I was never a huge Godfather fan…the movie series…not the role of sacramental supporter. A lot of people assume, because I am of Italian decent, that I would be enamored with this movie and with the TV Series, The Sopranos. For some reason, they just didn’t appeal to me. But the plot line in the Godfather movies fit in very well with today’s first reading from Genesis.
In the Godfather, at least the way I understand it, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) is the younger son of the crime family. But he is planning on getting a legitimate education and go into the legal arm of the family business…Politics. His older brother, Sonny (James Caan) is destined to take over the more seedy side of Corporation Corleone. But Sonny is a hot head. Prone to making impulsive decisions based on pure emotion. It is his eventual undoing as anger leads him to an ambush at a toll booth. Michael, the more calculating, level-headed brother, eventually assumes the role as “Capo”. Head of the crime family leading it to financial success and power. In a more sedate version of the plot, we see sibling rivalry rear its ugly head in the story of Esau and Jacob battling over their aging Father’s (Isaac) blessing. Rebekah overhears Isaac telling the elder son, Esau, of his plan to give his son the blessing meant for him as the eldest son. As Esau departs to capture game for the stew he is to prepare for his Father, Rebekah plots to have Jacob, her favored son, fool Isaac and steal the blessing. He does so by wearing a fur suit resembling the haired body of Esau (he apparently is someone who could stand a bit of manscaping, I think). When Esau shows up he learns that his brother Jacob has stolen his Father’s blessing. This causes Jacob to flee, out of fear, to his Uncles Laban’s home. Here he will meet and marry Rachael, who gives birth to Joseph.
Esau later marries two Canaanite women (much to the despair of his Father Isaac) and later added the daughter of his Uncle Ishmael (who, you may recall, was the rejected son of Abraham and Sarah). In this way we see that Esau had made some questionable decisions from the standpoint of being able to lead his Father’s estate and the Chosen People of God. In fact, in Chapter 25 of Genesis we had the story of Esau trading his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Now I like stew as much as the next person. But to trade a temporary indulgence for your place as head of a nation? Seems a little short sighted to me and apparently also to Rebekah. While many will see the plot “cooked” up by Jacob and she as devilish, it seems clear that she saw the qualities in her two sons and realized that the impulsive, emotional aspects of Esau would not serve the Nation of Israel very well. Just as the short tempered Sonny would likely have spelled the downfall of the Corleone empire.
There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)
Not that I am saying that Sonny Corleone’s talents could be used in furthering the kingdom of God. But more to point out that each of us has gifts that God has blessed us with. And it is our mission to find what those gifts are and how to use them in spreading God’s message to the world we live in.
