Dear Friends,
Journeying to the decidedly non-technological days of Genesis, we’re joining company with Jacob, whose name, quite appropriately, means “one who supplants.” He’s on the run from his twin brother, Esau, older than he is by mere minutes. Jacob has been competing with Esau for years, beginning with their birth, when he tried unsuccessfully to keep him from being the first-born by grabbing his heel. That infant competition grew along with the twins, becoming even fiercer as the boys become men.
Esau is the favorite of Isaac, their father, and Jacob is the favorite of Rebekah, their mother. Jacob, with help from his mother and by telling an outright lie, had convinced his dying, blind father that he is Esau in order to steal his brother’s rightful birthright. This time, Jacob succeeds in his trickery and receives Isaac’s coveted blessing, including all the power and authority that come with it.
With this, Esau has had enough. “Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, ‘The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my bother Jacob.’” (Genesis 27:41) Rebekah, hearing of Esau’s plan for revenge, finds Jacob and helps him to flee. The stage is now set for today’s reading.
But first, let me explain a little about the Bible’s writers. The Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is a compilation and weaving of four different traditions known by the letters JEDP. J, the Jahwist tradition (Yahwist, from the name of God, Yahweh, used by the southern Kingdom of Judah), is the oldest of the four and recounts the story we read today. P, the Priestly tradition, the most recent of the four, is a slightly different telling of the story; here, Jacob is sent by his father Isaac, to his mother’s brother, Laban, to receive the blessing of Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather. This version of the story is found in Genesis 28:1-9. The other two traditions are D, the Deuteronomist (Deuter, meaning second or secondary telling of the story) and E, the Elohimist (people from the northern Kingdom of Israel who called God Elohim).
Our reading today, from J, the Yahwist tradition, tells the familiar story of Jacob and his dream of the stairway or ladder to heaven.
For all you rock fans, this story is different from the one in Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” which has now firmly lodged itself in my head. It’s competing for room there, however, with Bernice Johnson Reagan’s haunting a cappella rendering of the familiar spiritual called Jacob’s Ladder, which Ken Burns included so magnificently in his Civil War series; and with Pete Seeger’s many joyful, inclusive renditions of the same song. It’s not only a familiar story, it’s a beloved spiritual adapted to all times. It’s part of our DNA!
Before we read Genesis 28:10-19a, the actual scripture on which those unforgettable songs are based, let’s join is this prayer for illumination:
Holy One, you who love with a father’s tenderness and a mother’s zeal, move now in our hearts. Breathe through the words we read and the burdens we carry, until we discover our purpose in your liberating love, for we long to join creation’s praise and to shine with the mercy of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Today’s reading begins with Jacob fleeing to Haran from Beer-sheba as he tries to escape the righteous wrath of his brother. In the midst of his journey, Jacob falls asleep after sunset in a deserted place. That night, he has a vivid dream of a ladder, a ramp, a staircase between earth and heaven, and he sees that “the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” (28:12)
“And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father [biologically, Abraham was his grandfather, but Father Abraham is father to us all] and the God of Isaac [his father]; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. . .” (28:13)
Dreams in the Bible are pivotal; they are seen as a vehicle for God to communicate with God’s people. In the Bible, more often than not, God uses an emissary such as an angel or a dream to pass on God’s divine messages. Not even Mary, Jesus’s mother, hears directly from God. In this intense, almost technicolor dream, God speaks to Jacob directly, though not while he’s conscious. Abraham and Moses hear directly from God, and Jacob’s dream is so intense that it comes close to the same kind of direct communication. Dreaming so lucidly of God speaking to him is an extraordinary, life-changing event for Jacob.
And what does Jacob hear in this dream but the divine promise that was given to his grandparents, Abraham and Sarah, now given to him. His “offspring shall be like the dust of the earth.” (28:14) This isn’t quite as glowing a vision as the stars in the night sky or grains of sand on a sunny beach, but it certainly conveys how immeasurable his legacy will be. It’s an immense promise.
“Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it!’” (28:16)
I’m fascinated that Jacob’s first thought is not of his promised legacy. Rather, it’s of God’s presence, and it’s equally important to Jacob that he was unaware of it. How often might God be with us and we don’t know it? Even as we pray, including when we’re in depths of despair, for God’s guidance, comfort, and wisdom, the divine presence might be in our very midst. That we pray at all means that we know this on some profound level, even though we may be unaware of it. When we’re feeling most isolated and lonely, we might not be alone at all, and we “did not know it!” We might search for holy ground, not knowing that where we stand at this moment in time and space is already sacred and already in God’s design.
Like Jacob, once we are finally awake, we are able to recognize the truth of where we are; we’re able to hear and comprehend whose voice we hear. Attending church; engaging in fellowship; serving those in need of food, comfort, and justice; just meditating on the stories of our faith – all of these help us become fully awake. And even when we get only a glimpse of full awareness, we may need to totally reconsider and redescribe our lives, to acknowledge that they are, and always have been, defined by God’s promise.
Such recognition, such acknowledgment likely won’t be as dramatic as knowing we are at the “gate to heaven,” as Jacob describes it in verse 17. Instead, it may be as simple as confidently knowing what our next step forward is in our journey with God.
Don’t despair if you feel you can’t recognize this truth or hear God’s voice, or if those moments of recognition are so fleeting that they slip from your grasp and understanding. Be assured: God’s voice is there, close to you, whether or not you hear it. God is God; God doesn’t need your recognition; you need not feel anxious or guilty for not knowing that God is here. God knows that God is indeed here: by you, in you, and with us all.
In all the complexities of this global pandemic, our lives seem beyond our control. But God’s promise is still ours, as it was for Abraham and Sarah and all their descendants. Surely the Lord is in this place, close by you. God is “with you and will keep you wherever you go.” (28:15) Be assured of God’s eternal love.
Let us pray together:
Gracious Creator, you know the complicated histories that have carried us to this moment and to this place. You know the names of all our generations, for you are there in each story of falling away and turning home, in our long years of wandering, and in the shining moments when we recognize your presence and find the grace to worship you. You are no stranger to the striving or the listlessness of humanity. You accept us as we are.
Help us to trust that you are at work in every mangled heart, every conflicted community. Nourish the life you plant within us, that we might keep seeding the world with your truth and your grace. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.