Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I shall die!’”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, October 2, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Poor Rachel. The favored sister, the one Jacob loved, failed to produce the one thing that would prove her value: sons. Can you blame her for envying Leah, who by this time had given Jacob four? And while I can sympathize with her feelings of being less-than, I also applaud her for putting the responsibility squarely back on Jacob. At a time when a woman had no agency, and could be dismissed, divorced, or worse for failure to produce sons, she stood up for herself and made it clear that she understood Jacob had a role to play in the production of children. She refused to accept sole responsibility for the situation, and rightly so.
Sometimes I find myself taking on way too much responsibility for things that really aren’t wholly mine. The ending of my marriage, the struggles of my children, issues with various communities I am a part of—it becomes far easier to blame myself for my inadequacies or missteps than it is to be honest about my part while seeing clearly the other person or persons’ part. We are all in relationship to others in so many ways. Nothing happens in a vacuum. May God inspire us to stand up for ourselves appropriately, rather than taking sole blame for things that are not ours.
Are there things I can let myself off the hook for? Things that aren’t solely mine? Can I forgive myself for my part knowing God has already forgiven me?