The Sting
A Word to the Schemers!
Well, here we are! We have officially made it past the halfway point in the Pride & Prejudice sermon series.
So far, we have done…
The Devil Wears Prada
Catch Me If You Can
There Will Be Blood
We have titled today’s sermon, The Sting!
Let’s reference our text, which is found in Proverbs 6:16–19:
There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that run swiftly to evil,
a false witness who gives false testimony,
and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
“A heart that devises wicked schemes.”
Redford, Newman, and Me Coming of Age in ‘78
On Christmas Day, 1973, Universal Pictures released The Sting, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. The film is set in the 1930s and follows two grifters, played by Redford and Newman, as they pull off a big con against a ruthless Chicago crime boss. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won seven of them. It became the fourth-highest grossing film at that time.
I did not get to go to the theatre in those days. My parents wouldn’t allow it. If I went, I had to be sneaky about it. So, I missed it. But in November of 1978, when I was 17 years old, the movie came to television for the first time. ABC featured it on their series called Sunday Night Movie. They won the night, claiming 60% of the television audience during that time slot.
I watched it with my Dad. He was a huge Newman and Redford fan, and so was I, because of their western movie Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. He and I loved westerns. I think Mom just loved Newman and Redford. She watched The Sting with us.
I felt so sophisticated, watching and understanding the elaborate scheme Newman and Redford pulled off. And Newman’s character had those slick hands that could manipulate cards like a magician. Add that ragtime vibe, the colorful attire, the slick, smooth personas of the best-looking men in Hollywood, and it made a young man like me want to pull off a con.
I got to root for bad guys because they were doing the bad things to a worse guy, so they were, by comparison, the good guys.
Ah, the wonder of relativism! The beauty of honor among thieves.
The world—and Hollywood, in particular—has done a great job glorifying criminality, as long as it is…
a) “justified”—meaning the mark deserves what he gets,
b) “reactionary”—meaning the mark did something bad first,
c) “lucrative”—meaning you got away with it and the big bag of cash,
d) “entertaining.”
The Original Stinger
When we think of Bible characters, we tend to put them into some special category, separate from the ordinary humans whose lives and deeds didn’t make the cut and were never included in the Book of God. What we forget is their humanity. Even the giants, the heroes, the Robert Redfords and the Paul Newmans of the Bible were men and women battling the same demons you and I face in our ordinary lives. They were making decisions, scheming, and plotting their way through life, too.
Jacob was Newman and Redford rolled up into one. I don’t know if he was better looking than either of them, but he was more consequential than both of them put together, and probably smarter, too, truth be told. And he was a great actor!
But he was a grifter.
He pulled off, not one, but two stings that made the biblical script.
Mark #1: Esau, the Justified Scam
You know the story, right? If not, you can read all about it in Genesis, chapters 25–27.
First, you have Esau, that rugged woodman, that hunter extraordinaire, the one who always has a deer lease somewhere and, during hunting season, disappears for days at a time to hunt and maybe throw back a few with the boys, or tell stories into the night over a deck of cards.
The difference between Esau and today’s hunter maybe is that if he doesn’t kill, he doesn’t eat. There is no Walmart, Kroger, or Costco to run to. No pizza joint up the road.
Esau comes back from a failed hunting expedition. He is famished and exhausted, and Jacob, the homebody, the momma’s boy, the one who would rather watch Iron Chef than rough it in a hunting lodge, has a delicious bowl of stew. The aroma is like heaven to the hungry Esau, so he asks for a bowl. But Jacob, the schemer that he is, does not give away food to his older brother. Instead, he trades it for the birthright.
Esau, the shortsighted, devil-may-care, live-in-the-moment man thinks what the heck. What does he need with a birthright? He is his own man. So, he agrees.
Fast-forward. Isaac, Abraham’s son of promise is old and blind. He is near the end of the road and ready for the ceremonial passing of the torch, to give his inheritance and his blessing to his firstborn, who happens to be Esau. He instructs Esau to go on a hunt and bring him back some of that good venison. Then, he will sit down with Esau and bestow his blessing on him.
Rebekah, Isaac’s wife and the boys’ mom, thinks it a mistake to give the family farm to Esau. She doesn’t trust him. Jacob is her favorite. So, she and Jacob devise a plan for Jacob to pretend to be Esau. He makes his arms hairy with animal hair, because Esau is a hairy dude. And Rebekah makes Isaac’s favorite meal. She also gets some of Esau’s clothes for Jacob to wear. They have Esau’s manly smell in them. They do not smell of Axe body spray.
Here’s the record of the sting operation:
So Jacob took the food to his father. “My father?” he said.
“Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who are you—Esau or Jacob?”
Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.”
Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The LORD your God put it in my path!” Jacob replied.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.” So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,” Isaac said. But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. “But are you really my son Esau?” he asked.
“Yes, I am,” Jacob replied.
Then Isaac said, “Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.” So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.”
So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, “Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the LORD has blessed!
“From the dew of heaven
and the richness of the earth,
may God always give you abundant harvests of grain
and bountiful new wine.
May many nations become your servants,
and may they bow down to you.
May you be the master over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
All who curse you will be cursed,
and all who bless you will be blessed.”
So, Jacob pulled off the ultimate con on his own father and punked his brother. Never mind God had chosen Jacob for the blessing. He did not endorse or sign off on deceit as a means to accomplish His purpose. Jacob may have felt justified in the scheme, but the consequences would hit home soon enough, when he fell in love.
Scamming the Scammer
Jacob fell in love with Rachel. She was gorgeous and he was smitten. So, he asked her father for her hand in marriage and Laban, her old man, agreed. But at the wedding, he stuck his ugly daughter, Leah, behind the veil, and tricked Jacob into marrying her. That was no bargain!
Jacob goes to bed with Catharine Zeta-Jones and wakes up to Kathy Bates.
Laban explains it is customary around there for the older sister to marry first, so there. But in exchange for serving in Laban’s employ for seven years, he can have both sisters. Jacob agrees.
The Sting
Laban did not know who he was messing with. He thought Jacob was an easy mark. Jacob struck the famous “speckled and spotted” deal with Laban, saying he would take the goats and sheep that were black or speckled or spotted, and Laban could keep the rest. But Jacob had a sophisticated breeding program in place and his wealth grew while Laban’s shrank. When the two men parted ways, Jacob was rich and Laban was humiliated and poor.
This was Jacob’s life. He was always running a con. It cost him time, effort, and a tumultuous home life. The ugly sister was popping out kids left and right and the pretty one was having trouble getting pregnant. There was infighting and I am sure Jacob was always happy to find any reason to get out of the house.
But then, God intervened in Jacob’s life and changed forever the trajectory of his family and the nation of Israel…and human history, really.
Taking the Sting out of the Stinger
Jacob was always looking over his shoulder. His cons had made powerful enemies, not the least of which was his brother Esau, who had grown in wealth and power, and had a score to settle.
So, here is how it all changed for Jacob…
Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O LORD, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! O LORD, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”
Jacob stayed where he was for the night. Then he selected these gifts from his possessions to present to his brother, Esau: 100 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. He divided these animals into herds and assigned each to different servants. Then he told his servants, “Go ahead of me with the animals, but keep some distance between the herds.”
He gave these instructions to the men leading the first group: “When my brother, Esau, meets you, he will ask, ‘Whose servants are you? Where are you going? Who owns these animals?’ You must reply, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob, but they are a gift for his master Esau. Look, he is coming right behind us.’”
Jacob gave the same instructions to the second and third herdsmen and to all who followed behind the herds: “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. And be sure to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’”
Jacob thought, “I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me.” So the gifts were sent on ahead, while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp.
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.
This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
“What is your name?” the man asked.
He replied, “Jacob.”
“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
“Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.
“Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)
—Genesis32:9–32
Esau was headed straight for Jacob with 400 men. Jacob was rich but Esau was powerful. Jacob knew it was time to pay the fiddler and he was all out of schemes. All he had left to him for hope was mercy. He limped up to Esau to face the music, but God had already been working on Esau, too. All was forgiven, not by hook or crook, but by the power and grace of the One with whom Jacob wrestled, the One with whom so many of us wrestle today.
Here is how things ended between the brothers.
So Esau turned around and started back to Seir that same day. Jacob, on the other hand, traveled on to Succoth. There he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was named Succoth (which means “shelters”).
Later, having traveled all the way from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the town of Shechem, in the land of Canaan. There he set up camp outside the town. Jacob bought the plot of land where he camped from the family of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver. And there he built an altar and named it El-Elohe-Israel.
—Genesis 33:16–18
El-Elohe-Israel means, “God! The God of Israel.”
And now you know the rest of the beginning of the story.
The message here is this: God doesn’t need your schemes to work His will, but even our stupidity and poor judgement cannot thwart His plan. He is sovereign. Our plots may cause us unnecessary pain, suffering, and stress. But God is God. He is the God of the faithful, even the sometimes unfaithful faithful.
His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.
Want to make a one-time small contribution to this work?
Please subscribe today to receive each new offering in your email. There is a free subscription option, or you can choose an annual or monthly paid subscription, and become part of the support team.
Enjoying the series? Share it with your friends or on your social media accounts!
Got a word for me? Or for your fellow readers?