Turning The Tables
Commentary
Turning the tables is an effective storytelling device in both comedy and tragedy. Jacob, a champion table-turner, suddenly gets a taste of his own medicine.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans the tables are turned when those who seem to have no influence, who have nothing in the eyes of the powerful, suddenly come to know that we do have friends in high places -- the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Turning tables is a regular device in the parables of Jesus. In this set of one-liners shared by Jesus, the abundance that is out there in plain sight belies the myth of scarcity. The kingdom of heaven is available to all who will just look and see! And someday the tables will be turned on the powerful who have rejected this message of love. There will be a judgment.
Genesis 29:15-28
Jacob, the younger of a pair of twins by a matter of minutes, was born holding on to his brother Esau’s heel. His name means “one who grabs by the heel,” otherwise interpreted as “the supplanter.” Jacob had previously taken advantage of his starving brother’s appetite to supplant his brother as the inheritor of his birthright (see Genesis 25:29-34). In this instance Jacob took advantage of his mother’s favoritism towards him (well, to be fair father Isaac favored Esau) to take away the blessing that went to the older brother. Far from settling the matter, Jacob has to flee his homeland, seeking refuge in his uncle Laban’s homestead.
It was expected in those days that family worked for family without compensation. All contributed to the household’s economic well-being. Laban’s question about payment for his services may have been an attempt to ask Jacob if it isn’t time for him to move on. Jacob chooses to interpret Laban’s question as an opportunity to claim Rachel, the younger of Laban’s two daughters as a bride. The dysfunction of Genesis lies in its tables-turning favoritism of a parent towards the younger over the older. He works seven years to earn Rachel’s hand, but as we learn, regardless of what ceremony took place beforehand, the only real wedding ceremony is the consummation of the marriage. Jacob is shocked to discover Laban has turned the tables on him. Having slept with Leah without knowing it, he is actually married to Leah. Laban consents to Jacob marrying Rachel if he completes a week’s marriage with Leah, along with seven more years of labor. More dysfunction will follow, between competing wives and concubines. No one sees fit to break the cycle of dysfunction that created this situation.
Romans 8:26-39
What can be more frustrating than attempting to express the inexpressible, to want to pray, to deeply desire to pray from the depth of our being, and yet not know where to even begin? Paul’s image of the Spirit interceding with sighs and groans too deep for words is especially apt in our era. Because of our 24/7 information age, with its immediacy and depth of knowledge available to a caring person, the deep needs of humanity can quickly become overwhelming. One can pour one’s whole being into one cause and know we are neglecting a thousand other worthy causes. Domestic violence, hunger close at hand and across the world, abuse, torture, institutional injustice: the more we know, the more we realize we have barely scratched the surface. How do we even know what to pray for? How do we even know where to start in working for God’s kingdom?
This is where the Spirit’s intervention becomes so important. By turning it all over to God we turn the tables on the Adversary, the Scoffer who seeks to distress us with our seeming inadequacy. Paul writes of the intercession of God and then takes us further -- nothing can separate us from the love of God! These words he uses, measuring the universe in all directions, using words that can also serve as names for various angelic and demonic powers, express that the barriers and problems that are too great for us are not too great for God. We are not alone in this struggle. As we seek for words to pray we are reminded that we are not alone -- God’s people are with us, and God is with us, and the support of Jesus Christ will keep us anchored in the love of God.
Sometimes the Adversary creates false dichotomies, fake either/ors -- as if we had to choose, just to give an example, between our concern for the inequities faced by African-Americans in our society, seen most clearly in the fact that blacks are far more likely to be shot and killed by police than other Americans, and our concern for those in the criminal justice system such as the police, who work on the front line for all of us and who seem to be targeted by haters of all kinds. We can love and support all those in the crosshairs. The tables are turned on our powerlessness by God’s Spirit, and the love of God in his Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
The Kingdom of Heaven is like...
The tables are turned on those who insist that God’s kingdom, God’s aim for creation, can be simplified. Jesus throws out a series of one-liners like a stand-up comic, and in a time when debt has thrown many people off their lands and into becoming day laborers, or forced many shepherds to sell their flocks and watch someone else’s sheep, Jesus paints a picture of prosperity -- and judgment -- based on images of daily life, suggesting not only an eschatological setting -- these things will be true in the future -- but also in presenting them as God’s ideal makes it clear that this is how we should be living now.
The tiny mustard seed that becomes its own ecology, sheltering and feeding many species, demonstrates God’s inclusiveness and our own interconnectedness. The same with the parable of the yeast -- we can be the catalyst so that all can have a part in God’s abundance.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, at the marketplace, and in the sea -- any one of us who thinks like God will see the treasure that is in plain sight and is there for the taking.
One day the tables will be turned on the oppressors. Whether a basket of bad fish or the separation of the evil from the good, some day this treasure offered to all will no longer be available to those who spurned God’s outreach to the poor, the sick, the suffering, the struggling, and the outcast!
The tables are turned one more time. Most of the images are addressed to ordinary women and men, calling to mind the daily tasks they encounter, but after a description of the judgment Jesus challenges scribes -- those with a specialized knowledge attained only after much training -- to bring out old and new treasures out of their daily work, which is centered in the words of commerce, contracts, and scripture! To those whom much is given much is expected. And so much more is possible, as long as these special gifts are not wasted!
