All material copyright 2005.
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Durham, North Carolina
(919)489-4974
For staff e-mail call # above
or e-mail Gail
Comments, corrections and suggestions about this website are welcome.
E-mail Web
assistant
REACHING FOR GOD
Genesis 28:10-22
Romans 8:12-17
July 20, 2008
Betty Berghaus
Most everyone knows the name of Jacob as one of the early patriarchs of the Bible. God even makes a self-identification as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (See Exod. 3:6.) Perhaps the most familiar stories of Jacob involve his birth and his twin brother, Esau. We remember that Esau was born first, and was named for his red hair. Jacob followed, with a hand on the heel of his brother, and so was named Jacob, which means “he takes by the heel,” or “he supplants, or overtakes.” And indeed the next story we know of Jacob has him overtaking his brother’s blessing as firstborn. Mother Rebekah connived with Jacob to make his arm feel hairy like Esau’s. Jacob went to his blind father Isaac pretending to be Esau and received the blessing that the firstborn should receive. In fact, Esau gave up the right to that blessing for a bowl of stew. But later, when Esau realized what Jacob had done, he became angry. And so father Isaac urged Jacob to leave town for a while.
The other story that we know well about Jacob involves his wrestling through the night with a man of God, and the angel changing his name to Israel (“one who strives with God”). But Jacob had a vision before that night of wrestling.
Jacob was not even thinking about God when he fled his home and his angry brother. He was just bedding down for the night. Now, why he would pick a stone for a pillow is a mystery to me. That would be enough to give me strange dreams! But he did, and he slept. And he dreamed. In his dream he saw a ladder. Commentaries say that it was probably not a ladder like we would envision today, with rungs going higher and higher (apologies to the song!), but was more likely a stairway or ramp. In Mesopotamia, there were land masses or towers built called ziggurats, which were intended to reach as if from earth to the heavens. Priests were the only ones allowed to go up these towers, as the mediaries between the people and the gods. On the “ladder,” as we will continue to call it, because tradition has it that way, Jacob saw angels going up and down. These were the messengers between earth and God. But in the dream, God came directly to Jacob, and stood beside him.
As we have seen, in many ways, Jacob was an unlikely person for God to choose. His life had been built on deceit. He was fleeing an angry brother. We have seen up to this point little indication that he was a faithful man. And yet we know that God had claimed him from birth. And so God appeared to him in a dream, and reiterated to him the promises he had made to Abraham and to Isaac. God gave to Jacob the land, and said that Jacob’s offspring would fill the earth, and Jacob did indeed father 12 sons, who founded the 12 tribes of Israel. God promised His faithful presence with Jacob.
And Jacob awoke in awe! He immediately interpreted his dream as a direct vision from God, and he set up an altar in the place he called Bethel, meaning “house of God.” While still in this holy place, and in response to God’s call, though God did not ask anything of him, Jacob vowed that if God did indeed keep these promises, he, Jacob, would go back to his father’s house in peace, that he would establish this place as a sanctuary, and that he would tithe to God. Jacob had a covenant with God, and he was a changed man. This is the man we remember as a patriarch, and who shared his faith with his 12 sons. This was a pivotal time in Jacob’s life.
As we reflect on how this story informs our faith walks, there are several interesting things to note. First, remember that Jacob did not choose God. God chose Jacob, even if he seemed an unlikely choice. And God kept with the choice. God worked with Jacob, and helped Jacob to change. So if God claims us, as we believe and profess whenever we baptize someone, either as an infant or older, then God does not let us go. We may wander for a while. We may engage in some activities that God does not approve. But God claims us, and will reclaim us when God needs us in God’s own time. Once we are God’s, we are always God’s. And that is really what the doctrine of predestination is all about!
The next thing to note is that God is always accessible. There is the ladder, a direct link between earth and heaven, between us and God, and that link is ever present. The electricity will not go down and sever this connection. A computer crash will not interfere with our relationship with God. (Well, maybe it will just briefly, when we say a few choice words!) As the end of Romans 8 tells us, nothing in heaven or on earth will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus said, at the end of Matthew, “I will be with you always, even to the close of the age.” God is always accessible to us. It is we who, in doubt, turn away from God or forget to talk with God. But God never leaves us.
We also learn from this story that God gives and keeps promises. God fulfilled God’s promises to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to the chosen people of Israel. It was the people who broke the deal with their bad behavior of worshiping the gods of the people who conquered them. We are the ones who fail to stay faithful to God. Yet God is always faithful to us. We simply need to recognize the presence of God in our lives. God has not left, but we do not always see God with us.
