Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Old Testament lesson (Genesis 28: 10-22).
At this time, Jacob seems the most unlikely of candidates to receive a special visit and blessing from God. He has left Beersheeba because he's in danger for his life. You see, he had tricked his own father and brother. His older twin brother Esau was to receive the special blessing from his blind father Isaac, the blessing that meant inheritance and headship over his father's estates. It meant inheriting the blessing Isaac had received from his father Abraham.
Jacob and his mother Rebekah devise a scheme to finagle the blessing from Isaac, away from Esau. Isaac tells Esau to go and hunt some tasty game and bring it back to him fixed just the way he likes it. You hunters can identify with Esau. When he returns, Isaac then plans to bless Esau. But Rebekah overhears this exchange, and she wants her favorite son Jacob to receive the blessing. The LORD had told Rebekah before they were even born that the older son would serve the younger one (26: 23), but she had apparently not been able to convince her husband Isaac of this for decades, despite Esau's frustrating behavior toward his parents (26: 34-35). She decides to arrange the Lord's blessing herself, even if she has to do it deceitfully. She quickly prepares some meat dish just the way she knows her husband likes it, and Jacob puts animal hair on his arms so that when his father touches him, he will think it is Esau. Esau was apparently a pretty furry fellow. Isaac's eyesight is so bad he can't see the difference, but his hearing still isn't bad. He suspects it is Jacob's voice he hears, but Jacob must have convinced him he was simply fighting a cold or something.
Unaware of the deceit, Isaac gives Jacob the inheritance blessing. Esau learns of the trickery and plots revenge (Genesis 27: 41) "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." Now there's an unholy way to get the inheritance back; wait until your father dies and then kill your brother. Rebekah learns of Esua's plot and convinces Jacob that retreat is the best plan for now.
Isaac and Rebekah send Jacob hundreds of miles to the North, from their current home in what is now southern Israel up into what is now northern Syria near Turkey.
To travel that far alone at that time must have been nearly as dangerous as staying home with murderous Esau, but trusting his parents, deceitful Jacob heads north.
We often think of this patriarchal family, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their wives and descendants, as fine upstanding citizens who the Lord chose to bless because of their faithfulness. In reality, Scripture portrays them with many faults, many failures in life, yet God chose to bless them and bless the world through them by making their line the one that produced Jesus. But their own lives are actually portrayed as some sort of ancient soap opera full of all sorts of twists, plots, and conniving, breaking every commandment imaginable. Jacob's very name means usurper and deceiver in Hebrew, and he has just lived up to that name in his brother's eyes.
Yet despite that Jacob's unworthiness, the LORD comes to him in a vision, in a dream and makes wondrous promises. A stairway or ramp (not really a ladder) appears to him, (v. 12) "with the angels of God ascending and descending on it." At the top stood the Lord and he says to Jacob, the deceiver: "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�. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 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."
You know the old spiritual song "We are climbing Jacob's ladder�." I like the tune of that old song, and the lyrics are engaging, but they really misrepresent this story of the Lord and Jacob very badly. Jacob never climbed any ladder or staircase to God. No one can. This deceiver certainly had not earned any right to even crawl up to the 1st step. But the Lord came to Jacob, and promised to make his descendants numerous, to bless the world through him and to be with him always. The Lord doesn't bargain with him and say "If you do this, then I will bless you. If you show yourself worthy, then I will fulfill my promises to you."
No, the Lord of the Universe comes to this lowly, lonesome, defenseless man and lovingly makes promises to him he does not deserve. The greatest promise was to never leave him. This was Jacob's (Wenham, G. Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis, p. 226) "first personal encounter with God; he knew his parents' faith and of their own religious experiences, but now for the first time he has" heard the Word of the Lord's promises directly to him. He is scared and overwhelmed. To rephrase his response in teen language "This place is awesome." He knows he is in the presence of God, God's promises assure him and he responds by trusting those promises and making promises of his own. The vow he makes sounds a bit more tentative in English translations than it may have been by Jacob. The word translated "If" God will be with me might also be translated "since" God will be with me. Jacob gives what he has at the time, a little oil and the rock that had protected his head. He promises that the Lord will be his God and he also promises to respond with the 10% tithe. The Old Testament tithe of 10% is never commanded in the New Testament, but then again it is never supplanted by any other suggestions and remains a good rule of thumb for giving to God for those not well-to-do. Those who have been blessed even more by the Lord can consider whether or not 10% is enough.
Jacob was a deceptive man, unworthy of God's concern or love. Do you ever feel unworthy of God? Do you ever wonder about God's care and concern for your personal life? At this point in Jacob's life, he was poor and alone, wandering hundreds of miles to look for help from relatives he had never met. Do you ever feel vulnerable, wandering through life seeking help but not knowing where to find it?
A missionary in a 3rd world country had to travel through an area controlled by rebel forces. He prayed for safety, then proceeded on to his destination without incident, so he thought. Later he met a convert who had been a rebel in that region. This man told the missionary how a band of his men had come upon him sleeping that night and would have killed him except he was being guarded by 28 armed men. The missionary was perplexed, thinking he had been by himself. Later he was relating this story to a congregation who supported him in the U.S. One of the men asked him of the time and date of the event, then told the missionary how 28 of their men at the congregation had organized an all night prayer vigil for him on that date! (story from Rev. John Wilch, Concordia Pulpit Resource, March 2000).
We certainly are often unaware of the times and ways God protects us, his powerless people. Jacob heard the promises of God and could confidently continue his life knowing the outcome of these promises were sure. Have we gained access to similar promises? YES, of course! How? Our Epistle text spells it out: Romans 5: "6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Jacob never climbed any ladder to receive the promises of God. God's stairway down to Jacob appeared to assure him that his Lord was near and promising. We never ascend any ladders to receive our Lord's love and grace to us. Through Jesus' descent, the Son of God coming to earth "we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." In our baptism we are connected with God's personal promises, promises tied to the power of Christ's death and resurrection. His Name and Word are placed on us in a way at least as powerful as Jacob's vision, because God says so. This God now makes disciples, followers through baptizing and teaching and has promised to be with those disciples always (Matthew 28: 19-20), no matter what (Romans 8).
After Jacob's awesome experience with the promises of God, you might assume that his life went splendidly. Nope, sorry. His earthly life still continued to be one of challenges and sufferings and perseverance (Romans 5). He was tricked into working for his uncle for 14 years in order just to marry the woman he loved. He was constantly being swindled in business and in fear for his life from his family and his enemies. His life continued to resemble an ancient soap opera. Yet through it all His God remained constant and fulfilled his promises to Jacob. The challenges produced a hope in Jacob that did not disappoint him, because Jacob knew he had a promising God. You and I have that same God, who has tangibly fulfilled those eternal promises for us in Jesus.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)