{"id":5591,"date":"2023-09-05T05:44:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T11:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=5591"},"modified":"2023-09-05T05:44:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T11:44:14","slug":"to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11:<\/p>\n

Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, \u2018I have lived with Laban as an alien and stayed until now,\u00a0and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, \u201cWe came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.\u201d\u00a0Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies,\u00a0thinking, \u201cIf Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Jacob said, \u201cO God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O\u00a0Lord\u00a0who said to me, \u2018Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,\u2019\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Yet you have said, \u2018I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So he spent that night there, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau,\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, \u201cPass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.\u201d\u00a0He instructed the one in the lead, \u201cWhen Esau my brother meets you and asks you, \u2018To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>then you shall say, \u2018They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau, and moreover he is behind us.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, \u201cYou shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him,\u00a0and you shall say, \u2018Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.\u2019\u201d For he thought, \u201cI may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night in the camp. \u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob\u2019s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Then he said, \u201cLet me go, for the day is breaking.\u201d But Jacob said, \u201cI will not let you go, unless you bless me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>So he said to him, \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d And he said, \u201cJacob.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Then the man\u00a0said, \u201cYou shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,\u00a0for you have striven with God and with humans\u00a0and have prevailed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Then Jacob asked him, \u201cPlease tell me your name.\u201d But he said, \u201cWhy is it that you ask my name?\u201d And there he blessed him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>So Jacob called the place Peniel,\u00a0saying, \u201cFor I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.<\/p>\n

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he said, \u201cWho are these with you?\u201d Jacob said, \u201cThe children whom God has graciously given your servant.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down;\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down; and finally Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Esau said, \u201cWhat do you mean by all this company that I met?\u201d Jacob answered, \u201cTo find favor with my lord.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But Esau said, \u201cI have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Jacob said, \u201cNo, please; if I find favor with you, then accept my present from my hand, for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me with such favor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Please accept my gift that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have everything I want.\u201d So he urged him, and he took it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One Sunday on the way out to the car, my wife, who is Rector of the church that I serve, informed me that one of the boys in our children\u2019s program, whose name is EJ, launched his brother Beau off of a swing.\u00a0 The boys had tried this experiment before.\u00a0 The thrill of throwing another boy into space explains a lot of things about male behavior.<\/p>\n

The boys had been cautioned to stop doing this but \u2013 as is often the case \u2013 the parental advisory was lost in the mix of things.\u00a0 And they gave it another go.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this time the trajectory was a bit high and a smooth reentry to sustain.\u00a0 And as a result, Beau has a cast, which he proudly showed my wife.<\/p>\n

I confess, my response was typically male and unfiltered.\u00a0 When she told me that EJ had launched Beau off the swing, my reaction was, \u201cOf course he did.\u00a0 What good is a brother, if you can\u2019t launch him into the atmosphere?\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a childhood precedent for this attitude in my own up-bringing.\u00a0 When, my brother and I were young, we theorized that galvanized buckets had a striking resemblance to the helmets worn by knights in shining armor.\u00a0 And having donned one each, we had great fun banging one another in the head with sticks.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t calculate, however, for the lack of a visor and I lost my footing near a window well outside the basement and fell into it, shattering the window.\u00a0 I have a small scar as a result, that could be explained by referring to something more exotic but honesty is the best policy.\u00a0 To paraphrase an unknown wit, \u201cI won\u2019t let my brother do anything stupid\u2026 alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

I mention this pattern because it is easy to assume that their relationship is without parallels in modern experience.\u00a0 And there certainly are cultural differences.\u00a0 But the truth is that we are all shaped by our relationship with brothers and sisters.\u00a0 And our childhood experiences can shape us deep into adulthood, whether we acknowledge the power of those relationships or not.<\/p>\n

So the story of Jacob and Esau has implications for us, even if some of the features of that relationship belong to a different time and culture.\u00a0 The invitation, then, this morning is to reflect on their story and its relevance for us \u2014 not as an artifact of the past but as a window into our own lives.<\/p>\n

To do that, let me remind you of the background to this passage from Genesis:<\/p>\n

As we noted earlier in the series, Esau and Jacob were twins.\u00a0 Esau, born just ahead of Jacob, was a hairy baby, hence the meaning of the name, Esau.\u00a0 By nature he was a hunter and a guy who lived by his gut (as the expression goes).\u00a0 Nothing mattered more than the moment.<\/p>\n

