January 10, 2022: Day 7 – Genesis 21-24 and John 12-13

I hope you enjoyed your weekend and enjoyed your brake over the Sunday.  We find ourselves in the midst of the life of Isaac, from his birth, to his near death experience, to the death of his mother, and then finally to his marriage to Rebekkah.  Isaac serves as a very clear Christ type in so many different ways, the most obvious of which is his near sacrifice on Mount Moriah.  The father sacrificing the son does not take a lot of imagination to think of where else we have seen this in Scripture.  Now it doesn’t actually happen, and instead, it serves as an example of the love Abraham has for God which stretches even beyond familial ties.

Notice that Isaac marries his cousin, Rebekkah, which was very common in those days and which Abraham actually asked his servant to find someone from his household.  Abraham insisted that Isaac not be taken back to his home country because God had established Abraham in the land of Canaan, the land where the people of God would be for generations.

In John we find this Gospel writer’s version of the last supper.  Notice this is the only Gospel that does not contain the bread and the wine that Jesus gives to his disciples.  In its place John gives what I would consider the sacrament of foot washing.  Now, let’s be clear, foot washing is not as sacrament in Presbyterian thought, but it certainly does meet all of the criteria.  It is an act that Jesus commands all of his disciples to do with a very clear message.  We are each other’s servants, or as Cain asked disdainfully, we are our brother’s keepers in many, many different ways.