Our scriptures this week are Genesis 29:15-28 and Romans 8:28-39 and Matthew 13:31,32
I invite you to Open your Bibles and read the Genesis and Romans scriptures.
In the last few weeks, we have been looking at the parables told by Jesus. In Matthew 13:31 and 32 we read the parable of the Mustard seed.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
As I started my preparation for this week’s message I got to thinking about the “Mustard seeds” in life and in our scriptures we read today. Could it be that disappointment may just be one of them? Life doesn’t always hand us what we want when we want it. In those times there’s the temptation to shortcut, or to do the unethical, or to run from the problem. It’s then that we need to keep our eyes on our goals and keep plugging along, honestly and diligently.
In our reading in Romans Paul reminds us that “ in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose “(Romans 8:28).Disappointment can be painful, especially when it involves the emotions of trust and love. It takes time to recover from intense disappointment, and often requires in-depth evaluation and re-assessment of self and the circumstances and the need for understanding and renewal of self-esteem. We need to learn how to manage disappointment in our lives. Managing disappointment is a skill and a technique we need to learn and to practice in order to keep our own life under proper control, and to deal with those who disappoint us. Today I would like to share some good ways to overcome disappointment. To see that “mustard seed “of disappointment as God at work for His purpose and for the good of those who love Him.
1. Whatever happens to you, seek to maintain an even temperament with respect to both anger and sorrow.
2. Avoid becoming so emotional that you can’t visualize the truths and complexities of a situation.
3. Maintain your own personal sense of fairness, no matter what the attitude of another may appear to be. Keep your best sense of perspective under control.
4. Remember that you may not be the only person experiencing disappointment. The person who has disappointed you may feel as badly as you, but not know how to share his or her feelings with you.
5. Disappointments rising out of misunderstood circumstances may turn out to be blessings in disguise, because they can be a way to learn from each other and arrive at the truth.
One of the most amazing things about the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, is its willingness to describe the ancestors of Israel in all their less than flattering human actions and traits. The Jews have
had the courage and wisdom not to hide our human nature, but to reveal it in all its forms, from the most splendid to the vilest. We have only to think of David and how he is portrayed as one who follows after God’s own heart, and yet this same David is one who falls to adultery and murder. Scripture hangs the family clothing out on the line for everyone to see.
In Genesis 29: 15-28 we read about an employment deal worked out between Jacob and Laban, who is Jacob’s uncle on his mother’s side. The occasion for this deal is the old story line of “boy meets girl and falls in love.” In this story all who are involved at one point in their lives suffer from the seed of disappointment. Jacob had met Rachel, Laban’s daughter, and learned that she was related to him. How fortunate for Jacob because it apparently was love at first sight. How fortunate also for Jacob because the custom of that day encouraged the marrying of distant relatives. We are even told that on that first meeting, he was so moved by Rachel that “Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud” (29:11). No doubt it was a weeping with joy. Such a bold gesture declares to us how Jacob was utterly blown away ,swept off his feet by Rachel. Things could not have gotten any better for Jacob. Everything seems to work in his favor.
But then disappointment has a way of entering even the most fortunate lives of people. Enter now Rachel’s father Laban. If you remember how Jacob came to Haran where Laban lives, then you will remember that Jacob had stolen the blessing that by right belonged to his brother Esau as the firstborn son. By deception, trickery, and shameless lying, Jacob fooled his father Isaac into giving him the firstborn blessing. When Esau discovered what had happened, he vowed to kill Jacob. And so to save his life, Jacob’s mother Rebekah sends him far off to Laban’s home at Haran, in what is today northern Iraq. But in the person of Laban Jacob meets someone who is as good at trickery and deception as Jacob himself. The deal with Laban was for Jacob to work seven years, after which he could marry Rachel. And so Jacob worked seven years and it was time for the wedding. There was a great wedding festival and Jacob thought he had married Rachel. But in the morning, he discovered that he had not spent his wedding night with Rachel, but instead with Leah, her older sister. How Jacob did not know he had married Leah and how he did not know he had spent the night with Leah is not told. It seems unbelievable, but however it happened, it happened. But it tells us that Jacob trusted Laban, much as Esau probably trusted his brother Jacob. When Jacob discovered the trickery, he immediately charged Laban and demanded, “What is this you have done to me?”(29:23) The seed of disappointment was most definitely growing in Jacob.
Here now we find a moral lesson: That which goes round comes around. Esau could just as well have spoken these words when Jacob deceived his father Isaac and stole his birthright blessing: “What is this you have done to me?” Now it is Jacob’s turn to suffer the humiliation and pain of being deceived and tricked. Laban then explains to Jacob that Leah had the right to be married first because she was the eldest daughter. The rights and priority of the firstborn are by now well impressed on Jacob.
