Genesis 29:15-30

Laban said to Jacob, “You shouldn’t have to work for free just because you are my relative. Tell me what you would like to be paid.”

Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah and the younger Rachel. Leah had delicate eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and was good-looking.

Jacob loved Rachel and said, “I will work for you for seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”

Laban said, “I’d rather give her to you than to another man. Stay with me.”

Jacob worked for Rachel for seven years, but it seemed like a few days because he loved her.

Jacob said to Laban, “The time has come. Give me my wife so that I may sleep with her.”

So Laban invited all the people of that place and prepared a banquet.

However, in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he slept with her. Laban had given his servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her servant.

In the morning, there she was—Leah! Jacob said to Laban, “What have you done to me? Didn’t I work for you to have Rachel? Why did you betray me?”

Laban said, “Where we live, we don’t give the younger woman before the oldest. Complete the celebratory week with this woman. Then I will give you this other woman too for your work, if you work for me seven more years.”

So that is what Jacob did. He completed the celebratory week with this woman, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. Laban had given his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant.

Jacob slept with Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He worked for Laban seven more years.

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I don’t participate in the whole Black Friday shopping thing. I tend to stay put on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I don’t go shopping, except once I did.

We were in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving several years ago, and I saw in an ad that an electronics store was selling a portable battery operated DVD player with a built-in monitor for an extremely low price on black Friday. I thought the DVD player would be nice to have on the airplane, so, Friday morning, I drove from Amherst to the Holyoke Mall to purchase the DVD player.

I walked through the crowds into the Department store and immediately saw a large stack of the DVD players in which I was interested.

Almost as immediately, a sales clerk caught up to me and asked me if I was interested in buying a DVD player.

“Yes” I said,

The next thing he said to me was, “Well you don’t want to buy this one. It’s junk. What you really want to do is get this one” and he pointed to another stack of DVD players which were quite a bit more expensive.

This is what is called “bait and switch.”

According to Wikipedia, bait-and-switch is a form of fraud wherein people are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, only to discover when they visit the store, the advertised thing is not available, or they are pressured to consider similar, but higher-priced items.

One classic example of bait and switch is found in the story of Jacob and Rachel and Leah.

Jacob is on the run because he has been a terrible person to his family. Jacob’s mom tells him to go to his uncle Laban and to stay with him.

And so Jacob does. And in the process of meeting Laban. He meets Laban‘s daughter Rachel and falls in love with her.

After Jacob is there a month, Laban says to Jacob. “It’s not fair that you should work for me for nothing, so tell me what you want for your labor.”

At this point in the story, Laban sounds like a pretty good guy; he’s not.

Jacob says that he will work for seven years if at the end of that time he can marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel.

Laban says “It’s a plan”, and Jacob works for him seven years.

At the end of the seven years, a wedding ceremony is planned and all the neighbors come for a big feast.

And Jacob marries his bride, and they go into the marriage tent and consummate their marriage vows. In the morning, in the light of day, Jacob discovers that he has not married Rachel, but that the person who was presented to him in the wedding ceremony was Rachel‘s older sister Leah.

There is nothing wrong with Leah, but Jacob is in love with Rachel. And he feels duped, tricked into marrying her..

So he comes to Laban, furious, “You liar. You told me that I was marrying Rachel but instead you tricked me into marrying Leah.”

So Laban says to Jacob, “Son, in this community the younger daughter can’t be married before the older daughter, and so I had to trick you into marrying Leah.”

Jacob exclaims, “Well you could’ve told me that. Because now I am married to the wrong person. What am I supposed to do?”

Laban rubs his chin as if he’s thinking this through, and then he appears to come up with an idea. “Here’s what we’ll do he says. I will also give you Rachel but you will need to work for me another seven years.”

This is the same Laban who said to Jacob seven years earlier “I don’t want you working for free,” and yet has managed to trick Jacob into working for him for 14 years.

Bait and switch. Jacob has been set up, he has been tricked, he has been outsmarted.

Now when I read this terrible story the question that I ask myself is “what lesson am I to learn from this?” What is the writer of scripture trying to teach me through this story?

