6th Sunday after Pentecost, July 20, 2014

The Hebrew Bible Lesson

Hebrew Bible: Genesis 28:10-19a

Jacob left Beer-sheba 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 ladder 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; but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

Reflections: Two things about this classic text stand out for me today. The first is that Jacob discovers what by grace we all discover, that God is present, even though “I did not know it!” Sometimes we realize this in retrospect, like in the story of the footprints in the sand. At other times it takes us by surprise. Interestingly, it often has this happened to us when we’re not in church? Sometimes we notice that, as Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem says, “The world is charged with the glory of God.”

The other thing that captured my attention this time is the statement, “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.” It’s easy to forget God, or to feel alone or abandoned. But God’s presence with us is not dependent on our feelings or expectations. What good news this is!