Ragamuffins, Grace and Wonder                                              Jacob and His Dream

Genesis 28:10-28

ASK FOR WONDER

Several years before his death, Abraham Heschel, one of the most influential rabbis and scholars of the 19^th Century, suffered a massive heart attack.  His closest friend was at his beside when he was so weak he could only whisper: "Sam, I feel only gratitude for my life, for every moment I have lived.  I am ready to go.  I have seen so many miracles during my lifetime. . . Sam, I never once in my life asked God for success or wisdom or power or fame.  I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me."[1][1]

Do you ask God for wonder?  I taught an Old Testament class in Moscow Russia on January and had an incredible time.  A highlight for me was going to St. Petersburg, the Winter Palace, and the Hermitage’s art museum.  I spent some time there with Rembrandt’s The Prodigal.  A sluggish soul can cruise by Rembrandt's Prodigal Son and take it in and move in under 30 seconds while picking his nose.  Henri Neuwen sat in front of this work for days and eventually wrote a book about the feelings and spiritual insights this one painting evoked in his soul.  Of course that was his intension, but he sat in wonder in front of this great work for days and never lost his fascination.

Our world has lost its sense of wonder, of awe at divine presence.  Maybe it is because of modern science, we feel that everything has to be explained and has an explanation.  Water is H20 and the stars all have been classified.  Technology can be amazing and impressive.  But it isn't truly awesome.  What is the difference?  A few weeks ago, the Airbus 840 took its first flight.  This behemoth can hold 840 persons and comes with its own casino.  But in two years, people will cease being amazed.  Something that is truly awesome only gets more awesome.  You can stare at a fire and it never looses its amazement.  Fire is awesome.  This plane next year won't lift an eyebrow.  But a sunrise will never loose its amazement.

Ask for wonder.  As Abraham Heschel discovered, God always gives us that.

JACOB’S FRIGHTFUL DREAM

Jacob the trickster would have been the last on my list to be able to discover wonder.  He was, from the start, a person whose life could be characterized as duplicitous, conniving, scheming, etc.  He has tricked his blinded old father to steal his brother's blessing and is now on the run for his life.  He has a remarkable dream on the way that leaves him frightened and astonished.

The Bible says Jacob had left Beer Sheba and set out for Haran.  Here's a map to help us visualize this.

On the way he stopped for a night's rest and took a stone there for his pillow.  You might dream strange things with a rock for your pillow as well.  Here's how the text reads.

        ¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

    ¹³ There above it stood the LORD, and he said: 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.

    ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

    ¹⁵ 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.

    ¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.

    ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.

What he saw in the dream is often depicted as a ladder or staircase.  If you google Jacob’s Dream doing an image search you can see all kinds of artistic representations of this passage.  I looked at many of them when I prepared this sermon.  There is a bit of confusion as to exactly what Jacob saw.  The Hebrew word is a hapax legomenon (word only used once in the Bible).  It is usually depicted as either a ladder or stairway.  Ladder doesn't make much sense, in spite of the old song, because angels couldn't be going up and down a ladder at the same time. 

The word "ramp" is probably a better translation and we ought to be thinking of a Mesopotamian ziggurat, since Jacob is headed up toward Haran in Mesopotamia.  Abraham’s family was originally from Ur which is in modern day Iraq.  The whole idea of a ziggurat is that of a building that connects earth to heaven.  That allows the human to access the divine and to call forth divine presence into the earth.  More ziggurat stairs here.

What is the literary function of the divine ramp?  Ziggurats represented a microcosm of the world with the top representing heaven (sometimes painted bluish white to blend in with the sky) the dwelling place of the gods.  Such structures were built to provide an avenue of approach to the divine realm.  Yet our text seems to take a very different spin on this typical scene.

The divine beings ascending and descending the divine access have no real function here.  They are not independent deities as one would expect with a ziggurat and they are not doing anything but going up and down.  While they could be thought of as messengers, Yahweh doesn't need them.  Yahweh is standing right there at the top and shouts out his message with no help whatsoever.  The angels don't speak, Yahweh's word is what counts and he chooses to bring it to Jacob himself.  Yahweh dominates this scene; the divine ramp is completely ancillary.

What is the point of having the angels (divine beings) but not allowing them to carry the message?  I think it intends to send a mixed signal.  Yahweh's word and presence is what counts.  The pagan notion of minor manipulated deities is sub-standard.  Yahweh's word stands as the word.  Yet, the scene of angelic presence and access remains.  The notion that the world is filled with divine access, that the world has heavenly glory penetrating it at every point remains.

