The Face of God

"For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably." Genesis 33:10

The Face of God!
By Rev. William Dohle

"How good it is," the psalmist says. "When brothers live together in unity! It is like oil poured on the head, running down Aaron's bead, down upon the collar of his robes."(Psalm 133:1-2) How true this psalm is! How wonderful it is when everyone is getting along, when all are living in unity. How good it is when brothers and sisters together live at peace with one another.

Of course that doesn't always happen that way. Be with the same people for any length of time and you will quickly find offenses stacking up. Brothers do not live together in unity. Brothers and sisters fight! Arguments arise over the stupidest thing. Mistakes are made. Feelings hurt. Friendships betrayed. Lives fall apart.

"How good it is when brothers live together in unity!"... Seems like a dream. A hope. A wish. Not something real or attainable, but something that we can only hope for.

If only... That's what Jacob must have thought too as he faced his brother across the field that day. Before him stood his brother with over four hundred men behind him. Behind Jacob, was his family and his children and everything he owned in carts behind him.

Can you imagine what Jacob must have been thinking?

Jacob probably remembered the time he tricked his brother out of his inheritance. How stupid that was! Or the time when he let his mother help him rob his brother of his father's blessing. That wasn't too smart either.

His mistakes were running through his mind. As were his brother's final words to him. "The days of mounring for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."(Gen. 27:41)

No wonder Jacob was afraid.
But something had happened between them. God had intervened. The Holy Spirit had touched Esau's heart. Time had healed the wound. And when Esau saw Jacob cowering before him, "He ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept."

That is forgiveness, my friends. True, pure, and holy forgiveness.

Notice what Esau didn't require. He didn't require an apology. He didn't stand back and demand Jacob recount all his foul deeds. He didn't make him promise not to ever do anything like that again. That's not forgiveness!

He didn't remind Jacob of what he did. He didn't dredge up the past, point fingers at him, make him take the blame. That's not forgiveness either.

And finally, Esau cares more about his brother and their relationship than about any petty wrong done to him. Jacob seems to have a harder time getting over it than Esau does. Jacob keeps calling Esau "my lord" while Esau calls him "my brother." Clearly Esau cares about getting his brother back more than holding Jacob's feet to the fire.

That is why Jacob says: "Seeing you is like seeing God!" For in forgiving Jacob as he did, Esau mirrored to him the love of God! Jacob had just seen God wrestling with him that night. He names the place Peniel saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." And now, here in his brother, Jacob sees him in the flesh. The face of his brother has become the face of God!

How wonderful it would be if we did the same! How marvelous our churches would be if we forgave people as Esau forgave Jacob. How awesome it would be if we cared more about our relationship with them than about any sort of justice against them.

For we too have already experienced this forgiveness.  This is how Christ Jesus forgives us. Out of the goodness of his heart, caring for our relationship, he forgives us for things we ourselves have forgotten. And he never brings up the past. Instead, like the Prodical Father, he throws his arms wide and runs out to meet us where we are.


How good it would be if we, brothers and sisters in Christ, lived together like this, forgiven and restored, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, caring more about each other than about the offenses we have against each other. May Christ help us live forgiven, renewed, and restored in relationship with each other just as he forgives, restores, and renews us! 

God of Esau, thank you for the forgiveness he gave his brother, Jacob, so long ago. Inspire in us your forgiveness that, when others offend us, we may respond with grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.