Jacob’s Dream at Bethel Genesis 28: 10-19 – 2024/7/21

July 21, 2024

Anything but Ordinary
“Jacob’s Dream at Bethel”
Genesis 28: 10-19

Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl

Genesis 28: 10-19

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So, Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel,

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Jacob’s Dream at Bethel Genesis 28: 10-19

We skip ahead just a bit in our story and in doing so, we leave out an important piece. We leave out the reason why Jacob is on the run in the first place. In the previous chapter, Rebekah overhears Isaac telling Esau that he is getting old and nearing death, and that Isaac wants to bless Esau before he dies. Long story short, Rebekah devises a scheme in which Jacob is blessed instead of Esau. As you can imagine, this act creates more conflict between the brothers, with the story ending with Esau, threatening to kill Jacob. It truly is a fascinating story filled with complexities about right and wrong, filled with questions like did Rebekah act in such a way because of the word she received from God,or  why did Jacob go along with the scheme, knowing that he and his mother were deceiving an old man and his brother. But that text is meant for another sermon for another day.

What matters for us today is the reason behind Jacob running away. Because  now after all that happened with his brother, Jacob finds himself alone on this journey. We are told that he comes to a certain place and takes rest. Then he has this life changing dream, this anything but ordinary dream in which he encounters God. We are told that in this dream, Jacob sees a stairway extending from earth to heaven and on this stairway, he sees angels ascending and descending on it. And then, if that was not amazing and yes, terrifying enough, God stands beside Jacob. God reassures Jacob that God is with him, that God will go wherever Jacob goes, that God will bring Jacob back to this land, that God will not leave Jacob until God has done what God has promised for Jacob.

After this life changing dream, Jacob wakes up. He realizes that this was no ordinary encounter with God, that this encounter has changed everything for him. Jacob realizes that he cannot go back to the person he was before this moment. After this life changing dream, Jacob wakes up, continues on his journey, knowing that God is with him, every step of the way. 

Now for us as readers, we know this isn’t the first time someone in Jacob’s family has encountered God. We know that several members of his family have encountered God along their journeys. They even have had conversations with God. But this…this is the first time Jacob has encountered God. Before that, what Jacob knew of God may have only been told to him through stories, may have only been shared with him through other people’s experiences. Before this moment, I wonder if Jacob even believed God was real.

I don’t say this to be blasphemous but to say that Jacob’s experience may reflect what we have also experienced in our own faith journey at some point along the way. Maybe we grew up in the church and for us, it was just stories, nice people, cookies and juice. Or maybe we have heard others talk about how God had worked in their lives and we just don’t see it happening in our own life. Or maybe we are just struggling to find God at work in the world because all we see is hurt and hate around us and if God is the God God says God is, then why is all this happening? Or maybe we find ourselves at a point along our faith journey, where we feel alone, where we are wondering if God is even there, or if God even exists. All of these experiences are valid. All of these experiences may have happened to one or all of us at some point along the way. I share all this to simply say that maybe like Jacob, we find that we need some reassurances that our God is real, that our God is there, that our God is guiding us and leading us, especially if we find ourselves alone and confused, wondering what the next steps to take.

And what I love about this text  is that our sacred text recognizes this need by sharing this part of Jacob’s story with us. It doesn’t hide it. It doesn’t ignore it. It doesn’t pretend Jacob is anyone other than who he is. What I love is that our sacred text recognizes and names these “dark night of the soul” moments for us as people of faith. It offers us reassurance that God is there, that God is real, that God is guiding us and leading us every step of the way.

Sure it may not happen in some dramatic dream or it may, I’m not going to say, one way or the other. But what I will say is that once again, through Jacob’s anything but ordinary experience with the Divine, our sacred text shows us that we are not alone, that for generations before us and for generations after us, God is there for us, God will be there for us, maybe even more so on those dark night of the soul moments. Our sacred text reminds us that our God is real, that our God is there for us, that our God is guiding us and leading us, that as people of faith, we cannot limit our God to just one way of reaching us, of reaching out to us.

Our God is so much bigger than that. Just look at Jacob whose very name can mean “to supplant” or “to cheat”. God does not write him off as not worth God’s time. God does not ignore him because he was the second born. God does not say he is a lost cause because not once but twice, Jacob used deception to take what was not his. No, God meets Jacob where he is. God connects with Jacob in a way which goes beyond just stories, which goes beyond other people’s experiences, which goes beyond doubt and fear. God meets Jacob where he is and God becomes real for Jacob, like never before. But don’t just take my word for it. Don’t just rely on my experiences or Jacob’s experience of God or with God, to know that this is true. The beauty of  Jacob’s story is that it invites us to open our hearts, open our minds, open ourselves to where God is at work in this world, to where God is surely in this place and we didn’t know it. Jacob’s story invites us to encounter God in our lives, in our world for ourselves, not just because someone else told us.

You see, the thing we as people of faith tend to forget, the thing we need to be reminded of again and again, especially when it feels like we are alone, and we begin wondering if God is even there is that time and time again, our sacred text reminds us that there is no where we can go, nothing we could ever do, that there is no power here on Earth that could ever separate us from our God’s love, that God has named us and claimed us as God’s Beloved Children, and God loves us more than we will ever know.

And for us, and for Jacob, that is where we always start, that is the good news we always come back to, that is the life changing encounter which reminds us day in and day out, that surely God is in this place, whether that place is this sanctuary, our homes, our stores, our work, our cars, our whatever, you can fill in the blank. Jacob’s story reminds us that as people of faith our God is there, our God is real and that God will always be there to guide us and lead us because our God is anything but ordinary.

Amen.

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