Rebekah, Leader

Genesis 24:1-27

In twenty-five years of officiating at weddings, I have only had one in which the bride was “given away.” And that was only because the bride herself absolutely insisted on it, even under my friendly protest that we’re supposed to have gotten away from treating women as property. In hindsight, it occurs to me I could have suggested the groom be given away too!

In this story, the extent of the expectation of service on the part of a woman – who, it should be noted, is not a slave but a family member – can point in another direction than simply to marvel disapprovingly at the patriarchal cultural context of the story. Rather than seeing the degree of Rebekah’s service (she hauled an unimaginable amount of water for those camels – and what was everyone else doing at the time?) as something to be corrected, maybe it is a model of service for all of us. It’s not so much that no one should be such a servant, but that we should all aspire to such service. In light of Christian revelation, I would say Rebekah is showing the most leadership here, anticipating Jesus’ own model of leadership/service: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

Prayer:
Lord, lead me to go the extra mile for someone today, and make such service a way of life. Through Christ. Amen.