Upon This Rock I Lay My Head
The story from the Chapter 12 of Genesis all the way through to the end of Deuteronomy – indeed, all the way through the rest of the Bible – is the story of God’s promise to Abraham, and how God fulfills that promise.
From
Genesis through the end of Deuteronomy, the main human actors are Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the Israelites. But the story, the plot, isn't
about them; it is instead the story of the promise God makes to Abraham, and
how God keeps that promise. That is the engine that runs the entire narrative,
regardless of what leading actor is currently on the stage, regardless of the
character that leading actor might possess.
After
Abraham comes Isaac. Compared to Abraham, Isaac is a weak and passive man. He
does not act, things happen to him. He is not like his father. Isaac does
nothing; everything happens to him. When he was a boy, he is almost sacrificed
on an altar – he is passive through that entire episode.
When
it is time to marry, he does not go seek a wife, a servant is sent to fetch a
wife for him – he plays no active role in that episode. That is in contrast to
every other biblical character who finds a wife at the well – Jacob, Moses,
Saul, and so many others. Isaac does not meet his wife at the well, a servant
meets his wife at the well for him.
When
he finally does do something, bestow the blessing of fortune to his first-born,
he messes that up by allowing himself to be tricked by his son Jacob. How is
God's covenant going to come to pass with this guy in charge? But, and this is
the real plot line, the covenant promise never rests in Isaac’s docile hands;
it is always and only in the hands of God.
Isaac
had twins, Jacob & Esau. When they were born, Esau was first and Jacob was
born immediately after. With a bit of foreshadowing, Jacob is born with his
hand grasping Esau’s heel. That is how Jacob got his name, which means “supplanter.”
Jacob,
it turns out, would earn his name. He is nothing like his father Isaac, passive
and impotent; Jacob was an opportunist, a liar, and a thief. Jacob is not
passive at all, but forever scheming, grabbing, and supplanting.
Esau
comes in from the hunt, famished. He smells Jacob cooking a stew. Esau asks for
some of the food. “Give me your birthright and I will give you some stew,”
says Jacob. “Yea, whatever. Just give me some stew.” Did Esau really
take Jacob seriously?
And
why is Jacob cooking – hardly a man’s task in his world. Servants cooked food;
women cooked food; leading men of the clan did not cook supper. Could it be
that Jacob knew Esau was coming and would be hungry? Was Jacob plotting with
his pot of stew? Was he an opportunist or a conniver?
Later,
when his father is feeble, near-blind, and soon to die, Jacob – at the prodding
of his mother – goes to Isaac and pretends to be Esau, so that he could get
Esau’s blessing – a powerful thing in that culture. Blessings and curses
bestowed determined destinies.
But
Jacob didn’t sound like Esau. So his father Isaac tells him to come closer.
Because his brother Esau was hairy, Jacob puts goat hair on his arms and neck,
and he feels and smells like Esau – so the feeble and ever passive Isaac is
duped and he gives Jacob the blessing that belonged to firstborn Esau. Now
Jacob is a liar and a thief.
Then
Jacob goes on the run. Esau has sworn to kill him. We find Jacob in the middle
of nowhere, on the lamb. Esau, the oldest son, is the logical, natural and in
all the usual senses the preferred choice to carry on the covenant. But Jacob has
his birthright – and their father Isaac’s blessing.
And
the question the reader is to wonder is, “just how is the covenant to survive?”
Do we even want such a person as Jacob to carry on the covenant? And what if
Esau does get hold of him? The covenant has been usurped! It has been stolen!
Jacob,
at Bethel, takes a stone and sleeps with it under his head. This part of the
story isn’t about a man with a rock for a pillow. No, this is an intentional
act on Jacob’s part. The stone under his head is a cultic act. He is asking for
a vision from God, or any god. And indeed, he has a dream or vision of angels
going up and down a ladder to heaven – what becomes known as Jacob’s
Ladder.
This
ladder is significant. This means that Jacob has found a holy place. Later a
temple would be built at Bethel, and this story is the explanation why Bethel
was chosen as a holy spot. This is a place where heaven and earth touch.
In
Ancient Near Eastern thought, a temple, always built on a hill or mountain of
some kind, was a place where heaven touched earth. Therefore one had special
access to the gods at such places – one was closer to the realm of the divine.
So
Jacob, out of his mind with fear of his brother, on the lamb, decides to ask
for a vision from the divine. And not only does he get his vision, but he finds
out that he has asked for a vision in a hitherto unknown holy spot. And God
reiterates the covenant promise to Jacob:
I
am YHWH, 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 so the south; and all
the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.
Jacob’s response is hardly “theologically correct” by our standards, but quite in line with his character. The next morning he consecrates the stone, names this special place, and he says:
IF
God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me
bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in
peace, THEN YHWH will be my God.
We
need to notice that up until this point in the story of Jacob and Esau God
has been silent. We are not told that God led Jacob to do what he did, or that
God closed the eyes of Isaac so that he could not see which son was which. God
is very much in the background until now.
And
even here God never says, “You sure are clever, you son of a gun!” Nor does God
say, “Shame on you, Jacob!” But then, this isn’t a story about Jacob – it is a
story about the covenant and God’s faithfulness.
We
know God is faithful to God’s promises. We know God is not going to let the
covenant go unfulfilled. And sometimes, at least according to the story of
Jacob and Esau, in order to keep those promises, God plays whatever hand is
dealt.
It
is here that I find meaning in this bazaar, but all too human, tale. Things
don’t always go smoothly; things don’t always proceed the way we expect them.
Sometimes the hand we are dealt in life is bazaar and unpredictable. And the
hand that God is dealt is always bazaar and unpredictable.
This
story is about how everything got off track and messed up, and then God stepped
forward and working from where things were, brought the situation back in line
with his designs. Everything that happens to us is not God’s will. However, God
has designs for us and steps into the messiness of our lives to bring blessing
and promise.
Even
God must work with the hand dealt. But God has the ability to do more than we
can ask or imagine with the chaos of our lives.
Our
lives don’t always go the way we plan. Fate is fickle, luck changes, markets
crash, relationships sour, surprises – good ones or unfortunate ones – are
always over the horizon, just beyond our sight. Children surprise us; parents
surprise us; we surprise ourselves.
Sometimes,
just when we think everything is wrapped up, we are married with children, job
and investments taken care of, all that is left is to live out the life we have
made for ourselves, something happens: death, divorce, cancer, heart attack, a
change of fortune, career change. Something happens that leaves us with a hand
we never intended to play.
And
if you are very old at all, you know the feeling of looking at where you are
and wondering, “How did I get here?” or at least, “This isn’t
exactly what I had in mind!”
And
the same is true for churches and congregations as well. Perhaps it is a tragic
occurrence, perhaps a series of unpredicted events – in the community or even
inside the church doors, perhaps even due to the Spirit of God moving in
unexpected ways, there are occasions when a congregation finds itself feeling a
little bewildered.
But
even when it seems God is in the background, if we take the time to lay our
head upon that rock, we will find that God is there. And despite
the lousy, or just surprising, turn of events that we find ourselves in, we
will find that God will be faithful to God’s promises: to be present to
us and for us, to ride through the confusion with us, and to bring us
safely to the other side.
And then we will discover, that we have found a place where heaven touches the earth. And we can move ahead the next day knowing that whatever direction we may be going, or forced to go, we are headed into God’s promises as well. Because God is always faithful, and God never abandons God's covenants, and God never abandons us. Amen.