JACOB’S SUSPISION; GOD’S GRACE

Jacob's response is interesting.  He doesn't directly and immediately respond to the promise itself.  He doesn't arise and say, "Wow, I've just been given a great gift.  The God of my fathers has promised to bless me just the way he promised this blessing to them!"  What he responds to is the vision of the angels ascending the descending the divine ramp.  He says, "This is a sacred place!"  Or "This is the house of God, this is the gate of heaven."

And suspicious soul that he his, his response continues his bargaining ways.

²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear ²¹ so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God.

This vow is unique because God has promised to do all these things.  Abraham and Isaac didn't bargain with God in such a way; they simply believed and followed.  What God has promised to Jacob unconditionally, Jacob turns into a condition and a provision; you do this for me, I'll do this for you.  He wants to be sure God fulfills his side of the bargain before he commits himself to God's service.

Here we see God's grace illustrated: God completely understands Jacob for the conniver that he is and accepts him on those sordid terms.  But Jacob's life takes a turn at this point.  His journeys are now filled with a sense of vocation for he now bears God's promise.  Yet at the same time he remains Jacob.

But this tells us of God's grace.  God can bind God's own self with unconditional promises to tricksters and deceivers.  Although Jacob leaves this moment with divine promises ringing in his ears, God leaves this moment with Jacob's bargain in his.  God can be counted on to be faithful.  Jacob need no longer wonder about God; God is a promise-keeper, and Jacob must learn to be one also.  He was, after all, a spiritual ragamuffin.  But God’s grace is evident in the story in that God does not reject Jacob for his suspicious vow but works with him for his eternal purpose.

WONDERING WANDERER

I want to focus my closing thoughts on Jacob's words,

How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.

Jacob's response to God's gracious call was wonder, amazement, worship.  Jacob's eyes were opened to God's presence in this world.  I see these two factors coming together in our passage.  As Jacob encounters this gracious God whose patience forbears even with Jacob’s suspicious nature, we encounter a Jacob who is increasingly aware and responsive two God’s presence in the world.  The connection of these two features interests me; response to God’s grace and wonder at God in nature.  I don’t think this connection is accidental.

How are grace and wonder connected?  Let me explain.  One of the biggest hindrances to encountering wonder is pride and self-centeredness.  You cannot be impressed with God’s handiwork if you are wrapped up with yourself.  To the degree that you need to be impressive, you cannot be impressed.  I want you to be impressed with God, God’s goodness, God’s handiwork, etc. etc. and so forth.  I want to be the type of person that can easily be lost in wonder because I’m free from needing to be wonderful.  There is something of a tension between these two isn’t there.

What is more – I think there is something of a connection between being lost in wonder and being a faithful disciple of Jesus.  True faithfulness in our discipleship is enhanced when we live with a keener sense of appreciation and amazement at God’s presence and grace.  Imagine how your spiritual life is deepened by living with constant awareness of God’s presence. 

This text calls us to live with Jacob's wonder.  "This is the house of God, this is the gate of heaven."  Can we hear God's word in the song of a bird, see God's power in the paw of a kitten, welcome God's assurance in the warmth of sunshine through a rainbow?  I welcome you to move into this divine acceptance of holy presence.  This is part of the ragamuffin gospel.  We are no longer caught up in ourselves and our agenda.  We are poor enough in spirit to not need to be impressive.  We can be impressed and agog with wonder. 

God relates to space roughly as you relate to your body.  No point of the universe is isolated from God’s conscious care.  That God, who is at this moment as present to you as the air in your lungs, wants to be seen and known intimately by you.  Just as the arrangement of furniture in your home is a manifestation of your will, so God’s work in the universe manifests God’s care and intention.  God wishes to be seen, sought, known and trusted.  Every particle of the universe speaks to us of God’s wishes and desires and mediate God’s presence to us.

If you cannot encounter God through nature, you aren't looking.  You don't live in the gateway of heaven.  This is the joy of discovery.  This is the joy of the Lord.  Live in wonder.  Don't be impressive.  Just be impressed.  This is the grace of the ragamuffin gospel.  This is an absolutely central feature of Christian discipleship; to live your life with a wondering amazement at God's word and presence in every detail of life.  I challenge you, I invite you, I encourage you, to enter into a new appreciation for wonder.  Ask for wonder.  God will not fail to give it.