In Paul’s letter to the Romans the tables are turned when those who seem to have no influence, who have nothing in the eyes of the powerful, suddenly come to know that we do have friends in high places -- the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Turning tables is a regular device in the parables of Jesus. In this set of one-liners shared by Jesus, the abundance that is out there in plain sight belies the myth of scarcity. The kingdom of heaven is available to all who will just look and see! And someday the tables will be turned on the powerful who have rejected this message of love. There will be a judgment.
Genesis 29:15-28
Jacob, the younger of a pair of twins by a matter of minutes, was born holding on to his brother Esau’s heel. His name means “one who grabs by the heel,” otherwise interpreted as “the supplanter.” Jacob had previously taken advantage of his starving brother’s appetite to supplant his brother as the inheritor of his birthright (see Genesis 25:29-34). In this instance Jacob took advantage of his mother’s favoritism towards him (well, to be fair father Isaac favored Esau) to take away the blessing that went to the older brother. Far from settling the matter, Jacob has to flee his homeland, seeking refuge in his uncle Laban’s homestead.
It was expected in those days that family worked for family without compensation. All contributed to the household’s economic well-being. Laban’s question about payment for his services may have been an attempt to ask Jacob if it isn’t time for him to move on. Jacob chooses to interpret Laban’s question as an opportunity to claim Rachel, the younger of Laban’s two daughters as a bride. The dysfunction of Genesis lies in its tables-turning favoritism of a parent towards the younger over the older. He works seven years to earn Rachel’s hand, but as we learn, regardless of what ceremony took place beforehand, the only real wedding ceremony is the consummation of the marriage. Jacob is shocked to discover Laban has turned the tables on him. Having slept with Leah without knowing it, he is actually married to Leah. Laban consents to Jacob marrying Rachel if he completes a week’s marriage with Leah, along with seven more years of labor. More dysfunction will follow, between competing wives and concubines. No one sees fit to break the cycle of dysfunction that created this situation.
Romans 8:26-39
What can be more frustrating than attempting to express the inexpressible, to want to pray, to deeply desire to pray from the depth of our being, and yet not know where to even begin? Paul’s image of the Spirit interceding with sighs and groans too deep for words is especially apt in our era. Because of our 24/7 information age, with its immediacy and depth of knowledge available to a caring person, the deep needs of humanity can quickly become overwhelming. One can pour one’s whole being into one cause and know we are neglecting a thousand other worthy causes. Domestic violence, hunger close at hand and across the world, abuse, torture, institutional injustice: the more we know, the more we realize we have barely scratched the surface. How do we even know what to pray for? How do we even know where to start in working for God’s kingdom?
This is where the Spirit’s intervention becomes so important. By turning it all over to God we turn the tables on the Adversary, the Scoffer who seeks to distress us with our seeming inadequacy. Paul writes of the intercession of God and then takes us further -- nothing can separate us from the love of God! These words he uses, measuring the universe in all directions, using words that can also serve as names for various angelic and demonic powers, express that the barriers and problems that are too great for us are not too great for God. We are not alone in this struggle. As we seek for words to pray we are reminded that we are not alone -- God’s people are with us, and God is with us, and the support of Jesus Christ will keep us anchored in the love of God.
Sometimes the Adversary creates false dichotomies, fake either/ors -- as if we had to choose, just to give an example, between our concern for the inequities faced by African-Americans in our society, seen most clearly in the fact that blacks are far more likely to be shot and killed by police than other Americans, and our concern for those in the criminal justice system such as the police, who work on the front line for all of us and who seem to be targeted by haters of all kinds. We can love and support all those in the crosshairs. The tables are turned on our powerlessness by God’s Spirit, and the love of God in his Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
The Kingdom of Heaven is like...
The tables are turned on those who insist that God’s kingdom, God’s aim for creation, can be simplified. Jesus throws out a series of one-liners like a stand-up comic, and in a time when debt has thrown many people off their lands and into becoming day laborers, or forced many shepherds to sell their flocks and watch someone else’s sheep, Jesus paints a picture of prosperity -- and judgment -- based on images of daily life, suggesting not only an eschatological setting -- these things will be true in the future -- but also in presenting them as God’s ideal makes it clear that this is how we should be living now.
The tiny mustard seed that becomes its own ecology, sheltering and feeding many species, demonstrates God’s inclusiveness and our own interconnectedness. The same with the parable of the yeast -- we can be the catalyst so that all can have a part in God’s abundance.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, at the marketplace, and in the sea -- any one of us who thinks like God will see the treasure that is in plain sight and is there for the taking.
One day the tables will be turned on the oppressors. Whether a basket of bad fish or the separation of the evil from the good, some day this treasure offered to all will no longer be available to those who spurned God’s outreach to the poor, the sick, the suffering, the struggling, and the outcast!
The tables are turned one more time. Most of the images are addressed to ordinary women and men, calling to mind the daily tasks they encounter, but after a description of the judgment Jesus challenges scribes -- those with a specialized knowledge attained only after much training -- to bring out old and new treasures out of their daily work, which is centered in the words of commerce, contracts, and scripture! To those whom much is given much is expected. And so much more is possible, as long as these special gifts are not wasted!
