We have skipped most of the story of Isaac, son of Abraham and hear the story of the two sons of Isaac in today’s first reading, the twins Esau and Jacob. This is actually the third story of sibling rivalry that we have heard in the Book of Genesis. The first is the story of Cain and Abel; the second is that of Ishmael and Isaac. As is the case in this story, the younger son is the favored one. There is always a reason behind the rivalry. Cain turns against his brother Abel because it seems to him that Abel is favored by God. In the case of Ishmael and Isaac, the rivalry is based upon the fact that Ishmael is the son of a slave. In the case of the sons of Isaac, the elder of the two is something of an oaf who sells his birthright to his younger brother because he is hungry and unwilling to prepare his own food. We will hear another story of sibling rivalry in the days to come when we read of Joseph and his brothers, the sons of Jacob. The one common element in all of these stories is that it is the younger son who wins the contest between the rivals.
What can we take away from this story of sibling rivalry? In this particular culture, the older or oldest son is the one who inherits at least two-thirds of his father’s estate. The younger sons split what is left over. If you are the older or oldest child in your own family, as I am, you would probably agree that this is just the way things should be! However, God doesn’t see things this way. In each of these stories from the Book of Genesis and even in the story of the sons of Jesse in the First Book of Samuel, God seems to favor the younger or youngest sibling. In other words, once again, we have an example of how God’s plan doesn’t always fit the prevailing culture and societal norms. God’s ways are not our ways.
This becomes even clearer when we relate these stories to the story of the Prodigal in the Gospel of Luke. The younger son seems to be the less worthy of the two until the very end of the story when the older son refuses to honor his father’s wishes and reveals that he has been grudgingly rather than lovingly obedient to his father. The younger son becomes the model of Christian forgiveness because of his father’s “prodigal” love.
In the Gospel today, Jesus gives us another example of the fact that God does not see things the way we do or the way our cultural norms tell us to act. Jesus tells us to throw out the old wineskins, our old way of looking at things and to accept his way – new wineskins for a new way of life – a life lived according to God’s plan.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator