Learning to Embrace Again

Image taken from Gospel Project … our Sunday School curriculum for preschool through youth.

“But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”

(Genesis 33:4, ESV)

Jacob and Esau had been close and yet had something come between them. There was good reason for Jacob to fear meeting up with Esau again as he had tricked and stolen from him, but he found Esau to not only have forgiven him but to be open to rebuilding their relationship. They approached one another in humility and longed to be close again.

This is an important story for us as it calls us to give one another the benefit of the doubt … to remain committed to each other. Jacob approached in humility, and Esau came with a forgiving spirit. They released the relational challenges of the past and moved forward connected.

COVID forced a season of isolation upon us. As we resume meeting as a church and find the freedom to socialize more, we naturally reconnect with those we are close with … but what about those we have been struggling with? The isolation of these last months has potentially allowed that relational gap to grow instead of close. Let us be like Jacob and Esau, approaching one another (maybe in fear but also in humility and forgiveness) in order to overcome differences and hopefully new levels of closeness.