Jacob, by contrast, lived by his wits and \u2013 often by deception \u2013 hence, his name, \u201cthe heel grabber\u201d.\u00a0 A name that not only described what he was doing to Esau when they were born but a perfect metaphor for the way in which he negotiated life.<\/p>\n

These differences shaped their relationship and \u2013 one day \u2013 preoccupied with satisfying his hunger, Esau rejected his birthright in favor of a bowl of lentil soup offered to him by Jacob.\u00a0 The Hebrew actually means, \u201cspurned\u201d or \u201cthrew away\u201d.\u00a0 We have talked about the way in which Jacob took advantage of his brother.\u00a0 But Esau was overcome by nothing more than a few hunger pangs and an over-developed sense of the dramatic.\u00a0 So, viewed from another angle, the two brothers were on a collision course and both of them made huge mistakes.<\/p>\n

So, what we have in this ancient story is the description of two siblings, with the same parents, a negligible difference in birth order, and very different personalities that lead them into a conflict that shaped them for a lifetime. \u00a0That never happens in the modern world, right?<\/p>\n

As the story goes, this conflict was so intense that Jacob fled and the Book of Genesis focuses on Jacob.\u00a0 But chapters 32 and 33 bring his broken relationship with Esau back into focus.\u00a0 Jacob has had enough of living in his father-in-law\u2019s home, and decides to move.\u00a0 But this will bring him back into physical proximity to his brother and \u2013 always calculating \u2013 he tries to buy a reconciliation with Esau: \u201c\u2018I have lived with Laban as an alien and stayed until now,\u00a0and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

There are three things to consider here: One, as the therapists in the congregation will tell you, moving will occasionally ameliorate a problem, but geography is rarely a cure-all.\u00a0 By running away Jacob avoided getting killed on the spot, and it gave him twenty years to consolidate his fortunes.\u00a0 But the rift with Esau remained and if you think today\u2019s world is small, we can\u2019t imagine how small their world was.<\/p>\n

Two, wherever we go, there we are.\u00a0 For Jacob, life is all about calculations, planning and manipulation.\u00a0 So, the king of the pre-mortem he anticipates the problem that moving will pose and he tries to neutralize Esau\u2019s anger.<\/p>\n

And, three \u2013 thank you, Paul McCartney<\/a> \u2013 money can\u2019t buy you love.\u00a0 The psychology of this ancient story is all there.\u00a0 Jacob the heel grabber can\u2019t help himself.\u00a0 His own life has been about cutting corners and finding leverage; and \u2013 after all these years \u2013 he assumes that others are motivated by the same values that motivate him.\u00a0 Nothing in his experience had forced him to do any self-examination \u2013 not running away from home, not even Laban beating him at his own game had humbled him.\u00a0 And, after all this time, he assumes he can buy peace with Esau.<\/p>\n

And how Esau respond?\u00a0 Esau, the man of action, the man who lives by his gut and who \u2013 with Yogi Berra \u2014 would probably have said, \u201cForget the past, just not the grudges\u201d?\u00a0 The text of Genesis puts it flatly, leaving us to draw our own conclusions, just as Jacob did: \u201cThe messengers returned to Jacob, saying, \u2018We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.\u2019\u00a0 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The commentaries on this passage can be astoundingly silly.\u00a0 Leave it to biblical scholars to debate whether these 400 men were armed.\u00a0 First, no one traveled unarmed across the trans-Jordan and there is even less point in traveling with 400 unarmed men.\u00a0 Second, 400 was a typical number of men assigned to a regiment or raiding party. They were hardly there for the fellowship of it.\u00a0 And, if an unarmed posse was a possibility, why describe Jacob as \u201cgreatly afraid and distressed\u201d or offer the prayer for deliverance that follows?\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that Jacob drew the only conclusion that the realities and a guilty conscience would allow him to draw.<\/p>\n

In spite of this, he continues to explore the possibility of buying his brother\u2019s love \u2013 or, at least a commitment to peaceful coexistence.\u00a0 So, Jacob sends the promised gift of goats, two hundred ewes, rams,\u00a0camels, cows, bulls, and donkeys.<\/p>\n

What strikes many as inexplicable is the passage that follows.\u00a0 At first glance, Jacob\u2019s wrestling match with an unidentified man feels like a non-sequitur.\u00a0 What does this encounter have to do with anything?\u00a0 And the story is so powerful that it is often read and discussed without any context.<\/p>\n

But if one takes the story up to this point seriously, it is clear that this experience is part dream, part vision, and part panic attack.\u00a0 Jacob has burned his bridges with Laban.\u00a0 Everything that lies ahead depends upon his relationship with his brother and it looks like he will lose his life.\u00a0 And now the heel grabber finds himself in a literal wresting match.<\/p>\n

Asking whether this experience was \u201creal\u201d is an emotionally na\u00efve question to ask.\u00a0 Of course it was and it left its mark, physically and spiritually. Commentators differ on who the mysterious man is, but Jacob is in no doubt: \u201cI have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.\u201d\u00a0 And the outcome is a blessing and new name, Israel, which means \u201cone who struggles\u201d.<\/p>\n

It only becomes clear what has happened the following day.\u00a0 He approaches his brother, bowing seven times and calling him lord (or \u201chonored one\u201d), and when Esau declines the gifts he has offered, Jacob-now-Israel responds, \u201cNo, please; if I find favor with you, then accept my present from my hand, for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me with such favor. \u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Please accept my gift that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have everything I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man who wanted everything that his brother had and cheated to obtain it has at last found the blessing that God had longed to give him all along.\u00a0 And in laying down his desire to be his own god, he has been reconciled with both God and his brother.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that in the healing that takes place, Esau receives what God has longed to give him as well.\u00a0 The blessing he lost is returned to him.\u00a0 His heart is filled with love and \u2013 acting out of the redeemed version of his own heart, his resolve to kill his brother dissolves, and he falls on Jacob\u2019s neck, and embraces him.<\/p>\n

This remains to be said: The stories of Genesis echo and repeat themes that are outlined in its opening chapters and that is the case here, as well.\u00a0 As in the case of Cain and Abel, we have yet another story of brothers.\u00a0 And the well-being of their relationship depends upon their relationship with God.\u00a0 In the case of Cain and Abel, there is no healing and his jealousy spins out of control, ending in murder.\u00a0 In the case of Israel and Esau, healing only comes after Jacob exhausts his efforts to wrestle control of his own life away from God and surrenders to God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

This pattern points to a central truth about ourselves and about the work of God in our lives.\u00a0 The dual command to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves mirrors the healing work of God.\u00a0 We tend to think of these relationships as discreet dimensions of life \u2013 one spiritual, the other relational.\u00a0 But the truth is that we cannot fully understand the grandeur and sanctity of our neighbor\u2019s life, until we see the image of God in him or her.\u00a0 And we cannot truly love God, until we see our neighbors as those graced with his image.<\/p>\n

If you wonder whether your love of God means enough to you, you need only ask whether God\u2019s love is enough for you.\u00a0 And if you wonder whether you have received everything that God longs to give you, you need only ask whether you are willing to see the image of God in the face of those you are inclined to despise.\u00a0 Like Jacob, we are likely to find the obstacles to answering those questions in the affirmative lies within ourselves.\u00a0 And those answers will not change until we wrestle with those obstacles in God\u2019s presence.\u00a0 That is the nature of life for those who claim Israel as the father of their faith.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11: Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, \u2018I have lived with Laban as an alien and stayed until now,\u00a0and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":5594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4562,4568,4559,4574,4571,4565,4577],"tags":[4583,4580],"class_list":["post-5591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-esau","category-esau-and-israel","category-esau-and-jacob","category-genesis-323-32-331-11","category-israel","category-jacob","category-the-dual-commandment","tag-jacob-and-esaue","tag-the-love-commandment"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11: Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11: Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-05T11:44:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/174\/2023\/09\/48413324_2539204789485173_3760390390457303040_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"529\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-05T11:44:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-05T11:44:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11: Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\",\"name\":\"What God Wants for Your Life\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\",\"name\":\"Frederick Schmidt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Frederick Schmidt\"},\"description\":\"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. They have four children and eight grandchildren.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/author\/fredschmidt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d","description":"Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11: Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d","og_description":"Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11: Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/","og_site_name":"What God Wants for Your Life","article_published_time":"2023-09-05T11:44:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":529,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/174\/2023\/09\/48413324_2539204789485173_3760390390457303040_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Frederick Schmidt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Frederick Schmidt","Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/","name":"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-09-05T11:44:14+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-05T11:44:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21"},"description":"Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11: Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,\u00a0instructing them, \u201cThus you shall","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2023\/09\/to-see-your-face-is-like-seeing-the-face-of-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cTo see your face is like seeing the face of God\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/","name":"What God Wants for Your Life","description":"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21","name":"Frederick Schmidt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Frederick Schmidt"},"description":"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. They have four children and eight grandchildren.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/author\/fredschmidt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}