"Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, 'Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!' (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, 'First sell me your birthright.'...'Look, I am about to die,' Esaus said. 'What good is the birthright to me?' But Jacob said, 'Swear to me first.' So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob." -- Genesis 25:29-33

Here we have Jacob, later to become father to the 12 tribes of Israel (he will literally become "Israel" himself), showing us his true personality.  Shrewd and manipulative, Jacob sees opportunity for gain in his brother's state, and so he capitalizes on it.  I read this and ask, "what would Jesus do?"  And the answer I come up with is "certainly not this."  Mahatma Ghandi once said "There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."  Two things I take from this reading:  1.  Maslow was probably right in laying out his "hierarchy of needs".  Without having basic physical needs met, it's hard to think above or beyond them.  Esau in his hunger realized that a birthright did him no good if he were to starve to death and never enjoy it anyway.  He was so hungry he couldn't think straight.  Note to self:  don't agree to a long-term payment plan for something that satisfies the moment.  2.  As Christians, we're not called upon to celebrate or follow Jacob's example.  When those around us lack basic needs such as food and shelter and the means to obtain them, it's not the time or place to be enterprising and seek gain through securing indebtedness from them.  Nor is it the time to be preachy.  Instead, it's the time to feed, clothe, and shelter them, and assist them in finding ways to sustain themselves so as to be hungry no more.  

Readings:  Genesis 24:52-26:16; Matthew 8:18-34; Psalm 10:1-15; Proverbs 3:7-8