If you would please open your Bibles to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 33. This is God's word. Jacob looked up. And there was Esau coming with his 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. He threw his arms around his neck and kissed him, and they wept. Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. Who are these with you, he asked. Jacob answered, they are the children God has graciously given your servants. Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. Next Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down. Esau asked, what do you mean by all these droves I met? To find favor in your eyes, my lord, he said. But Esau said, I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself. No, please, said Jacob, if I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God. Now that you have received me favorably, please accept the present that was brought to you. For God has been gracious to me and I have all I need. And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it. Then Esau said, let us be on our way. I'll accompany you. But Jacob said to him, my Lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard, just one day, all the animals will die. So let my Lord go on ahead of his servant while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children until I come to my Lord in Seir. Esau said, then let me leave some of my men with you. But why do that, Jacob asked. Just let me find favor in the eyes of my Lord. So that day, Esau started on his way back to Seir Jacob, however, went to Sukkah, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkah. After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. For 100 pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel. May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy and inspired word. Have you ever had something that you were looking forward to not in the sense that, boy, I can't wait till that happens. But you're looking forward to it in the sense that you know it's going to happen. And you can't get it off your radar because you keep thinking about it. And it's just, you know, you may really dread this thing that's happening, but you know you've got to get through it. I've had a few of those experiences in my life, most of them in the pretty distant past. My most recent little ordeal that I had on the calendar that I had to look forward to was my first ever visit to a podiatrist. A podiatrist is a foot doctor, and it's basically a doctor, if you go into the waiting room of a podiatrist, it is highly unlikely that there will be anyone under 60. You understand? It's kind of an old person's doctor, because as you age, in all likelihood, your feet will complain. And I have, as of course you know, I love to talk about my ailments. Among senior citizens, this is known as an organ recital. But I have problems with the discs in my neck that has been such, the doctors have said I'm not supposed to lift anything. I can lift a half a gallon of milk, but I'm not supposed to lift a gallon of milk. Now that's really pathetic. And now I have what used to be biceps are now just folds of crepey skin. The only exercise that I've been able to do for a few years is walking. And so I've been walking and walking and walking. And I went from an extremely sedentary lifestyle, where I walked maybe 2,500 to 3,000 steps a day, to walking 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day, sometimes even more than 15,000 steps a day. That's my exercise. And it is, according to research, supposed to significantly reduce the risk of my developing senile dementia. It's also supposed to give me other benefits health-wise. So I've been doing it diligently, walking. But about, I'm going to guess, three years ago, my right foot started to complain. I started to feel as if I had a sock balled up under my foot. And even if I was barefoot, So it's obviously not something that's balled up under my metatarsal arch. It turns out it's something called Morton's neuroma. That's a nerve problem. So I've been dealing with that, just kind of limping along. One foot hurts, but the other one's fine. And that means every other step is OK. And I found out this year, actually last year, 2022, you can stop trying to walk 10,000 steps. That number was invented by a marketing firm in Japan. True, okay? And all the doctors bought it. I mean, you know, conventional wisdom was 10,000 steps. I had cardiologists tell me that. Well, now somebody decided, where did they get that number? They found out it was a marketing firm in Japan that wanted to promote Fitbit or something. And so, They said, well, let's do research and find out how many steps it really does take in order to have these health benefits. And the answer is 7,000, which I think is interesting, because seven is, of course, an interesting number in the word of God. But 7,000 steps gives you an amazingly improved health outlook. 5,000 gives you an improved health outlook. 7,000, tremendous. If you go more than 7,000 steps, you're burning calories. And for most of us, that's beneficial. But really no significant difference in terms of longevity, senility, et cetera. 