“Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”
Genesis 33:1-4
Oh, the air is getting hot and dry. It can’t be any drier than your mouth. That rock in your throat doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, either. Today is the big day. Look at those you love cause it’s your last day on this planet. Many years ago, you hurt him. Why are you stuck in this mess? You knew what you did was wrong. Are you really that horrible? You stole your own brother’s very pride and dignity from him for a bowl of soup. He was dumb to take it. Yet, is a drug dealer better than the person buying the drugs? How could you? Well, it’s easy to see now, in hindsight, how stupid that was. And you would think that you would learn from that. But you didn’t. Soon after, you tricked your own father. Didn’t you remember that God had already promised you would be blessed? Didn’t you remember that God always comes through? And yet, that wasn’t good enough. You decided to take matters into your own hands. You played on that old man’s blindness and you stole your brother’s life, yet again. Then you couldn’t even stand up and be a man to him. You ran. What a coward!
And now, that same feeling is coming back. Here comes your brother. You know he’s out to steal your life like you did his. You know he’s out to take back his dignity by killing the very person who ruined his trust in anyone but himself. He’s after you, and you want to run. Something inside, though, tells you not to. Your legs only seem to march forward. You can’t run anymore. That rock in your throat gets harder as you see what looks like your brother from afar. So, you lower yourself, bowing to him. Maybe he’ll get the hint that you are sorry. Maybe he’ll get the hint that you don’t want a fight.
And then, that moment comes. Esau begins to run towards you. What do you do? Do you defend yourself? Do you fight him? Do you just let him kill you in the moment, in front of your wife and your kids? What do you do?
He gets to you and you look in his eyes. There is surprising warmth to them. You don’t remember that being there before. And then…he hugs you. You stand there, shocked. Something wet drips down your neck. He’s crying. That rock in your throat turns into tears, and you can’t hold them back. Without any words, you know what’s happened. He’s forgiven you.
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