Today's good news in Genesis is that we are a people of reconciliation---this is part of the Way. Jacob has run from what he has done to his brother, Esau. He runs from the contention and struggles he has with his father-in-law, Laban. And yet, today, in these three chapters, he must come face to face with his past, his errors, the pain he has caused, and the division which he has been a part of in his family.
Some oft-repeated words in chapter 31: "The LORD watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other." These words are often expressed as words between spouses; however, in their true context, they are between two men who struggle to reconcile. Two men recognizing that their reconciliation requires the participation of the Divine. "God is witness between you and me." (31:50)
And, as Jacob prepares to meet the brother he has greatly wronged, he is apprehensive and afraid---afraid enough to prepare wonderful gifts in order to appease his brother Esau. And in the darkness as he awaits what will happen, Jacob wrestles with God. Just like us, as we wrestle with the reality and consequences of our actions, we too must wrestle with God. Esau's response to Jacob's return calls to the mind the father in the Prodigal Son parable: he runs to meet Jacob, embracing and kissing him as he welcomes him home. Jacob says, "to see your face is like seeing the face of God." These words are echoed in the Finale of Les Miserables: To love another person/ Is to see the face of God.
Then in Matthew 11, we are reminded of how easily we miss this truth---that we can see the face of God. Even in the midst of Jesus' healing power and love, John the Baptist must still ask: Are you the One? Sometimes, we hold on so tightly to our narrow version of what God and God's love look like that we miss God right in front of us----in the face of the other. And in loving the other. Even the others, as Esau and Jacob and Laban show us, even the others who pain us and wrong us.
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