God chooses Leah, overlooked and unexpected, to be the great-great-great grandmother of Jesus.
God chooses Leah, overlooked and unexpected, to be the great-great-great grandmother of Jesus.
Advent Day 6, The Choice.
Today we reflect on Leah's story.
Leah, Rachel's sister, and Laban's eldest daughter.
Never just Leah, always Rachel's sister, Laban's daughter.
That's not how God sees her.
God sees Leah.
He also hears her and chooses her.
And those three factors, being seen, heard, and chosen, change everything for her and for us.
From Leah, we'll descend the one for whom we waited at Advent, Jesus, God with us.
Leah longs to be loved.
Our birthright, she should be the first to wed.
But Jacob, Isaac's son, favors Rachel.
He loves Rachel and longs for her so much that he agrees to work for his future father-in-law, Laban, for seven years.
To Jacob, the years of buttered dream.
The wedding day arrives.
Everyone praises Jacob and Rachel.
But Laban swaps the daughters, sending in his elders to Jacob.
And Jacob, for whatever reason, fails to recognize he is with the wrong sister.
In the morning, he sees the woman with whom he spent the night and rushes out to his father-in-law.
What is this you have done to me that I not serve with you for Rachel?
Why then have you deceived me, Genesis 29:25?
Leah must overhear the words.
Rachel too.
How could they not?
Poor Leah, compelled by her father to marry a man who doesn't want her.
She can't ask for an annulment.
Those aren't the thing in her time.
Even if she could, where would she go?
Back to her father, who tricked Jacob into marrying her, destined to live the rest of her life alone and rely on some people's charity.
She has no good options.
Leah is stuck with Jacob, caught between him and her beautiful, beloved sister.
In what ways are you feeling unseen, unwanted, unlovely, or unloved this advent?
Leah may feel unseen and unloved by her family and her husband, but she's not unseen or unloved by God.
The Lord sees her and blesses her with children.
Leah names each of her children according to what is going on in her life.
She doesn't ignore her sorrow or desire.
Neither does she minimize those things.
She names them and acknowledges them.
Why is naming our sorrows and our hopes so important?
Leah names her first son Reuben.
His name reveals two things.
First, it recognizes the Lord's work in her life.
The Lord has looked upon my affliction.
Second, it expresses her desire.
Now my husband will love me.
Leah gives birth to another son, Simeon.
His name reflects another twofold dimension.
First, the Lord's presence.
The Lord has heard that I am hated.
Second, the sense whether right or wrong of just compensation.
The Lord has given me this son also.
Leah's first two sons receive complicated names, depicting a struggle within Leah herself.
What is she struggling with?
How do you relate to the struggle?
Leah names her next son Levi, saying, now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have born him three sons.
And Jacob is attached in a way, just not in the way that Leah wants.
When have you waited and waited for someone to notice you, only to be disappointed?
Leah names her fourth son Judah.
His name means praise.
When she holds this son in her arms, she exclaims, this time I will praise the Lord.
Leah's names recount her lived experience.
They act as memory aids.
They also tell of a woman who longs for her husband to love her and learns over time to be satisfied with the Lord's love for her.
The Lord sees her.
The Lord hears her.
And the Lord blesses her with children.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Leah's circumstances haven't changed, but her perspective has.
When have you experienced something similar?
Leah acquires the secret of contentment, the Lord's presence in her life.
She may feel alone, but she is not alone.
The Lord sees her.
She may feel unloved and unlovely, but the Lord hears her, loves her, and declares her beautiful.
She may go unnoticed beside her sister, but the Lord chooses her, not Rachel, to be the mother of kings and the king of kings.
From her will come Jesus, son of David, of the line of Judah.
Jesus understands Leah, for he too goes unnoticed, unseen, and unloved.
Isaiah, prophesying of the Messiah servant to come, describes him this way.
Who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53, wonderful, despised, rejected, afflicted, acquainted with grief, without beauty.
It's unfamiliar.
Jesus isn't the expected choice.
People assume God's Messiah will come in military might and political prowess.
But that's not what God does.
He sends his son, Jesus, to live in relative obscurity.
Jesus invites the weary and worn out to come to him and find rest for their souls.
Jesus sees the lonely and gives them a home.
Jesus hears the hurting and answers them.
Jesus chooses to spend his time with sinners and tax collectors.
If you are feeling unseen, unheard, unlovely, or unloved, tell God about it.
Ask Him to be near to you and to remind you that you are seen, heard, lovely, and loved.
God has chosen you to be His daughter or son.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, you are Father of the Fatherless, the protector of widows.
You give the lonely and alone a home.
Not one sparrow goes unnoticed by you.
And if you care for the sparrows, how much more do you care for us?
Heavenly Father, thank you for choosing Leah as the great, great, great grandmother of Jesus.
And thank you for Jesus, your son.
Teach us to cherish the set aside season in which we get to remember and reflect on Him.
God with us.
Amen.