Well, the
winter wonderland has arrived. I took a quick jaunt into the 16 inches of
partly cloudy that has collected around Baraboo and got temporarily
disoriented. Amid the piles of snow, I got a little turned around with the way
that snow dampens sound. I was getting concerned because, although the
temperatures are quite pleasant for this time of year (upper 20’s and low 30’s
F.), it is still cold enough to popsicle a little mouse like me in just a short
time. Fortunately, I ran into the telephone pole and found my way back to the
driveway. From there it was just a short run to the steps and a quick trip to
the back door. That’s enough winter excitement for me this year. I think I will
stay in my cozy nook playing with the music box on the snow globe and imagine
adventures of daring. That seems much safer.
I must tell you, I did not forget you last week, but life has been all a-dither lately because Peter (not the disciple) has taken the position of Pastoral Fellow, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, in Evanston, IL, where he is preaching and teaching some of the work he has been doing on Reading Scripture from a Blind Perspective.
These coming weeks before Lent not only include his work there, but he is joining the ELCA Disability Ministries Advisory Team (ELCA DMAT) in New Orleans, at the annual Youth Extravaganza, and Peter (not the disciple) has invited me to come along. What to pack? What to pack? Where is my family address book so I can drop in to taste the culture of these new locales? I have promised myself I won’t do to them what they just did to me. I got so involved in packing last week that I just ran out of time to write. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The lessons Peter (not the disciple) has been studying are, of course, not from the Revised Common Lectionary. That means I do not have the usual readings near me to discuss with you, although I can say that Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree reminds me of the fig tree in the Garden of Eden as presented in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) and that placement of the tree in the garden anticipates the tree of salvation (the cross) outside the Garden of Gethsemane.
As for the Israelite without guile? Peter (not the disciple) is going to speak of the guile that Isaac uses so that he blesses Jacob instead of Esau. It is so refreshing to come to understand that God uses people who live with disabilities as a means of advancing God’s activity in the world rather than hearing again about poor old Blind Isaac who cannot discern the difference between his sons because he is not able to see them.
After all, when was the last time you read this story in Genesis 25-27 and thought about the angel’s prophecy to Rebekah? Why is it that we believe the prophecies of the angels to Zechariah, Mary, and the magi, but forget the angel in the story of Blind Isaac. The verdict is in, people. Jacob got the blessing because Isaac was part of the deception. At a time, when in surrounding cultures, the oldest son received the blessing from the father, Jewish tradition begins with blessing the second, or younger, son.
Isaac, the second son, receives his blessing from Abraham. Isaac gives his blessing to his second son, Jacob. Jacob will give his blessing to Joseph, the son of his second wife, Rachel. We presume this practice continues to the time of Moses. Here again, it is not the older son (Aaron) that leads the Israelites. Moses is the leader who is blessed to be a blessing to God’s people. David is Jesse’s youngest son, and Solomon is the younger son as well. The pattern continues through the ages until we meet John and Jesus. Here too, the older son John (of Elizabeth and Zechariah) and his younger kinsman Jesus (of Mary and Joseph), repeat the pattern of the blessing for God’s people being given to the younger of the two.
Can this pattern of blessing the younger son help us in understanding the parable of the Prodigal son? Maybe, but this week we can be certain that the disability of Isaac’s blindness helps us understand God includes all people in the subversive work of lifting up those the world would not recognize.
We laugh and gasp at the antics of Blind Isaac as the world around them probably did as well. But, at the same time, one can almost hear the chosen of God laughing at the world because the world could not see (witness, attest to) the activity of God in their midst.
Do you suppose that a blind mouse advised Blind Isaac in his program of plausible deniability?
That’s all I have for now. I have got to pa-pa-pack. In the meantime, I understand that hurricanes are not only something to be experienced; they are also something to drink. I’ll let you know how that goes.
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