As a part of God’s promise, God said, “Know that I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go” (Gen. 28:15). To keep means “to guard, to oversee, to have charge over, to watch over, to take care of, to manage, to maintain.” This word and phrase appears often in the Bible, most notably in the passage from Numbers from which we get the benediction that we hear so often (whenever Jack preaches or the choir sings it!), which starts with “The Lord bless you and keep you.” This image appears 6 times in Psalm 121 alone, including, “The Lord is your keeper,” “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life,” and ending with “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” This is a very comforting image, of God keeping us as one keeps little children, aiming to make them safe and sound and happy. God is always with us, keeping us. When we reach for God, God is already there, and always there.
Jacob was so moved by this vision from God that he declared that place holy by setting up an altar with the rock on which he had slept. Hopefully we all have holy places in our lives. For many, this church is a holy place, a place where we can come, even when worship is not happening, and feel comforted and close to God. Montreat is a holy place for me, and I remember all the good things that have happened there throughout my life as I walk around the lake or into the auditorium. I can almost hear the music playing the “Hallelujah Chorus” while my young daughter slept through it on the pew beside me. Or I hear the adult choir of 400 at a Worship & Music Conference singing to the other choirs, and then the youth choir of 150 turning around to sing to us, and also the children’s choir of 200, and the bell choirs ringing. I can hear preachers preaching dynamic and inspiring sermons, and remember doing crazy but fun energizers with the youth at youth conferences. The place is alive and holy for me. And yet, we need to realize that we each have our own holy places. I took some friends to Montreat one day who had never been to a conference there. The place was empty, and I led them around and into this auditorium, which is very old and even un-air-conditioned. I twirled around and said, “Isn’t this an awesome place?” And they looked at me a bit funny and said, “It’s okay.” And I realized that the place lived, that it was holy for me because of the things that had happened there, with many other people, but not because of the building, or the place itself. Sometimes the sunset at the beach can be a holy place for us, or a hike in the mountains alongside a stream. Perhaps because we are sensing beings, we need those holy places that recall God for us. Some might even find that a special corner in the house, with a Bible and a lamp or candle, can be a holy place for some spiritual reflection.
Jacob then made his vows, and as a part of that promise, he recognized that he would go home, and that he would reconcile with his brother. Homecomings are important to us too, because our homes can be special places, and our families are special people. But our families and homes are not always happy places. Yet that is what we desire, to have a family that welcomes us and loves us and forgives us. We can have that here, as we worship and work and live together as a faithful community. And we can, like Jacob, decide to and desire to reconcile with our family members, as we strive to make home a place worth coming home to!
Jacob made his faithful promises to God, though God did not require these things of him. He made his promises coming out of the vision and the worship he had at that place he declared holy, and he made them out of his joy at the recognition of the everlasting presence of God in his life.
In the brief passage that we read from the marvelous 8th chapter of Romans, Paul affirms what Jacob discovered that night. He says that we do not live according to the flesh, or for our own desires, but we live by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He reminds us that we are adopted into God’s family through Jesus Christ, and once God claims us, we are God’s! Through whatever happens in our lives, God is with us. It seems to me as if I repeat this message to you over and over again. But that is because it is, for me, the central message of the Gospel. No matter what we do, no matter where we go, God is with us. Despite what we might think, God does not leave us when we sit by the bed of our dying parent. God does not leave us when we make bad judgments or do the wrong thing. God simply does not leave us! That is good news! And once we embrace that good news we find that living is better!
I probably need not keep telling you that, because I see you living out the gospel as people who embrace God’s care for you. I see you taking those holy casseroles to folks who are sick, and making visits to folks in the hospital. I see you slipping money and checks to me to help the family of the toddler who died. I see you on your knees planting flowers to brighten up the lives of the people at Andover Apartments and the IHN house. When we do these type of things, we live as those who sense God’s presence in our lives, and who share that presence with others. And that is exciting to behold.
There is just one more thought about this passage that I would like to share. One commentary talked about the stone under Jacob’s head going from pillow to pillar. And that recalled for me a conversation at a Women’s Retreat over 10 years ago, when we were all younger, and when we were still going to Fort Caswell. We had a rainy Saturday afternoon, and many of us stayed in the dorm room talking. We were talking about the recent amendment to The Book of Order, the one the most recent General Assembly is suggesting be repealed and replaced. It is the one we call the “chastity and fidelity” amendment, and it tries to prescribe who can and cannot be ordained. Our discussion got a little diverted, and we were getting silly, and laughing a lot, as we do on Women’s Retreats. There were folks there like Eileen McAvoy, and Sue McCaughan, Kay Wellemeyer, Marge Enberg, Gene Brannon, Linda Barnett, and June Jones, and, as I said, we were all younger then! One of our even younger members spoke up at a pause in the conversation and said, “And I thought of you ladies as the pillars of the church!” That, of course, brought us more laughter, as we did not see ourselves that way. But look now at who are the pillars of the church! These names will appear! We have gone from the pillows of the Women’s Retreats to the pillars of the church! When we spend time with others in God’s presence, it shows in our lives in amazing ways!
So, friends, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord be gracious to you. May the Lord’s face shine upon you, and give you peace.
AMEN.