Perfect Heroes

Scripture: Genesis 27:38 – “Esau said to his father, ‘Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, father!’ And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.” (NRSVUE)

We know that we should bring up our children in the faith and teach them the lessons of the Bible. We point out people like Abraham and David and tell children to be like them. But one thing I have discovered is that the great heroes of the Bible are not simple characters that we can just mindlessly emulate. They are deeply flawed, which I believe makes them even greater models of faith.

One of the most heartbreaking moments in the Bible comes from Genesis chapter 27. Esau is big and hairy, and kind of a meathead. He loves to hunt, he has very little self-control, and he is easily outwitted by his trickster brother, Jacob, and his mother, Rebekah. One day, Esau was so hungry after a hunt that Jacob had him sell his sizable inheritance for a bowl of lentil stew. But, loving his father above all things, he often goes out hunting to make his favorite meal to comfort him now that he is old and blind.

One day, Jacob and Rebekah take advantage of Esau. Jacob puts fur on his arms to trick his blind father. Pretending to be Esau, Jacob asks Isaac for his blessing, the irremovable sign of God’s special favor coming down from Abraham. When Esau returns home, Isaac is confused. Didn’t Esau just feed him, and didn’t he just give him the special blessing? Esau is crushed. He begs his father for a blessing. There must be enough blessings to go around! But Isaac cannot help him.

What moral lessons do we learn from this story? Jacob becomes the ancestor of all the tribes of Israel, but Esau is easily forgotten. Are manipulating and essentially robbing your brother to be admired? Does being a bit foolish and impulsive mean that you don’t deserve God’s love? How can we not weep with Esau?

I think the larger lesson is that sometimes we do things we are not proud of. Jacob learns from his mistakes. He is humbled in his pride and, when he must finally meet his brother again face to face, God must literally wrestle with him to convince him to do it. But surprisingly, Esau is loving and forgiving. Though fathers, mothers, brothers, generals, kings, and prophets can all do terrible things, the Bible teaches us that reconciliation is possible when we put our faith in God before our own needs. This is why we need to focus less on how great our Bible heroes are and more on the mistakes they made along the way.

Because we are flawed people who make mistakes all the time. Knowing we can change like Jacob is a better lesson than just saying that he is great. That can lead to us internalizing a message that we need to be perfect heroes, too. But if we know that God calls us from our brokenness to a place of forgiveness, and if God gives us the grace to bring love to the world, our faith can lift us up and not drag us down in guilt.

So, this week, think of a flawed person in your life and about how they either turned their life around or we able to teach you something important even if they weren’t perfect heroes. Learn from them and, if you can, love them in spite of themselves. That is a message worth teaching our children.

Prayer: Dear God, help me to learn from my mistakes as I look to others who have done the same. Amen.

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