There are probably many intended lessons, but foremost among them might be that we must be careful because we never know when we might be tricked even by those closest to us.

It’s kind of like when Jesus said we must be as “gentle as doves but wise as serpents.” There are those who will take advantage of us if we let them.

We think of this in our present context in terms of false advertising, or broken promises, or people who do not live up to their word. But I think that we must be aware that even the things that we respect and appreciate are not beyond the temptation to trick us.

I bring this up because I am afraid that religion can be a bit of a “bait and switch” proposition, it can trick us into accepting certain things only to discover that those things are not necessarily true.

The list of religious mis-statements can be long, but I will only mention a three things this morning that I think are sometimes promised by religion and religious leaders that may not turn out to be true.

I think that there are some who would lead us to believe that if we will just accept their teachings that we will find all the answers to our questions- even if those answers don’t make sense. You are free to disagree with me, but I do not believe that religion or faith answers all the questions.

In fact, my faith causes more questions as I strive to deal with the world as it is. Personally, I believe that questions are a good thing, and that pat answers are usually disappointing. Faith is the process of working through the questions and even accepting that the questions may not be answered, but knowing that it is OK.

There are some that would lead us to believe that if we would just put our faith in Jesus, that all our problems would go away. Here’s what I know from personal experience- having faith doesn’t make problems go away, in fact, faith creates new problems as I am forced to deal with problems in new ways.

Jesus never teaches us that our lives will be problem free, in fact, he tells us that in this world we will have trouble.

There are some that would imply that the problems that affect our society are not present within the church. They tell us that we are beyond that, or immune from those issues.

Unfortunately, the same ugliness that infects our society envelops the church as well.

You have heard me say that I learned racism in the church.

I learned it as a teenager when a group of us bought some Spanish language Bibles so that we could pass them out to the children of Mexican migrant workers at TPA park as they waited for their parents to come pick them up. We were warned by some people in our church, “You know you can’t trust them. You better be careful.”

I learned it as a youth minister when one of my student’s parent strongly encouraged me to teach that it was wrong for the kids to date somebody of another race.

I learned it in every conversation in a church hallway that started with someone saying “I’m not prejudiced but...”

I learned it from a woman in my church who said that those Indians should stay on the reservation.

The societal prejudice against LBGTQ folks is often traced back to the pulpits and hallways of the church. I asked a church group once how they should treat their new neighbors if they discovered they were gay.

I was dismayed when some responded by saying they should ignore them and shun them so that they might see what Christians really believe.

Truth be told,

My faith doesn’t answer all my questions.

My faith hasn’t removed all my problems.

My involvement with Church does not mean that I am free from societal sins.

It seems disingenuous to make these claims, but some do.

I believe that instead of bait and switch, rather than tricking people into salvation, that we need to be honest and authentic and real.

Life can be hard.

Life can be a struggle.

Life can be devastating.

We are not promised other than that. But we are promised that we are loved by one who walks beside us through it all,

and we discover that through a community of other sojourners, we find solace in each other through the journey.

And if we are being honest we confess that life can be wonderful, beautiful, meaningful, and hopeful. And the reason that we find life hopeful and meaningful and beautiful and wonderful is because we have learned that faith in God through Jesus Christ brings comfort, we have learned that faith guides us through the obstacles, we have learned that faith gives us hope that there is a better day coming.

Amen.

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Lectio Divina- Pastoral Prayer

From Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord of heavenly forces!

My very being longs, even yearns, for the Lord’s courtyards.

My heart and my body will rejoice out loud to the living God!

Yes, the sparrow too has found a home there; the swallow has found herself a nest where she can lay her young beside your altars, Lord of heavenly forces, my king, my God!

Those who put their strength in you are truly happy; pilgrimage is in their hearts.

Better is a single day in your courtyards than a thousand elsewhere.

I would prefer to stand outside the entrance of my God’s house than live comfortably in the tents of the wicked!

The Lord is a sun and shield; God is favor and glory. The Lord gives—doesn’t withhold!—good things to those who walk with integrity. Lord of heavenly forces, those who trust in you are truly happy!