But all is not lost for Jacob. Laban proposes to Jacob that if he will work for him another seven years, he may marry Rachel in seven days. And so Jacob agrees, and in seven days he marries Rachel, the love of his life. Laban uses and abuses Jacob to achieve his own ends. And while it may be said that Jacob gets only what he has given, it is still another sad story of deception in which people are used and hurt. Of particular note is the treatment of Leah and Rachel, who seem to be played as mere objects in Laban’s hand even though they are his daughters. They also started to grow with the seed of disappointment. What is absent is a sense of decency and honesty.
But there is something else absent here that is striking. I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but throughout this entire drama not one word is mentioned about God. Apparently, God has no role in what takes place between Jacob, Laban, Rachel, and Leah. The only power that seems to be at work here is the power of deception and the power of custom. One begins to wonder, “Where is God in all this?” Well, perhaps God is at work at bringing about a sense of justice in regard to Esau. The deceiver Jacob has met another capable deceiver and been duped. Perhaps the memory and telling of this story was a way of reminding people that our sins come back to haunt us. But there is no hint in this story that it carries such a moral message. On the contrary, after his marriage to Leah and Rachel, Jacob is soon blessed with eleven children who become the figureheads, the name sakes for the eleven tribes of Israel. In a real sense, it is the birth of a nation! Leah, in fact, gives birth to six of these children! So Laban’s deception becomes a blessing in disguise. God is indeed present with Jacob, making him wealthy in children so that the promise to Abraham will be fulfilled through him, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Genesis 22:17). The mustard seed of disappointment growing for God‘s purpose.
There is a striking similarity here with what we find in the New Testament when Joseph’s betrothal to Mary is marred by what appears to be a devious action. Mary is found to be pregnant before she and Joseph are married, so that Joseph decides quietly to break off the engagement. Joseph might well have said to Mary the very words Jacob spoke to Laban: “What is this you have done to me?” He could have let the seed of disappointment die. But again, what appears to be a misdeed proves to be blessing. Of course, in the story about the birth of Jesus, God speaks directly to Mary and Joseph, unlike the story of Jacob and Laban.
In the story of Jacob and Laban, where God is neither seen nor heard directly, we find in many ways our own story. Is it not true that we ourselves live lives in which God does not directly speak to us? And yet, as believers we affirm that God is with us, working, as we say, “in mysterious ways” to achieve some good. With the eyes of faith, we can perceive the hand of God moving through our lives to make us victorious and not victims. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 17:20” if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain, “move from here to there” and it will be move, nothing will be impossible for you.”
The apostle Paul makes this affirmation himself in the face of many hardships during his missionary work when he says, “In everything God works for good with those who love him” (Romans 8:28). It is important though to make clear that Paul does not propose that if you are on God’s side, then nothing but good things will happen to you. That you’ll never suffer disappointment. Because of his preaching ministry, Paul suffered imprisonment and countless beatings and often was brought near to death. He received 39 lashes on five occasions, three times he was beaten with rods, on one occasion he was stoned, he was shipwrecked three times, and he had to endure hunger, hardship, toil, and fear from every corner (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). And yet Paul can proclaim, “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
As Jacob experienced abuse at the hands of Laban, we too may suffer times when other people use and abuse us, times when people take advantage of us, disappoint us. Sometimes we even use and abuse ourselves, thinking that if we had taken this action or that action, then life would have turned out better. We all go through trials and tribulations in life, sometimes by the hands of others and sometimes by our own hands.
But we are blessed when we learn from their mistakes. And blessed are those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the presence of God in their lives. For God salvages our lives and makes something good out of them. We do not have to be victims. On the contrary, we can through God choose to be victorious.
At the end of the Book of Genesis, Joseph, the son of Jacob, tells his brothers, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). It could well be that Joseph learned those words from his father Jacob. After all, no one better experienced these words than Jacob. There are two ways to approach life. You can go through life blaming others for life’s setbacks and wallow in self-pity and consider yourself a victim. Or you can resolve to press on forward in the face of misfortune, knowing that God goes with you and will make you victorious in the end. It will take courage and determination to do this, but in time those with eyes of faith will surely say, “God was with me all the way. It was not always obvious, but I see now that God was with me.”
1. Remember! Whatever happens to you, seek to maintain an even temperament with respect to both anger and sorrow.
2. Avoid becoming so emotional that you can’t visualize the truths and complexities of a situation.
3. Maintain your own personal sense of fairness, no matter what the attitude of another may appear to be. Keep your best sense of perspective under control.
4. Remember that you may not be the only person experiencing disappointment. The person who has disappointed you may feel as badly as you, but not know how to share his or her feelings with you.
5. Disappointments rising out of misunderstood circumstances may turn out to be blessings in disguise, because they can be a way to learn from each other and arrive at the truth.
If we manage our disappointments in these ways we can grow like the “mustard seed” so that others may have a place to perch, to have faith and purpose in the “ Kingdom of heaven.”
In His Service,
Pastor Joe
Listen To Audio: Sermon 20200726
