Genesis 28:10-17
Second Sunday in Lent - 25 February 2018
Rev. John Derme
Most of you know what it's like to lose something valuable. Due to flood, fire, or other disasters, you know what it's like when items that used to have value are destroyed. Due to investments that fail or thieves who steal, you know what it's like when an amount of money turns into no money. Just as soon as we think we have all of the money or things we need, they break or disappear, and their value is gone.
Most of us know what it's like to lose something valuable. But very few of us know what it's like to lose everything. And very few of us know what it's like to lose everybody who would help us. Can you say that you've ever lost everything of value so that you had nothing, and were all on your own with no one to help you? It does happen to people at times. It also happens at times that people don't actually lose everybody and everything, but we feel like we're alone and have nothing.
Jacob had gone from living in a home, where all his needs were supplied and he had many valuable possessions to having nothing. He had the clothes on his back and a few supplies, but those did little to remove his fears after losing so much and going out on his own. He was on his way to seek help from his uncle. But for now, he was all by himself in the wilderness.
Perhaps you remember the story of how it happened. Way back before Jacob was born, when he and his twin brother Esau were together in the womb of their mother Rebekah, God told Rebekah that the younger of the two sons would inherit the blessing that God had originally promised to Abraham. This blessing was the promise that the Lord would make his descendants into a great nation. Abraham had passed this blessing on to Isaac, and one day Isaac would pass it on to one of his sons. Normally, in ancient near east society, a blessing like this would go to the eldest son. But Jacob was the younger of the twins, so Isaac planned to give the blessing to Esau.
Years later, when Isaac was old and blind and he was ready to speak the blessing, he told Esau to go hunting, prepare him a meal with his catch, and then come to receive the blessing. Rebekah overheard her husband's plan, but she did not want to let him go through with it, because she knew that God wanted Jacob to receive the blessing. Unfortunately, rather than trusting that God could sort things out for himself, she decided that she and Jacob needed to trick Isaac instead. So she prepared a meal for Isaac and dressed Jacob in Esau's clothing. Then Jacob took the meal to his blind father, and Isaac blessed him.
When Esau returned home from hunting and brought the meal he prepared to his father, Isaac realized what had happened. Esau became angry with Jacob and threatened to kill him. So Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob off to live with Rebekah's brother Laban in order to save his life.
Now Jacob was on his way. He feared for his life, because he knew that his brother wanted to kill him, he had a grueling journey of over 400 miles ahead of him, and he was all alone, so he had to fend for himself despite all of the dangers that would face him along the way. When Jacob assessed his situation, he had to think that there was a real chance that he wouldn't make it to his destination. Now that he'd lost everything of value, everything that he knew, everyone he loved, he had to imagine that the odds were against him.
It's hard for us to imagine what it was like to travel 4000 years ago. Jacob didn't have a car. He didn't even have a flashlight, so when the sun went down, he couldn't see and he had to stop. He didn't have a pillow, so he lay down with a rock under his head. He didn't have a tent or even a sleeping bag, so he slept unprotected under the stars. Can you imagine what it was like out there in the dark with the sounds of the night around him? Remember that at that time, in his part of the world, lions were common. Thieves and murderers were, too. Can you imagine Jacob's thoughts, now that he had nothing to do, but to think? Can you imagine his guilt, as his conscience attacked him for deceiving his father? Can you imagine his regret, because his own sin caused this suffering for him? Can you imagine his fear, as he realized that he had nothing and that he was all alone?
That's the kind of situation where a person begins to doubt, isn't it? That's the kind of situation where a person begins to question God. After all, God had made him a promise, hadn't he? Had his sin cancelled out the promise? God had said that he was going to bless Jacob, but now Jacob had nothing, nobody. Had God forgotten about him? Had God changed his mind about his promise? Had God left him alone, too?
Jacob got an answer to that question that night. He fell asleep and began to dream. In his dream he saw a stairway that stretched from the ground before him all the way to the heavens. Angels of God were ascending and descending on this stairway. At the top was the Lord himself. "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. 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. 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."
It didn't matter that Jacob appeared to be all alone. God was there with him. It didn't matter that Jacob appeared to have nothing. God promised to provide for him. God promised to keep him safe and bring him back home. God repeated his promise to give him this land and make his descendants into a great nation. God promised that he would never leave Jacob. And God promised a Savior for Jacob, who would pay for his sins and also be a blessing to the world. It didn't matter that Jacob appeared to be alone and have nothing. Because he had God, he had everything.
Do you know what it's like to be alone? Do you know what it's like to have nothing? It may be rare to actually be completely alone and to lose absolutely everything of value. And yet, it is not at all rare to feel that way. It is not at all rare to realize that although we have stuff and money, it really doesn't have that much value, after all. It is not at all rare to realize that although we are surrounded by people in this world, we don't have anybody who can really help us with our needs.
Why do we feel lonely and helpless? Like Jacob, we can't blame anybody else. Lonliness and helplessness are results of sin. Sin isolates. It separates us from each other. It causes divisions between us and them. It makes us feel alone, because when we see our sin we realize that there is not another person on the planet who can save us from its punishment. It makes us feel like we have nothing, because when we realize how great our sin is, we realize that no matter how much money or valuable possessions we have, we don't have enough to pay the price for it.
You feel alone. But you are not alone. You feel like you have nothing. But God never leaves you with nothing. Your God has also made a promise to you. And today your God repeats his promise to you. "I am with you. Though everybody else may forsake you, I will not leave you. Though you may lose everything of earthly value, you will not lose me." Your God didn't only put his commitment to you in words. He also put it into actions. He sent his Son Jesus here to become your brother, to take your side, to save you from the punishment of your sin, from which no one else could save you, to pay the price for your sin, which no one else could pay. He was willing to give up his heavenly riches to come and have nothing of earthly value. He was willing to live a lonely life and suffer all by himself. Jesus was the Savior whom God promised to Jacob that night, whom God promised to the world that night. Jesus is the Savior whom God sent for you.
Because God has fulfilled that promise, you and I are now the fulfillment to another promise. We are the descendants that God told Jacob would cover the earth. Sure, Jacob's physical descendants became a nation that settled the land that God promised to him. But the physical nation called Israel was not the greatest nation to descend from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A far greater Israel, also known as the holy Christian church has descended from their faith, a nation filled with people who trust in the Lord Jesus as their Savior, just like those three did.
Because of Jesus, God promises that you and I and all of our brothers and sisters in the holy Christian church of all believers will inherit a far greater home than the territory that has become known as Israel. God has promised us a place in his eternal kingdom. Jesus is the stairway and the only stairway from this territory that we call earth to the heavenly territory with God our Father. In fact, in his own words he recalled this vision of Jacob. He said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." When Jesus came from heaven to earth, he made it possible for us to go from earth to heaven. He is that stairway, and he is the only way.
Even when we have more friends and family in our lives than we need, we do not trust in them. Even when we have more money and possessions than we need, we do not trust in them. Whether we are surrounded by people or alone, whether we have much or nothing of value, we trust our God. In confidence we boldly say to our Lord, "When I have you, then I have everything."