My Hebrew Bible text sermon for LSTC Introduction to Preaching class, based on the text Genesis 28:10-19a, Jacob's Dream.
The sun was going down, and Jacob needed to decide – hike on for a mile or so more tonight, or take refuge here for the night, in Luz, a little less rocky place to camp. He decides to call it a day – he’s already covered nearly 50 miles, and he has a clear view of the surrounding area. And his body and feet are screaming – he’s not used to this kind of travel. Besides, it will give him some time to think.
Talk about unexpected changes in life over the past few months, Jacob thinks, as he clears a few rocks from the place where he has decided to sleep. First, his dad, Isaac, took a turn for the worse. Already blind, Isaac’s health had been declining. He should have let his brother Esau have the blessing. He already tricked him out of the birthright, the double inheritance due the oldest son. But it wasn’t fair – they were born within minutes. It had burned at Jacob his entire life. And when he saw the chance to make Esau bargain it away, for a meal, no less, he took it.
Then when Esau went out to kill some game to make his dad his favorite meal for the blessing, his mom helped him trick Isaac into thinking he was Esau and blessing him instead. Esau nearly killed him, but his parents were having none of that. Isaac decided to send him to live in Haran, to work with his Uncle Laban, find a wife, and settle down. His mother, Rebekah was upset, but had no say in the matter. Esau wasn’t speaking to him, and Isaac – he was so angry and disappointed with him. It almost was a relief to get on the road, away from eyes that no longer held any love for him.
He ate some of the bread and some of the meat Rebekah sent. Not too much – it would have to last. No telling when he would get more. Esau would have had no trouble with this trek. He probably would have relished weeks in the wild, living off the land. I probably will never see him again, Jacob thought. He laid his pack next to him, put his head on a flat rock, and tried to sleep.
Every time I read this part of Genesis, I think, what a dysfunctional family! Fighting brothers. Parents choosing favorites. A wife playing her husband. A father sending his son away. This is the family out of which the family of God will grow? And then, immediately, it makes me realize that all of us are dysfunctional people. We don’t have it all together. We have conflicts. We get into family spats. We aren’t perfect parents or kids. We are all Isaacs, Rebekahs, Esaus, and Jacobs.
We think we’re not like them. We try to put on our best masks, especially at family gatherings. But we like one parent better than another, or struggle to get along with either of them. There is history, family dynamics, and geography.
In my family, there is the computer nerd, the black sheep, the woman with all the homemaking skills and the one with none, etc. We have our parents’ golden wedding anniversary coming up, and one brother may skip the event. Certainly, two nieces won’t be there. Yes, we can totally relate to Jacob’s story.
I imagine you too can relate to Jacob’s situation. Even if you love your parents, have the most wonderful siblings in the world, or perhaps no siblings at all, you have family dynamics. You may have some history with one of your parents. You may feel pressure to live up to some unattainable ideal, or your parents have placed no expectations on you at all. Even if you’ve lost one or both parents, there are memories or guilt or anger that stems from those situations. No family is immune from the complexities of family challenges.
But returning to Jacob’s situation, it is certainly obvious that Jacob is feeling the separation from his own family. However, now out on the road, leaving this family of promise, leaving behind Isaac and Rebekah and God’s promise to them that they would be central to God’s covenant, you have to believe that Jacob must feel equally abandoned by God. How on earth could anything come of his exile to live in Haran fulfill God’s promise of bringing about a new people of God’s own, a family as numerous as the stars. He may have looked up at the sky, looked back toward Beer-Sheba, and thought, “What a mess I’ve made of God’s whole plan” as he drifted off to sleep.
And this is where Jacob starts to dream. He imagines this ladder, or perhaps a staircase, depending on your translation. Bible scholar, our own Dr. Esther Menn, talks about the Ziggurat, a mud-brick mountain, unifying heaven and earth. Jacob pictures this structure and sees angels ascending and descending it. And while Jacob doesn’t climb the ladder, depending on your translation, God is either at the top of this structure, or has descended it, to be right beside Jacob where he sleeps.
God assures Jacob that he has not abandoned him or the covenant. In fact, God is right here with Jacob, on the journey, and Jacob – schemer, usurper, deceptive one – still is very much a part of God’s plan. He will go to Haran. He will be part of that great nation. And in a piece of this passage left out of the pericope, Jacob catches hold of that hope, and vows that since God is with him, he will one day return and heal the rift between him and his family.
It’s a bit shocking, isn’t it, that God has included Jacob in this future that God has been planning? Schemes and dysfunction, deceit, and exile. There’s none of Abraham’s leaving of his homeland to follow God’s will for his future. None of Isaac’s belief in God so strong that he would consider sacrificing this promised child. No, the story of Jacob is very different than his father or grandfather’s story. No wonder that Jacob was surprised by God, and God’s continuing presence in his life and future. No wonder that Jacob was both afraid and awed by this dream. No wonder that Jacob vows to go forward with renewed energy toward an unknown future, but somehow one that God will use to bring about the great nation. No wonder Jacob can vow to return to his father’s house and restore the peace someday.
We really don’t think of the Hebrew scriptures as being stories of grace, do we? We see grace in the gospels, in the epistles. We see more stories of God’s anger and wrath and judgment in the Hebrew scriptures. It is no wonder that some preachers don’t preach from the Old Testament, and even make a division between the God before the incarnation and the God that Jesus wanted us to know. This is the God of grace, God of forgiveness, the God of love.
But there aren’t two Gods. God is God, yesterday and today. The God of Abraham is the God of Isaac is the God of Jacob. And the God of Jesus and the God of us. We have moments of failure and success. We have moments where God feels distant, and God feels there right beside us. We have our own moments where we totally blow it and moments where we extend grace.
In Jacob, we see all of God’s people, including us. We can give ourselves the compassion and grace that maybe we wouldn’t be inclined to give ourselves otherwise. And we can go forward into God’s promise, knowing securely that God chooses us – imperfect us – to use our gifts and share God’s message of love and grace in our own strange, unpredictable, and uniquely challenging circumstances. Amen.
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