Surely the Lord is in this place. (Genesis 28:10-19)
Genesis 27:41-45; 28:10-19a (NRSV)
27:41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel.
September 24, 2017 Sermon Notes
God has a tendency to choose fairly surprising people to do the work of the kingdom. Frankly, many of the people we read about in Scripture are a bit of a mess. That is very much the case when it comes to Abraham’s family. They were a perfect demonstration of the same kind of infighting, periodic faithlessness, and personal weaknesses that we experience on a daily basis.
Last week we read about the attempted sacrifice of Isaac. Today we hear about Isaac’s kids, Esau and Jacob. Theirs was not a happy relationship. They were twins who had spent their entire lives struggling with each other. Even before they were born they had battled it out in their mother’s womb. This rivalry continued right up until the day of their father’s death.
Jacob was the younger of the twins. According to his culture, he should have had no claim on Isaac’s inheritance. Everything should have gone to his older brother Esau. Through a series of somewhat questionable actions, including some deceit by his mother, Jacob had managed to trick his father into giving his everything. Esau was understandably enraged and threatened to kill his brother. Jacob had to flee for his life.
Jacob, the supplanter
As the oldest child in my family I am naturally sympathetic Esau. It seemed natural to me that younger siblings should automatically recognize my superior wisdom and experience. For some reason they never seemed to understand that fact and rivalry naturally ensued. While I would like to claim that I was always the innocent victim, the truth of the matter is that I was not. After everything that I put them through, I am somewhat amazed that they still speak to me.
Esau’s case, however, is somewhat different. He truly was the innocent victim here. Jacob was a trickster. His name itself meant “supplanter”. Jacob was the younger brother who supplanted the eldest through treacherous means. Even as he flees for his life, it can be somewhat difficult to feel sorry for him in this story. After all, he did this to himself, with his mother’s help.
On the other hand, when we take an honest look at our own lives we see that we are capable of the same kind of things Jacob has done. We too give into the human temptation for striving. We exclude those who have a claim on God’s love. We allow rivalry, deceit, and sin to enter into our lives. We allow others to assist us in our treachery. We too destroy relationships and anger others by our behavior. We are a lot more like the “supplanter” than we would like to admit.
Meeting God in the desert
That is why the story of Jacob’s ladder is so important. While fleeing through a foreign land Jacob beds down on rocky ground. He is cut off from everything he knows because of his own actions. He has no where to turn. Things cannot possibly get any worse.
That is very point where God steps in. In a dream Jacob sees a staircase going up to heaven. The angels come and go doing the work of God. The voice of God is heard and Jacob awakes a changed man. He names the place Bethel, which means the “house of God.” What surprised Jacob the most is that God was in that place and he did not even know it.
That is often the way that God meets us in our lives. When we are broken, lost, and alone we feel like there is no where else to turn. Jacob’s ladder reminds us that God is present with us in the wilderness. Jesus Christ himself spent time in the desert before beginning his ministry. He knows what we are going through. Even when we are sleeping on a rock because of our own actions, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and gives us a glimpse of what God is doing in the world.
