Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time/Fifth after Pentecost (A)—Genesis 24:34–38, 42-49, 58–67; Matthew 11:16–19, 25-30

 

William Hilton the Younger (1786–1839):     

Rebecca and Abraham’s Servant at the Well

Tate Gallery, London

Genesis 24:34–38, 42–49, 58–67

Toto, We're Not in Kansas Anymore

These days, we might call it racist,

Sending for a bride for your son

Back home amongst your own people;

So what's wrong with Canaanite girls?

I sit in a local restaurant,

Amazed at combinations there,

Black and white, and Asian and white,

And the new grandparents who aren't

(I surmise) entirely happy

With their white daughter's non-white spouse;

It's a new world, to some's chagrin;

But I think: This is wonderful.

Abraham needed son Isaac

Not to forsake this new Yahweh;

But much more than race was at stake—

Much more than he could imagine.

God cares not a whit about tribe,

But only what it takes to see

What someday all will know: Just love

Is what defines our family tree.

Scott L. Barton

So he said, ‘I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. My master made me swear, saying, “You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.”

 ‘I came today to the spring, and said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,’ and who will say to me, ‘Drink, and I will draw for your camels also’—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.”

 ‘Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water-jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, “Please let me drink.” She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, “Drink, and I will also water your camels.” So I drank, and she also watered the camels. Then I asked her, “Whose daughter are you?” She said, “The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.” So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. Then I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.’ And they called Rebekah, and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ She said, ‘I will.’ So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

‘May you, our sister, become

   thousands of myriads;

may your offspring gain possession

   of the gates of their foes.’

Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, and said to the servant, ‘Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?’ The servant said, ‘It is my master.’ So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

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Matthew 11:16–19, 25–30

The News beyond Comparing

It isn't hard to picture

The children in this scripture

Because we know how childish

It is, and sometimes stylish,

To rant and rave whenever

It seems some new endeavor

Will rock the boat we're sailing,

And set us all awailing. 

Thus John provoked despising,

And Jesus, moralizing;

But Jesus knew that infants,

Without the world's enrichments,

Know only their receiving,

Which boils down to believing

That one thing never changes:

The love which he arranges.

Scott L. Barton

“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”