SERMON FOR JULY 18, 1999
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
HEBREW TESTAMENT: “Jacob’s Dream” ~ Genesis 28:10-22
I was nervous at first. I probably wouldn’t have gone through with it, but it was mom’s suggestion and I’ve always listened to her advice. She was the one that told me how I was going to trick my father. You know I’ve never been very close to the old man. I’ve listened to some of his stories, but he always seemed to care more for Esau, so I haven’t spent much time with him. Mom and I have always gotten along well. I’ve learned a lot from her. She told me how to get my father’s blessing. You might think that tricking my father was a nasty thing to do, but you have to remember that I wasn’t taking anything that wasn’t already mine. Esau traded me his birthright for a pot of stew. Can you believe it? He came home, empty handed, from a hunting trip. He pleaded with me for food. I teased him. I said, “If you are so hungry then how about turning over that birthright of yours. If you starve to death, what good is it going to do you anyway? He was foolish enough to take me seriously. He yelled, “Take it, take it Jacob. It’s yours now!” He grabbed the food and shoved it in his mouth. Esau is a few sticks short of a fire. He’s not a very smart guy. He knows his way around the wilderness, he knows how to hunt, but he doesn’t think very clearly, and once he gave me that birthright it belonged to me. All I needed to finish it off was the blessing of the old man, and mom told me how to do it. She prepared the food. I killed a goat and put the skin on my arms so that they felt hairy like my brother Esau. Then I went in to see dear dad.
I was afraid that he was going to recognize me. But it went smoothly. In fact when I left the tent with his blessing I almost laughed out loud for how easy it had been. I went to bed that night comfortable that my future was assured. But then late in the night my mother came and woke me. She said that she had heard Esau swear that he was going to take my life. This coming from my twin. My brother. We were twins alright, but there was nothing the same between the two of us. He’d come out first and they told me that I had come out holding on to his heel. My name “Jacob” is a play on the word “heel”. But now my brother, my twin was going to put an end to my life. My mother told me to go to the land of my uncle. When it was safe to return she would send for me.
Suddenly my heart was gripped with fear and I tossed a few things together and set out just as the sun was beginning to rise. I headed north. North by northeast. I kept up to the ridge road. It was rough and rocky, but it much easier than going up mountain and down ravine. I traveled with fear in my heart. I traveled quickly, tripping over stones, cutting my feet, ever imagining my brother close behind me. His hatred created a panic in me, driving me north.
I continued all day as one pursued by the hounds of slavery. I continued on as long as I could, then I paused for a moment and began to run again. When night came I didn’t stop. My muscles ached. The taste of my own blood filled my mouth. Finally I could run no more and I fell to the ground. I looked up at the sky above me and it was filled with little dots of light as far as you could see. But in the face of all of it I felt my own insignificance. I felt like I was the only person alive. Separated from everyone and everything. I tried to rise, to run again, but my limbs would not hold me. I put my head down on a cold stone and fell asleep.
I awakened to a great light. When I looked there was a ladder going up to the sky – not so much a ladder, but a staircase. Like steps up to a temple. There were messengers, heavenly messengers making their way up an down in procession, tying together heaven and earth. Then I saw the Great Mystery, the Divine One at the top of the stairs. The old man had often talked about Yahweh, about God, but I had no experience, no feelings. I listened to his stories about the promises of this Great Creator. I listened with more interest after the blessing was mine. My old man told me how the Divine One had promised that He would make of him a great nation. He would give him all of the land, including the place where I slept that night. As I watched, I heard the voice of the Great Mystery. The voice said, “Jacob, I have promised this land to your father and your father’s father. This land shall be yours and I shall make of you a great nation like the dust of the earth, covering to the east and west, to the north and south.” Then I heard the Divine One speak words directly to me, “Jacob, I will be with you. I will protect you. I will bring you back to the land of your people.” Then the lights faded and I found myself awaking in the morning light, realizing that it had all been a dream. But such a powerful dream that it was hard for me to separate it from reality.
I took the small stone that had served as my pillow and I stood it on end. I tried to remember the words that my father had said when he spoke to his God. I took some oil and poured it over the stone and I spoke a blessing for this God, and for the land that this God had given to us. I still wasn’t sure that it was something that I could trust in, so I set forth a bargain. “If you are God, then you will show it to me by protecting me. By taking me to the land of my uncle. By making sure I have enough food to eat. By making sure that I have a way to live. And when you return me to the land of my father, and my mother, and my brother, then I will know that you have been faithful, and you will be my God and I will be your servant.” I thought that would seem clear enough. If this God of my old man is so powerful then let Him show it to me. Let Him prove it. If I receive that proof, then I am ready to have faith. Let the trial begin.