I love Gru in the Despicable Me films. Yes, I would want to talk like him if I could (although King Julian from the Madagascar movies might edge him out), but it is more than that. Gru is such a great antihero. If you are  a fan of Gru like I am, we cannot forget that he is a villain—or at least he fancies himself as one. When we first meet Gru, he wants to steal the moon. The moon! And he is a grouchy loner—well, except for his minions. Or again, at least he fancies himself that way. But it doesn’t take long for us to see through his flaws and find the Gru it is so easy to love. Is Gru perfect? Not at all. But that is part of the reason we love him. He is real, not plastic. That is why antiheroes resonate so deeply with us.

Jacob the Antihero

Did you know that the Bible is full of antiheroes? And it is full of them for a reason. In this session, we meet one of the most well-known antiheroes in Jacob. It’s difficult to like Jacob. There’s no way around it—he is a self-absorbed swindler. When his brother is hungry, he takes advantage of the situation and barters for the family birthright instead of just giving his brother—his brother!—something to eat. (Yes, we need to hold Esau accountable for his disdain of the birthright as well.) Then later, he deceives his ailing father Isaac in an elaborate scheme that gave him several opportunities to come to his senses and push the eject button. But he didn’t. He took each step willingly and knowingly culminating in lies falling from his lips, the same lips that would kiss his father during the ploy. Jacob was no hero.

God’s Faithfulness is Based on His Character, Not Ours

At this point in the story, we would expect some other son to burst onto the scene—one who deserves the blessing God had given to this family. We cannot stomach Jacob being the one, and Esau isn’t any better. So surely God would provide another, right? Wrong. There is no other brother. Jacob would be the one. Realizing this, then, we would expect God to work in Jacob’s life and for us to see a major transformation. But we don’t. Yes, Jacob does seem to grow—but just to a degree. Remember, this is the same man who would play favorites himself—with his wives and his sons. But once again our expectations would go unfilled—and for good reason; for a glorious reason. In Jacob we see that God’s faithfulness is based on His character, not that of His people. And praise God that it is! Because the mistake we make in reading the account of Jacob is that we read it through a lens of superiority—one of arrogance. We believe we are better than Jacob. But we are not. We too are self-absorbed swindlers. We too are unworthy for God to work through us. Yet He does. Because again, His faithfulness is not based on us, but Him. There is only one hero, and His name is Jesus. All the rest of us are merely antiheroes.

Without you, what am I to myself but a guide to my own self-destruction?” — Augustine (354-430) [1]

Preschool Tip: There are several themes in this session that require us to be sensitive with our preschoolers. Any time we talk about families, we need to be aware of the different family situations are preschoolers are coming from, but when we see parents playing favorites, a son lying to his father, and a brother angry with his brother, we need to be extra careful. But don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a session better skipped. Our preschoolers need to know that all families have problems because we are all sinners. But in this session we see that God continues to fulfill His promise to this family and He continues to love them and use them. That is what our preschoolers need to know, because God does the same with our families today. Kids Tip: In the last session, we saw that God was at work in this unlikely family—a theme that will carry on for more sessions. In this session, we see one way that this family was unworthy of God to work through them: favoritism. Favoritism is a blight on this family for generations. We see Isaac and Rebekah play favorites with their twin sons. Later we will see Jacob play favorites with his wives and with his sons. As painful as favoritism was, it was passed down through the generations. That is the power of sin. As you teach your kids, don’t hold back from pointing out that favoritism is a sin. Some of your kids may experience favoritism—either as the favorite or the non-favorite. And some may play favorites themselves. Use this as an opportunity to show how hurtful favoritism is, but most importantly, to show that God does not show favorites. [1] Saint Augustine, Confessions, 4.1, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 52. https://vimeo.com/279048720