I mean, which one would you rather have? An inheritance in Israel or a bowl of soup? The answer seems obvious, right?
In the Old Testament, the story of Jacob and Esau always puzzled me. I mean, the idea that the eldest son traded his birthright for a measly bowl of soup? Incredulous.
Honestly, how hungry (and short-sighted) would one have to be to sacrifice his entire inheritance to satisfy an appetite? It just made no sense.
Thousands of years later we live in a digital age where our appetites for pretty much anything (good or bad) can be satisfied with the click of a button.
We decry philosophies that involve any sort of denial of one’s self, proclaiming that “living authentically” is the be all and end all to our existence.
But what if what we think of as “authenticity” is contrary to our divine nature and birthright? What if delaying gratification allows us to achieve an inheritance in the afterlife? I personally believe it will.
What can we liken in our lives to Esau’s irresistible mess of pottage? What appetites are we satisfying today that compromise our ability to achieve all that our heavenly parents have and want to give us?
I can remember going skiing as a teenager and ending up on the lift seated next to a total stranger. We struck up a conversation and discovered that we’d both grown up in the same religion. He’d decided as a teenager that Sundays constituted valuable skiing time and eventually quit going to church in favor of spending the Sabbath day “in nature”, so to speak. He traded God for skiing. Could that be a mess of pottage, of sorts?
Or how about my grandparents, who decided that rather than choose the faith of their ancestors they wanted to spend most of their days on the golf course. They were good people. But in my mind, they had traded something eternal for something very temporary.
Those are fairly trivial. But a so-called “mess of pottage” can be anything but. What about a person whose sexual orientation doesn’t seem to mesh well with God’s commandments? One who longs for a fulfilling relationship but who has been taught that the bounds the Lord has set means that marriage will remain a distant (if not unattainable) reality, if he/she wants to keep the commandments, that is.
That’s super rough. Life can seem long and hopeless under those circumstances. I don’t blame anyone who chooses fulfillment in this life over the promises of the next when their reality is homosexuality.
And yet, when this life is over and those promises are fulfilled, might it seem silly that we chose the bowl of soup over eternal glory? Maybe. It all comes down to faith and patience, right?
I don’t have all the answers.
The good news is, we have a lot of time to figure it out. Esau may have sacrificed his birthright, but it’s not as if he lost everything. Twenty years later found Esau managing his own property, reconciling with his brother Jacob, and burying his father.
He was still blessed, despite having lost the birthright.
Isn’t that beautifully merciful and just at the same time?
I believe in a God who exacts standards of behavior in order to inherit certain blessings. I also believe that one does not have to be perfect to inherit some measure of those blessings.
Our inheritance will be in direct proportion to our level of commitment of keeping our covenants with him.
I personally hope I can keep my eye on the prize. Though the sacrifices I make to be true to my eternal covenants are at times exhausting, the payout is too great. And thankfully, I get glimpses of eternity often to remind me that living the gospel benefits me not just in the next life but today.
A mess of pottage might be just what we want in the moment. But my faith rests in the promise that my birthright is far better than a bowl of lentil soup.