7,000 is the golden number. So I cut back my steps to 7,000. And all of a sudden, back about November, my left foot started to hurt. My right foot had been a problem for years. Now my left foot is hurting. And frankly, it's hurting more than the right foot. So when I went to see my doctor in December, which is one of those things that was on the horizon, I told him about the latest news on my feet. And the conclusion was he made an appointment at my request with a podiatrist in Knoxville, and I've been dreading it. Well, earlier this week, I went. And he gave me a shot in my left foot in order to deaden the area where he cut out something that was causing the pain. And actually, after they bandaged it up and everything and I walked out, I couldn't feel the pain because he'd given me a shot to anesthetize that part of my foot. By this morning, it's hurting again, but never mind. My right foot, however, he said, we'll give you a steroid shot in the top of your foot. He said, now that's gonna hurt, but then it'll help with the thing. Well, he was right, it did hurt, And I'm hoping it's going to help with Horton's neuroma. So far, I'm standing here right now feeling like I have a sock balled up under my metatarsal arch. Professor Wood, thank you so much for sharing all of that information with us. Well, I share that because it's something I've been looking forward to. that now is in the rear view. I do go back for a follow-up appointment in the near future on Valentine's Day. How romantic. Take your shoes off. But the fact is, there are things we look forward to not because we're eager for them to be enjoyed, but because we really kind of dread it. I want you to think about how long Jacob had dreaded seeing his brother Esau. Why did he leave home? Well, he had a wife. Yeah, it wasn't his idea. He left home because his mom said, you need to get out of town. Esau has been talking about the fact that he's gonna kill you, and I don't want you to get killed. So go to my brother's house and stay there until Esau isn't angry anymore and then I'll send word to you and you can come back. As we said last time, he never got the message from mom, it's safe to come back now. The reason he's going back is because God told him to go back. As we said last time, sometimes Often, in fact, God will instruct us to do something that makes us uncomfortable. God will tell us to do something that might even seem scary. We don't want to do it. I could get hurt doing that. I could be rejected by others if I do that. I could lose all my money if I do that. Whatever it is. God often tells his people to do something that we would not choose on our own. He'll never tell us to sin. If you're having little voices in your head telling you to commit some crime and you're thinking, oh, what if that's God? It's not. God doesn't tell people to sin. that Jacob had been instructed by God to go back to the place he was from, and that means he's gonna have to face his brother Esau. Let me tell you, I'd rather go to the podiatrist once a day than have to face Esau if I'm Jacob. Why, what's the problem? Because Esau got robbed by Jacob, his brother, was so eager to get the blessing that he lied to their dad. And Esau was so upset about it, he wanted to kill Jacob. Can you understand? Can you understand Esau's anger? They took that blessing thing seriously. And they should have. Now he's coming back and he doesn't know they didn't have Facebook, texting. Various ways of saying, hey, saw man, how you doing? I'm down here. Uncle Laban's really a bear, man. It's awful. You wouldn't believe what I went through. You wouldn't believe the morning after my wedding, I woke up with the wrong woman because it turns out that this lying thing, I'm not the only one who does it. They didn't have that kind of communication. So he's heard nothing from Esau. And when he finally is going and he knows he's going to confront him, he finds out Esau is coming with an army of hundreds. And he's terrified. So now, this thing he has looked forward to, dreading it so much, Oh God, please spare my life. Spare the lives of my family. Don't let them come in here and just annihilate us. You promised you were gonna give me this vast number of descendants, that the promise you made to Abraham and the promise you made to Isaac, you made to me as well, that I'm gonna be the one through whom you're gonna bring all this blessing and this vast vast multitude of people, please realize that in order for that promise of yours to be kept, you gotta protect me from Esau. Please, Lord. Jacob looked up, and there was Esau. Does that sound a little like the morning after his wedding? Remember? It says, and the next morning, There was, and it was the woman he didn't want to marry. There was Leah. There was Esau. He sees it and his heart is filled with dread. There was Esau coming with his 400 men. So he divided the children. among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he takes the maidservants and their kids, and he puts them out front. How'd you like to be one of the maidservants or their children? Why is he doing this? I think he's afraid of the army that's coming toward us right now. And so he puts us in the front. Yeah. Who did he put in the back? Rachel and Joseph. is they're the ones he values the most. Everybody knows it. You