Esau receives Jacob
Gen 33:2-14
Implicit forgiveness.
Esau received Jacob. His anger, whether appeased by Jacob’s gifts, or having faded over the decades of separation, was quenched. Esau, who had been seriously wronged, has forgiven Jacob.
But Jacob isn’t so sure he can trust in this. He is happy that Esau has dropped the grudge. But he doesn’t want to live near him either. In this sense, the two are not really reconciled. Esau forgave but Jacob is reluctant, aloof and independent. The arc of the Genesis narrative has yet to achieve true reconciliation, and awaits the possibility of an authentic community based on this way of being.
The blessing of unity has eluded these brothers and will have to wait on another generation.
O come Emmanuel.
