Mapperley Monday Mail, 16th March

The All-Age service yesterday was on the theme of "mothers in the Bible". And on my table, we got talking about the story of Leah in Genesis 29. I mentioned that one of my all-time favourite sermons is by Timothy Keller on the story of Leah. (And you can read it online here.) Maybe we'll revisit it at some stage, in which case you'll know where I got it from... I thought it would be worth giving a brief overview of the sermon. Keller does it much better than me though!

Keller draws out three bits of bad news, then three bits of good news, but the good is much stronger than the bad.

Bad News 1: Sin Does You

We often talk about people sinning, but sin isn't something we do. It's something that does us, and then rebounds around and keeps on messing things up for ages afterwards. We see that here with how Isaac favouring Esau rather than Jacob has echoed through the generations. The less-favoured son is now playing favourites with his wives. And that in turn leads to their children hating each other and Joseph getting sold into slavery.

Bad News 2: In the Morning, It's Always Leah

Jacob wakes up the morning after his marriage to discover that the woman he had married literally wasn't the one he had fallen in love with – it was her ugly sister. He had worked for years to be able to marry Rachel, but in the morning he saw it was Leah. (Incidentally, this story is why marriages in the Church of England aren't allowed to be done in the evening!) But it's also a picture of how all earthly desires work out. No matter what we hope for and work for and aim for, if we achieve it it's always a disappointment to us. In the morning, it's always Leah.

Bad News 3: We Make Our Own Lives Much Worse through Idolizing Family

Jacob thought his life would be complete when he married Rachel. Leah thought her life would be complete when she had children. This is a story where people idolise traditional values, and they don't come through.

Good News 1: God Works with Weak People

I know some people who struggle with the fact that there are a lot of not-very-nice stories in the Bible. But the fact is that God works with people who are weak, who mess up, who have unpleasant stories in their lives. And that's great news for us! It's not about being good enough for God; it's about God entering our mess!

Good News 2: God Works Through Weak People

God isn't thwarted by the mess that is going on in this family. He is using it for his purposes. God uses Laban's trickery to finally deal with Jacob's pride. He uses Rachel and Leah's rivalry to grow his nation.

Good News 3: God Works in the Weakest

Leah is one of the very few people before Moses who calls God by the name YHWH. How did she know? Because God must have revealed himself to her. And Leah goes through the usual trying to find her meaning in traditional values, as we can see with why she names her children the way she does. "Surely my husband will love me now" and so on.

But then everything changes. With the birth of her fourth son, she decides that instead of looking at her situation and trying to get vindication there, she looks to God and praises him instead. She stands up and gets her life back. Because she knows that God cares about her, even though no-one else does.

But amazing more than that – her child, Judah, was the one who would offer himself to heal the split in the family (Genesis 36). He was the one who would become the ancestor of the promised King, David, and the promised Messiah, Jesus. God takes this girl who nobody loved, and makes her a beloved and precious part of his family.

All the best,

John