were always mom's favorite. Well, maybe so. Dad liked you better. Possibly. It happens. It's not great. It's just the way it is. But do see, please, that having put them in order of value Jacob put himself out before all of them. Did you get that? He arranged all of them according to how much he wanted to protect them. But then he went and got in front of all of them. That's a good moment on the part of Jacob. He gets out front. And you know he's feeling fearful. But suddenly Esau comes running and embraces him. I mean, that's beautiful. Esau ran, verse four, to meet Jacob and embraced him. He threw his arms around his neck and kissed him, and they wept. They both wept. This is a beautiful, emotional, glorious moment of reconciliation. Last time he saw Esau was in the rearview mirror. And the last time Esau saw him, it was a figure going away that he wanted dead. And now they embrace each other. I've seen families where there was enormous anger and unforgiveness, and people felt like, I don't ever want to see that person again. And I've seen times when it was not resolved, but I've seen some beautiful times where it's been resolved. People learned to forgive. Now, a lot of years have gone by. Think about the fact that Jacob had to wait seven years before he could marry what he thought was going to be Rachel, instead it turned out to be Leah. So they didn't have any children until he'd been gone seven years, probably eight. Because even if she had a child right away, there's a good chance that between the time he arrived, the time he worked, the time that they had a child, it might have been eight years. Now, several of his older children are adults. They're men. He's got a bunch of adults traveling with him. which makes it that much more interesting when he talks about the little ones. Youngest one in the bunch has got to be Joseph, and so what's going on there? But he says, you know, the little children just can't keep up. We've got to go slow for their sake. Otherwise, they'll die. That was not entirely honest on the part of Jacob, but more about that in a moment. Think about how many years it's been. It's been decades. and there's been no contact. And now, when they see each other, Esau displays grace. He embraces his brother. Up to this point, we haven't liked Esau very much. Because, I mean, Esau was, well, he was just impulsive, and foolish, despised his birthright, the scripture says, and then was robbed, and then wants to kill his brother. And of course, he made those bad marriage choices, married a couple of pagans. And when he found out, okay, my parents don't like them, he marries another person. So, I mean, you know, his life is not exactly one that we've been like, oh yeah, Esau. I think I'm gonna name my child Esau. By the way, if you're listening and your name is Esau, this is the good part of Esau's story here. But he's not really somebody that we thought well of. But look what he does here. The past is past. He embraces his brother. He kisses him. Well, that's a more traditional thing in Middle Eastern culture, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And in European culture, at least Southern Europe. and parts of Africa and South America. It's really just us who have a problem with that. We've talked about this before, but we try and do what the scriptures tell us to do, except those eight places in the New Testament where we are told to greet one another with a holy kiss, and it's like, The way I paraphrase that is greet one another in a culturally appropriate expression of affection, because I'm more comfortable with that. Kind of like when Jesus said to the rich young ruler, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, then come follow me. I paraphrase that. Go and make some sort of contribution to society that you're comfortable with. Eek, yuck. Well, these two brothers embraced each other, kissed each other, and wept together. This is a beautiful scene. The thing he had dreaded turns out to be a moment of beauty and healing. And Esau says, who are these people who are with you? He says, oh, the wives and children that God has blessed me, that God has blessed your servant with. He's still very careful how he addresses Esau. God has blessed your servant with this family. And Esau says, well, so what were all these droves of animals? that I encountered on my way to this moment. And he says, they are present for you. I was trying to win your favor. Well, at least that's a moment of truth. To find favor in your eyes, my Lord, he said. He told him his motive. But Esau said, I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself. The fact that he calls him his brother is different from the way that Jacob's addressing him. My master, I am your servant. And Esau says, you're my brother. You're my brother. That's beautiful. Again, God has done a work of grace in Esau's heart so that Esau is not holding bitterness. Had he been wronged by Jacob? Absolutely. Was Jacob a liar and a cheat? Definitely. Had Esau been injured by Jacob's lies? Yes. But you go all the way back to when he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Bad move, Esau. Well, what about bad move, Jacob? Your brother has been out working, hunting, seeking to bring home game, good meat that we can all enjoy, and he's extremely hungry, and you've just finished cooking something. And he says, man, give me some of that. And you say, I'll sell you some. Really? Yeah, just let me have your birthright. You gotta be kidding. What kind of stinking brother would do something like that? One named Jacob. Okay. I mean, he had been a jerk over and over to his brother Esau. And Esau says, let it go. I'm not keeping score. Look at what I have now. I have been blessed. I have everything I need. I already have plenty, verse nine. Keep what you have for yourself, my brother. That's beautiful. Esau's got a good attitude. Jacob says, no, please. If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God now that you've received me favorably. Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me, and I have all I need. And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it. The footnote in my Bible says that the word that's used there for accept this present from me is the same word that's used when they're discussing the blessing. Jacob, who had worked hard to take the blessing away from Esau, now is saying, I want you to have the blessing. Receive this as a blessing. And Esau, because he insisted, accepted it. Then Esau said. Let's be on our way, I'll accompany you. Okay, we're in this together. This is a sweet moment, and the music swells, and they're gonna ride along together. But Jacob says to him, oh, you know, Kyle Lee, I'd love to, but I really can't, okay? I mean, you're so kind to offer, but no, I tell you, I just don't think I can do that. My Lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they're driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. Does it sound like he's exaggerating here? Yeah. So let my Lord go on ahead of his servant while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children until I come to my Lord and see her. What did he just say? Until I get to your place. Okay, we're gonna be coming, but we're gonna take a slow pace, okay? So you go on ahead and we'll be along in a while. Esau said, then let me leave some of my men with you. That's a nice offer. I've got a militia here. You don't know this neighborhood. These guys will protect you. So I'll go on, as you've said, and these guys will stay back and they'll be with you along the way. But why do that? Jacob asked. Just let me find favor in the eyes of my Lord. All I'm asking is just as long as you feel good toward me. So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. Jacob, however, went to Sukkah. where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. And that's why the place was called Sukkot. Excuse me? I thought you said you were coming for Thanksgiving. Oh, sorry. Did I say that? Oh, gosh. I guess it's just not going to work out this year. Or the next. Or the next. Or the next. Jacob wants Esau to accept him, but he really doesn't want to be with Esau. This is more deceit on the part of Jacob. Not good. Not good. If you had to grade the performance of these people in this chapter, who comes out getting an A for behavior? Esau. Who gets, at best, a C? Jacob. You say, well, no, he lied, so it's an F. I'm saying, well, for Jacob, that's a C, which is average. OK? You're grading on the curve, Pastor Wood. I'm just trying to be realistic. So after Jacob came from Padana Ram, he arrived. safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan, encamped within sight of the city. For 100 pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. See, he's got his own plan. He didn't go back to Bethel either. He didn't go to Seir with Esau. He didn't go to Bethel. He's going to make his own way in the world. And there he set up an altar and called the place God, the God of Israel. He called the altar that. Now, you and I look at these stories and we say, well, it's colorful, it's interesting. But this is our story. This is a picture of the human family and how things operate. Everybody in here has some relatives from whom they feel estranged. Sometimes it takes time before there's reconciliation. Sometimes it takes decades. But it starts in the heart. Esau didn't forgive his brother Jacob when he saw all those animals. He didn't forgive his brother Jacob when he saw him with his family. He forgave his brother Jacob a long time before. And that's what it takes if we're gonna have reconciliation. It starts on the inside. I plead with you on the authority of God's word. If there's somebody that you have not forgiven, you don't have to go spend time with them. You shouldn't lie to them, but you need to forgive them. Whatever they've done, Say, well, I just can't justify what they did. You don't have to justify anything. But you need to forgive. Forgiveness is always only based on grace. Trust is earned. So if there's somebody you're dreading having to see someday, go ahead and forgive them now. And we'll see whether or not you have to see them in this life. Because you can forgive somebody who's dead. but you must forgive. God says so. Father, we thank you that you forgive us, not based on what we do, but based on what you have done. You sent Jesus to purchase our forgiveness, and so we give you thanks and praise. In Jesus' precious name, amen.