Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "The Gate of Heaven" 

Text: Genesis 28:10-19a 

This Sunday, we have the story of "Jacob’s dream," as it is told in chapter 28, verses 10-19a. Before we deal with this story, we need to take a few steps back – to recall what had happened between the time of his dream and the earlier time when Jacob acquired Esau’s birthright for that "red stuff" – because none of the stories in the intervening chapters 26 and 27 appear in the three-year Lectionary cycle.

In these two chapters, we hear more about the dysfunctional family system in which Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and his twin brother Esau, who had married two women – Judith (daughter of Beeri the Hittite) and his other wife Basemath (daughter of Elon the Hittite). The narrator of the story tells us in no uncertain terms, "they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah" (Gen 26:35).

In this context, Rebekah and Jacob conspired to take away Isaac’s blessing from the rightful heir, the older twin Esau. You may remember that this conspiracy involved savory food, bread, and wine, as well as a hairy goat skin costume. Soon after Jacob had blessed the imposter, the real Esau also showed up with savory food, and also seeking his father’s blessing. But Jacob had used up the good blessing and gave Esau only a left-over blessing.

Not surprisingly, Esau "hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him" (Gen 28:41a). And Esau said to himself, "I will kill my brother Jacob" (Gen 28:41b). Naturally, Rebekah heard of Esau’s threat and she told Jacob to flee at once to Haran, where her brother Laban was living. So, Isaac called Jacob, gave him a blessing, and told him to go find a wife among the daughters of Laban, his mother’s brother (Gen 28:1-5). Esau’s response to Jacob’s blessing and departure was to go get himself another wife, this time a woman named Mahalath daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael (Gen 28:9).

To recapitulate, from last week to this, nothing much changed in the lives of the dysfunctional family of Isaac and Rebekah. Their story continued to read very much like a television soap opera. As we re-enter the story this morning, Jacob has departed Beer-sheba and is on the first leg of a 400-mile-long journey to Haran, with the intention not only to escape Esau’s wrath but to follow his father’s command to obtain a wife from among his mother’s brother’s daughter. . . . (We will hear more about his success in finding a wife next Sunday morning.)

In the meantime, we have this peculiar episode of Jacob’s dream at a place that would forever after be known as Bethel – "the house of God." In brief, the story line is simple enough:

On his flight to Haran, Jacob arrived at a certain place at night. He took a stone, put it under his head, and fell asleep. He dreamed that there was a stairway set up on earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, with angels going up and down. And the Lord was present with Jacob and gave him a blessing that promised that Jacob would receive the land, that he would have many descendants, and that the Lord would be with him always, and would bring him back to this land. Then, Jacob awakened from his dream and declared, "Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it!" and then 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." And he got up 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 – and he called the place Bethel.

In the New Interpreter’s Bible, Terence E. Fretheim begins his commentary on this text by saying, "This text stands as one of the pillars of the Jacob story" (1994:540). Aside from providing us with such a blatant pun, Fretheim also emphasizes that this story of Jacob’s dream shows God’s transforming power. An ordinary stone, suitable in the night as a pillow, is anointed the following morning – and thus transformed into a pillar. But enough of word plays!

What is remarkable about Jacob’s dream is not the presence of the stairway between earth and heaven, nor the presence of the angels, but the directness of the Lord’s blessing upon Jacob. I certainly can understand that Jacob, seemingly always focused on himself, could dream that the Lord would bless him as Abraham had been blessed. But we might ask, "How is it possible that God would bless someone who had conspired not once, but twice to deprive the first-born son Esau of his birthright and his blessing?"

One answer is obvious: God blesses human beings, even though all human beings are sinners, some even more than others. Think of those great leaders of the ancient Israelites – Moses and David – and recall that they too were far from blameless in their lives. God transformed them to good purpose, just as he did Jacob.

What also intrigues me about this story is that God went to the trouble to say, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac" (28:13). On the one hand, this was the standard way to begin such God-human encounters; on the other hand, who else would Jacob be expecting in a dream already filled with angels going back and forth between heaven and earth?

The Lord does not merely place a blessing on Jacob alone, but also offers a blessing on the land he will have and on the many descendants who will follow after him. Jacob’s reaction to the dream is telling. He takes the stone that had served as his pillow, turns it on end, and anoints it as a pillar honoring God’s presence in this place.

Then, in the verses that continue beyond the end of the Lectionary passage, Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you" (Gen 28:20-22).

This certainly sounds like Jacob, don’t you think? Never satisfied with what he has been given, he demands even more than God has promised! Not content with being given land, offspring, and the presence of God to keep him and to bring him back home from his travels, Jacob also wants bread to eat and clothing to wear.

Only after he woke up from his dream did he proclaim "Surely the Lord is in this place .. and I did not know it!" As the commentator Fretheim says, "From this point on, Jacob’s journeys are filled with a new sense of vocation, for he now bears the promise" (1994:542).

What can we take away from this dreamy encounter between God and Jacob?

We can appreciate that God comes to us even when we may be fleeing from the circumstances surrounding us, or even from ourselves. We do not need to seek God. God will find us, even in the dark of the night. We do not need to be rich or accompanied by family and friends. God will find us, even if we are alone, and have nothing more than a stone for a pillow. But we do need to listen to what God says to us. Like Jacob when he received God’s blessing, we can respond.

We can celebrate that the Lord is in this place. After Jacob became aware that the Lord was present beside him, he was afraid and proclaimed, "How awesome is this place!" Have you ever been filled with "awe" in this place? Looking up at the chancel cross, listening to Danny play the organ, singing a hymn, joining in the prayer of thanksgiving, celebrating the Lord’s Supper, or even just looking up at the windows – do you realize how "awesome" is the experience of worshiping God in this place? When was the last time you said to someone, "How awesome is this place!"? But, more important, when will be the next time you say to someone, "How awesome is this place!"?

To commemorate his encounter with God at that place that he came to call Bethel, Jacob took an ordinary stone and dedicated it to the Lord. He also made a promise to sustain that special place with a tithe of one tenth of all that God would give to him. Like Jacob, we all have the opportunity to sustain this place and this ministry with one tenth of what God has given to us.

Like Jacob’s pillar at Bethel, Trinity can serve as our witness to the Lord’s presence and promises for all others who pass this way in their own journeys. Jacob understood that something special happened to him during that night when the Lord encountered him. We also can be safe in the knowledge that something special happens when the Lord encounters us here in this place.

Unlike Jacob’s Bethel, this house of God that we call Trinity Presbyterian Church is not just a place of visions nor just a place of promises. Beyond our visions and God’s promises, Trinity is a place where we connect to God’s world beyond this sanctuary. The doors to this sanctuary open in for all who would enter, and open out to all of God’s world, inviting us to make a difference in the world.

Jacob described his Bethel, the house of God, as the "gate of heaven." Here, in Genesis chapter 28, is the only place in the scriptures that the phrase "gate of heaven" occurs, so we should be attentive to its special implications. And we should celebrate that – for us – this place, Trinity Presbyterian Church, also can be "the gate of heaven."

Amen.