But at the beauty and the good things that will also, inevitably, be present also That changes one’s perspective, not only on relationships But on life itself The American writer John Steinbeck has a wonderful short story An allegory called The Pearl In which a man is given a magnificent pearl that is extremely large and of immense value And he spends a lot of time A great amount of time Staring at and admiring this pearl Reminds you perhaps of a young couple in love And as he continues to look at the Pearl and examines it He sees a flaw And so he takes it to a jeweller and points out the flaw and has it removed And he takes the pearl home again and places it in its case But as he continues to admire it he sees another flaw And so he takes it back to the jeweller and again has it cleaned and buffed a little more And this goes on – several more times Until finally the pearl has been cleaned and buffed and worked on so many times To remove the flaws its owner has seen that there is nothing left of it at all and the pearl that was one of immense and great value is now worthless Clearly, the moral of Steinbeck’s story Is an important one: We accept one another just as we are As God loves and values us Just as we are In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |