A Taste for Stew

This week our sermon will be on Jesus' question: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?"  Apparently that would have been a question that Esau would have done well to consider.  It boggles our mind that anyone would sell their inheritance for stew (some scholars think it should rightly be called a bowl of lentil soup), but Esau was a man of strong passions, and he did not take time to consider what the filling of his passions would cost him.  In many ways, Esau would have fit right into the twenty-first century.  We too live in a time of strong passions, where people are willing to mortgage the future for what they desire.  This is true not only in terms of credit card debt, but it also true in terms of spiritual price.  Esau's bowl of stew cost him his blessing from God and ultimately his soul.  And many today are willing to pay the same price for temporary, passing pleasure.  The story reminds of Esau reminds us that pleasure often comes at a high price.